Marvel at eight generations of Corvette steering wheels

Though Chevy admits this particular first generation Corvette features some aftermarket padding added to its control points, the look is unmistakable. And that look is really rather nice. Everything, um, falls easily to hand, you might not say. The dials, clear and plentiful, the steering wheel a classic. A good way to start, if a little ‘look at my fantastic leather driving gloves’.

The ‘Sting Ray’ name first appeared for the 1960s Corvette, but more importantly, you’ll note the cigarette lighter has been moved from across the other side of the dash in the first gen, to right behind the wheel for this model. Priorities.

The wheel is also enormous; a size necessitated, one suspects, by the plethora of rather large dials behind it. 10/10 would definitely feel alive in your hands.

Where to begin. The inverted dash? The padded wheel? THE CREAM? Though the exterior was famously styled after the Mako Shark II concept, the inside looked a little less… extravagant. Bit, um, nuggety in here.

This is quite frankly the finest ever interior/steering wheel combination in the Corvette’s long and storied history – if not the finest interior/steering wheel combination OF ALL TIME – and that’s that.

The buttons! The digital dash! ALL THE NUMBERS EVER! It is fantastic and amazing and we want to live in the world this Corvette imagined it would exist in.

Chevy itself notes the biggest highlight of this wheel as being the airbag, which rather says a lot. Still, a button-tastic interior continues the theme of the previous gen, making you feel like a proper, ahem, pilot.

Back to three spoke wheels for the more recent ‘Vettes, with a central console angled slightly more towards the driver. Truly, you could trim the line adequately in a cabin of this stature.

The most recent ‘Vette traded some of the earlier cars’ simplicity for a more complex layout. There were paddles behind the wheel – just like an F1 car! – and dial needles pointing in a variety of ways to keep you occupied.

Here we are then: the cabin from whence you will be able to control the very first mid-engined Corvette. And what a cabin. Many buttons. An angled dash. And, yes, more buttons.

Read the full debrief on the 2020 'Vette here.