CORVETTE STING RAY The 1963 Corvette Split-Window coupe looked so fast, it stopped traffic. Surely, this has to be the most impactful design in Chevrolet’s 101-year history.
the split window because it obstructed the driver’s view. So he went to his boss, Ed Cole, and fought hard to have it re- moved. Duntov lost and the split window stayed — for one year.
The Corvette was available in coupe or convertible models and came with a 327 small-block V-8, with four available carburetor setups. Fuel injection was also an option.
It was inspired by a series of Italian speed-record cars that Bill Mitchell had spotted at the Turin Auto Show in 1957. “These cars all had sharp beltlines and fender blips over the wheels,” says Peter Brock, who was a 19-year-old designer in the Chevrolet studio at the time. "Mitch- ell came back to Detroit with this pocket of photographs and handed them out to us.”
Mitchell gave his designers — Bob Veryz- er, Chuck Pohlmann and Brock — several weeks to see what they could come up with. Each man drew a sketch, but one clearly stood out. It was Brock’s.
The basic shape was introduced to the public in the form of the Sting Ray Racer, which was built on Zora Arkus-Duntov’s Corvette SS mule chassis. The direction for the next production Corvette was set.
But for the production car, Mitchell also had something else in mind. It was a sin- gle wind-split that ran from nose to tail, culminating in a tapered fastback with a split rear window. Arkus-Duntov hated
When the Sting Ray debuted in fall 1962, it was a national sensation, as well as the darling of Hollywood, with people like Peter Fonda and the cast of Peyton Place being earlier adopters. And rock and rollers Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys quickly wove the new Chevy into the American folklore with the songs “Dead Man’s Curve” and “Shut Down.” Chevro- let sold 21,513 coupes and convertibles combined, and for the first time the Corvette actually made a profit.
Fifty years on, car design has stagnated and the space program has lost its romance, but the allure of the Riviera, Avanti and Split-Window Corvette is as strong as it was the first time we saw them.
In the Summer issue, look for our feature on the Porsche 911, another member of the Class of ’63. To see video of our Riviera ride along, go to
hagerty.com/classof63.
1963 BUICK RIVIERA Number Produced: 40,000 Original Price: $4,333 Current Price: $9,700–$48,700
1963 STUDEBAKER AVANTI Number Produced: 3,834 Original Price: $4,445 Current Price: $10,600–$78,000
1963 CORVETTE STING RAY COUPE
Number Produced: 10,594 Original Price: $4,257 Current Price: $28,500–$297,000
For more values see page 62.
HAGERTY.COM 37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76