Corvette Sting Ray (1963-1967) – a brief history

My car is a 1965 roadster 327 cubic inch with factory original optional side pipes & optional turbine alloy wheels . The car is finished in its original colour combination of Nassau blue metallic paint with black leather interior - its great fun to drive & still puts a smile on my face every time I start it !

For many enthusiasts, the “mid year” '63 to '67 Corvettes are the most compelling and beautiful of the series.

Back in the late '50s, Bill Mitchell (Harley Earl's successor as GM design chief) had acquired one of the old SS chassis that had been built to race at Sebring and, working with his assistant Larry Shinoda, designed a new body for it with a high waistline, a chiselled prow and sharply creased fenders and called it the Sting Ray.

At about the same time that Mitchell and Shinoda were conjuring up the Sting Ray body style, Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov was building what he hoped would be a world-class chassis for his beloved charge. He also designed a new independent rear suspension that economically (in both dollar cost and space usage) used a single transverse nine-leaf spring and the half shafts as part of the linkage.

It was the marriage of the Mitchell/Shinoda body design with the new Duntov chassis that resulted in the 1963 Corvette roadster and, for the first time, fastback coupe.

From the rotating hidden headlamps across the front to the boat tail-shaped rear window, the '63 Corvette coupe was outrageously attractive. And with a thick center bar splitting the rear window in two, not a car out of which it was particularly easy to see out of !!  That design earned this car the nickname "split window coupe."

The base 327 V8 was rated at 250 horsepower, but on the options sheet were 300- and 340-horsepower four-barrel, and 360-horsepower fuel-injected versions of the 327, plus the legendary "Z06" race pack option for the coupe.

The public fell in love with the Sting Ray , and Motor Trend tested a '63 Corvette powered by the fuel-injected engine and backed by the Muncie four-speed transmission. The 'Vette hustled from zero to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and consumed the quarter-

OWNER DAVID GODDARD

mile in 14.5 seconds at 102 mph.

The big news for 1965 was that four wheel disc brakes became standard , plus cooling & air flow were improved by the three functional vertical louvers in each front fender. Also big news was the availability of the new 396-cubic-inch big-block V8. which grunted out a hulking 425 horsepower and became an instant legend as the meanest machine to leave General Motors since the company had stopped building Sherman tanks!!.

Acceleration of the “big blocks” was awesome - often timed at sub 5 seconds for 0 -60 mph, and sub12 seconds for the quarter mile – real supercar performance even by todays standards

In 1966, the 396 cubic inch was superseded by 427-cubic-inch versions of the big-block V8 , and in 1967 the quest for even more power resulted in the regal "L88" 427, with aluminium cylinder heads and an intimidating 500 + horsepower , or for the weaker hearted there was also the option of the milder “L71” “tri power” carburettor 427 rated at “only” 435 horsepower !!