General Motors introduced the second-generation Chevy Corvette for the 1963 model year, ushering in a fastback body style to create the first-ever Corvette coupe. The 1963 model is also noteworthy for offering a “split-window” rear end, a feature which was discontinued in 1964. Of the 21,513 ’63 C2 Corvette units produced, just over 10,500 examples of the ’63 Sting Ray Coupes made it off the line, making it both rare and highly desirable. Now, Chevy is taking a walk around this pristine 1963 Chevrolet Sting Ray Coupe in the following brief video.
Offered as part of the automaker’s week-long virtual car show and celebration, this video provides a few interesting facts on this highly popular Chevy Corvette model. Clocking in at just one minute, 35 seconds, it hits only the highlights, but should definitely give some nostalgia feels for all those Bow Tie fans out there, all thanks to some lovely shots of this gorgeous classic sports car.
In addition to striking new styling, the 1963 Chevy Corvette also offered up a new chassis and an independent rear suspension, matching the powerful V8 engine with some added corner-carving agility.
Advanced fuel injection technology and race-inspired knock-off wheels were also on board, both of which added to the Chevy Corvette’s sports car appeal. Customers could choose from seven different exterior colors. This particular model is draped in Riverside Red.
However, the 1963 model year is likely best-known for its characteristic split rear window. As the story goes, Zora Arkus-Duntov, a prominent General Motors engineer often considered the “godfather” of the Corvette, disliked the split rear window, and its limited visibility also raised safety concerns, leading to the deletion of the feature in the following model year in favor of a single-pane application.
Nevertheless, the 1963 Chevy Corvette Sting Ray Coupe split-window remains an absolute icon in the world of classic American performance. Watching this video, it’s pretty obvious why.
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For those of us who weren’t alive in the heyday of GM Design, I can only imagine the thrill that came from the launch of the 1963 Corvette. It was so new and fresh and breathtakingly gorgeous. It must’ve been something to see it for the first time. I read a quote from Bill Mitchell where he explained that he was told just before Christmas one year (probably 1961) that GM brass had green-lighted his design for both the ‘63 Corvette and the ‘63 Riviera. He called it his best Christmas ever and made reference to getting drunk for a week. The C2 was a remarkable car that to this day stands as a high-water-mark for GM Design and perfectly exemplifies John Keats’ words proclaiming that ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’.
The ‘63 would go on to be replaced by another design triumph, the Mako-Shark inspired 1968 Corvette Stingray. Again, I can only imagine the excitement that must’ve permeated Chevrolet dealers across the USA in the fall of 1967 when one masterpiece replaced another. I think for those of us living today in an era of lookalike dull silver boxes, we can’t really appreciate the excitement that once occurred each fall when the new car designs first appeared. It seems no one takes a risk today or is willing to shock the public the way Mitchell was and for that, we have an endless array of forgettable appliances whereas Mitchell gave us the unforgettable. And he did it over and over again.
Best looking car ever to come out of GM!
One has to wonder whether people will feel the same about the C8 Corvette in 60 years.
I can answer that now: No, they will not.
Mitchell told one of the young designers, Pete Brock, I think, that he shouldn’t flatter himself as he walked by and saw him sketching Corvettes; I design the Corvettes, Mitchell said. Obviously he didn’t do it alone but Mitchell set the themes and he was the mercurial conductor with designers, such as Brock, as his musicians.
The two Corvettes done by Mitchell are the standard-bearers. The C4 (Rybicki), and C5 (Jordan) that followed didn’t break new ground. They evolved from what Mitchell left behind but devolved in terms of excellence of form. The C6 and C7 (Welburn) likewise were evolutionary while the C8 is perhaps the first attempt to reinterpret the Corvette look in 50 years, largely necessitated by the engine’s rearward shift. Sadly though it’s a disjointed amalgamation of super-car design from around the globe with a touch of Corvette DNA up front and a lot of recent Camaro cues out back. It’s decent but not cohesive and nowhere near the stunningly original sculptures that C2 and C3 are. As I see it, their status as the pinnacle of Corvette design hasn’t been at all challenged by the latest car to bear the crossed flags emblem. It succeeds in the engineering realm but not so much in aesthetics.
In an interview done for the Henry Ford Museum some years after his retirement, Mitchell said he never went back to GM’s Eero Saarinen-designed Tech Center in Warren. He said although he’s often asked to come back out for a visit and tour of the studios, he never accepts the offer. When asked why he declines, he said, in effect, that seeing the next generation of GM cars makes him sick. Those would’ve been the cars that launched in the 1981-1986 timeframe to include the C4. One has to wonder what kind of entirely new and original design Mitchell might’ve done for the C4 and how that would’ve changed the direction for the successive generations.
By far the most iconic car GM ever built. Zora Arkus Duntov and Larry Shinoda produced a Masterwork.
I had one Black with red interior back then we traded every year but I traded for a 65 396 coupe should have kept them both but I still own one today to drive to the marina. How where we to know!!
I had one black with red interior back then we traded every year but I traded for a 65 -396 coupe should have kept them both but I still own one today to drive to the marina. How where we to know!!
GM at it’s finest. When design ruled, not counting beans. Course they had half the market more or less.