CarBrandLogos archive · Chevrolet Corvette · 1963

Chevrolet CorvetteCorvette C2 Sting Ray

Split window, independent rear suspension, and the best-looking American car ever built.

Photo: MercurySable99 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Chevrolet Corvette history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Chevrolet Corvette Corvette C2 Sting Ray, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The second-generation Corvette drew on two projects: the experimental Q-Corvette of the late 1950s, and Bill Mitchell's privately funded Stingray racer, whose sharp horizontal crease and pointed nose Larry Shinoda translated into a road car. The result, launched for 1963, was the first Corvette with a coupe body and the first with a name — Sting Ray — that customers used more than the model number.

1963 Corvette Grand Sport · Writegeist · CC BY-SA 4.0

Design and engineering

The engineering finally matched the styling. Zora Arkus-Duntov's team gave the car a proper ladder frame and, crucially, independent rear suspension using a transverse leaf spring and half-shafts as upper links. It was cheap, light and effective, and it made the Corvette a car that could be driven hard on a real road rather than merely accelerated in a straight line.

1959 Corvette Stingray Concept · Chevrolet pre-1978 · Public domain

In production

The 1963 coupe carried a split rear window — a styling flourish Mitchell fought for and Duntov opposed on visibility grounds. Duntov won for 1964, which is why the one-year split-window car is the most valuable production Corvette of the era. Disc brakes arrived at all four corners in 1965, along with the first big-block, and by 1966 the 427 was available; the 1967 L88, built for racing and deliberately under-advertised, is among the rarest and most sought-after American engines.

1963 Chevrolet C2 Corvette Coupe · Sicnag · CC BY 2.0

Legacy

Duntov also built five lightweight Grand Sport racers in defiance of GM's ban on factory motorsport before the corporation stopped the programme. The Sting Ray ran only five model years, the shortest of any Corvette generation, and is generally held to be the high point of the entire line.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Designer

Larry Shinoda (1959

Body

2-door Convertible

Technical specification

The Corvette C2 Sting Ray, in detail.

Production: August 1962 – July 1967
Class: Sports car
Body style: 2-door Convertible (car); convertible; 2-door coupé; coupe
Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout
Engine: 327 cuin Chevrolet small-block engine (first- and second-generation)#327; Small-Block V8 engine; V8; 327 cuin Chevrolet small-block engine (first- and second-generation)#327; L75 Small-Block V8 engine; V8; 327 cuin Chevr
Transmission: 3-speed manual transmission; manual; 4-speed manual transmission; manual; 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission; automatic
Designer: Larry Shinoda (1959, 1960); Anatole Lapine
Assembly: United States: St. Louis, Missouri
Manufacturer: Chevrolet (General Motors)