The History Of The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

The Corvette has been an iconic staple of the American automotive scene for over 70 years, and hasn’t lost any of its passion and will for driving. Gearhead or not, you can spot one in a crowded parking lot with ease, no matter its color or angle. While the Corvette will forever enjoy peerless notoriety, what about one of its badges: the Stingray?

The Stingray badge has seen decades of life, and will most likely continue to be attached to the Corvette name at the hip. CarBuzz aims to shed some well-deserved light on the Stingray name, where it came from, and what it’s meant throughout the history of its use. Read on below, and we’ll tell you all about what it means to be called a Corvette Stingray.

The Stingray’s Origin

The man pictured above is Bill Mitchell, Vice President of design at General Motors during the 1950s. He’s leaning on his newest creation at the time, the 1959 Corvette Stingray Concept. It wasn’t all his idea, however. Designer Pete Brock was the original sketcher of the Stingray, and a man called Larry Shinoda was the lead developer of the concept. The Stingray namesake simply came from Mitchell’s love of deep-sea fishing, and his fascination with seeing stingrays while out at sea.

Mitchell’s idea for the Stingray was sparked after a 1957 trip to the Turin Auto Show in Italy. He spent a lot of time gazing upon Abarths and Alfa Romeos, and he had a particular fascination with the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, a boat-like design with plenty of flowing, Italian curves. These curves gave him an idea.

The Original Stingray Concepts

Once back in the States, he set to work designing his interpretation of an American car with Italian influences, and the original Stingray Concept was born. Initially, the Stingray was meant to be a race car and use existing components from other concept Corvettes like the $500,000 race-bred Corvette SS and the Q-Corvette XP-96 convertible. Once complete, GM told Mitchell he’d have to race the new Stingray on his own dime, which he gladly did.

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After winning an SCCA race in 1960, GM pressured Mitchell to retire his Corvette Stingray racer, which he begrudgingly agreed to. However, he continued to work on his Stingray with his team, and from that wood-bodied race car platform, the first production Corvette Stingray was created in 1963.

1963 C2 Corvette: The First Production Stingray

1963 marked the first year the Stingray nameplate was attached to a production Corvette. At base level, the new Stingray came equipped with a 327 CID V8 capable of producing 250 horsepower and 350 lb-ft torque, which could get the car to 60 mph in six seconds flat. The 1963 Stingray was an instant hit, despite its hefty $4,000 price tag. If you had the money, you could opt for the brand-new Z06 option, which added racing-bred upgrades and a 36.5-gallon fuel tank. The Z06 option cost a whopping $1,818, however. That was nearly half the price of the Stingray.

One of the best attributes of the new Stingray was its ability to handle corners well, which was still somewhat foreign in the United States, as almost every other car on the road was big, heavy, and built for straight-line speed.

C3 Stingray: The ‘Vette Gets Serious

The Corvette Stingray underwent a complete overhaul for the 1968 model year, and was then referred to as the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C3. The body gained a much more aerodynamic, wedge-shaped appearance, along with several new features such as vacuum-operated headlights and removable T-tops. The base 327 CID engine also gained 50 horses and 10 lb-ft torque, although it was now two tenths of a second slower to 60 mph due to an increase in curb weight.

The C3 generation is when the Corvette went from something of a boulevard cruiser to a more muscle-bound gravel thrower. Over 15 different engine options were offered, all with their own unique specifications. The C3 is also known as the longest-winded Corvette, spanning 14 years from 1968 to 1982. However, when you think of a classic Corvette muscle car, the C3 is what comes to mind.

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C7 Stingray: Rising From The Depths

After a 32-year hiatus, the Corvette Stingray made its appearance on showroom floors once again in 2014. Far from its carbureted, leaf-sprung ancestors, the C7 Stingray was more technologically advanced than ever. The new 6.2-liter LT1 V8 could produce 455 horsepower and 460 lb-ft torque, and could get from 0-60 MPH in 3.7 seconds when properly equipped. The C7 also marked the first time carbon fiber was used on a large scale at base level, as Stingrays were equipped with carbon fiber hoods.

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The C7, while impressive in both improvements and handling, was not received very well by those with a penchant for Corvette purity. It was claimed the C7 went too far in the way of technology and nit-picking, whereas the purists felt it should have maintained its more conventional, straight-line-speed abilities like its ancestors. Regardless, the next-gen Stingray gave these purists much more to complain about.

C8 Stingray: The Corvette Evolves

C8 Stingray Specifications

The current-gen C8 Corvette Stingray is responsible for dividing the fandom more than any other model in history. The reason being its use of a mid-engine layout, which is seen as downright blasphemy by many classic Corvette enthusiasts. However, with this new layout comes many other improvements. Thanks to an entirely new chassis, this C8 Corvette Stingray can now handle like its European counterparts. The revamped LT1 V8 puts out 490 horses and 465 lb-ft torque at base level as well, meaning you can get from 0-60 mph in three seconds flat.

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Other technological improvements include double-wishbone suspension, monotube shock absorbers, and a litany of other space-age structural and performance improvements. The C8 Stingray is generally heralded as America’s first everyman supercar, and it’s easy to see why. For around $73k, you can have a mid-engine, near 500-horsepower car that can get around a track as well as can get down a quarter-mile straight.

Sources: CorvSport.com, Automobile-Catalog.com