THE CHEVROLET CORVETTE is Americas native sports car. The “plastic fantastic”, born in 1953, is still plastic, and still fantastic more than 40 years on. Along the way, in 1992, it notched up a million sales and it is still hanging in there. Admittedly it has mutated over the years, but it has stayed true to its roots in one Very important aspect. other American sports car contenders, like the Ford Thunderbird , soon abandoned any sporting pretensions, adding weight and middle-aged girth, but not the Corvette. All Corvette fanciers have their favourite eras: for some it is the purity of the very first generation from 1953; others favour the glamorous 1956-62 models; but for many the Corvette came of age in 1963 with the birth of the Sting Ray.
ENGINE
Sting Rays came in three engine sizes -naturally all V8s -with a wide range of power options from 250 bhp to more than twice that. This featured car is a 1966 Sting Ray with “small block"5359cc Y8 and Holley four-barrel carb.
Sting Rays came in three engine sizes -naturally all V8s -with a wide range of power options from 250 bhp to more than twice that. This featured car is a 1966 Sting Ray with “small block"5359cc Y8 and Holley four-barrel carb.
The Batmobile -style interior, with twin-hooped dash, is carried over from earlier Corvettes, but updated in the Sting Ray. The deep-dished, wood-effect wheel comes close to the chest and power steering was an option.
CHEVROLET CORVETTE STING RAY
The Sting Ray was a bold design breakthrough, giving concrete
expression to many of the ideas of new GM styling chief, Bill Mitchell. More than half of all production was in convertible roadsters, for Which a hardtop was an option. From the rear, charismatic fixed-head fastbacks
could be a totally different car.
The Sting Ray was a bold design breakthrough, giving concrete
expression to many of the ideas of new GM styling chief, Bill Mitchell. More than half of all production was in convertible roadsters, for Which a hardtop was an option. From the rear, charismatic fixed-head fastbacks
could be a totally different car.
