Prince’s ‘Little Red Corvette’ was inspired by a real car but it wasn’t red or a Corvette

The ‘Little Red Corvette’ immortalized in the 1983 hit by Prince was inspired by a real car – and it actually wasn’t red or a Corvette.

The song became Prince’s first top 10 hit in the US and launched the musician into the mainstream.

For years after its release, it was widely believed that the late singer/songwriter came up with the lyrics after waking up in the back of a car belonging to his keyboard player Lisa Coleman.

It turns out that the story is mostly true – with Coleman telling the BBC that Prince was ‘always borrowing’ her car.

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The car that inspired the track was a 1964 Mercury Montclair

While most of us will be familiar with the lyrics to the 1980s classic –  ‘And, honey, I say, little red Corvette / Baby, you’re much too fast (Oh) / Little red Corvette’ – it turns out that the actual car that inspired it wasn’t a little red Corvette at all.

The car’s owner confirmed to the BBC that the car that inspired the iconic single was a pink and white 1964 Mercury Montclair.

“Prince was always borrowing my car because it was awesome,” Coleman told the BBC.

“It was a ’64 Mercury Montclair, pink and white, and it was just the perfect cruise-mobile on a beautiful day in Minneapolis.”

Coleman went on to say that while Prince often borrowed it, he didn’t take the best care of the vehicle and managed to ‘put a couple of dents’ into the car because it was so big.

Prince hadn’t been ‘sleeping’ when the idea came to him

As to whether he was inspired to write the song after ‘sleeping’ in the back of the car, Coleman said that wasn’t entirely accurate either.

She went on to say he’d actually been in the backseat of the Mercury with a woman and was most likely ‘making out or doing whatever’ when he ‘got the seed of the idea’.

“But it’s not a red Corvette, it’s a pink Mercury,” she added.

So there you go – we’re not sure we’ll even listen to that song the same way again.

The Little Red Corvette isn’t the only fictional car that has its origins in a real vehicle.

The 2006 hit Pixar flick Cars featured numerous vehicles based on real-life models, including Lightning McQueen’s partner Sally Carrera who – as the name suggests – was based on a 2002 Porsche 996 911 Carrera.