America is a car culture. It was raised on the road, whether on family road trips to see relatives or through commerce that shuttled from city to city on trucks. The Car of the Week takes a look at one of those vehicles as a way to not only look back at automotive changes but the history that created them.
Published in the Tacoma Weekly
To even the casual observer, the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray is a sleek looking sports car. Its impact has only grown since the year it rolled off the line. The 1963 Corvette featured an all-new body style that was inspired by a racing model built by General Motors design master Bill Mitchell. The styling was a big hit from the first moment and grew to legendary status ever since. The angular body with minimal bright work also included a distinctive split-rear window on the coupe version, although that option only was offered that first production year. About 21,000 cars would be built in 1963 model year, a 50-percent spike over the record-setting 1962 version. Its base price was $4,037. The 1963 Sting Ray production car’s lineage can be traced to two GM projects: the Q-Corvette that started in 1957 and the Mitchell racing team’s Sting Ray design. The LeMay Collection’s 1963 “Split-Window” is Daytona Blue in color, and is powered by the 300 horsepower engine. This particular car was used for an on-track event with NASCAR driver Jeff Jefferson behind the wheel.
