Source: Flickr
If there’s a holy grail of Corvettes, this is it. The Corvette is the mascot for American sports cars. The Corvette has existed in its various generations since 1953. Anytime a car lasts for 64 years, it has to have some rabid fans. Corvette owners and aficionados are some of the most rabid of any car. In England, drivers of the Jaguar E-Type gather together to celebrate their incredible car. Their gatherings are a great celebration of motoring. While that’s great, when a Corvette club gets together, they put them to shame!
While there’s a lot of great Corvettes, the 1963 Stingray is incredibly special. This car had everything for the time and also has everything that collectors would want now. It’s a stunning automobile. It was lightning fast and gave everyone who drove it an absolute thrill. At the time it cost a solid $4,257.00. It was more expensive than the 1963 Corvette convertible, but it was prettier.
Source: Flickr
Looks
I mean… look at it! It’s an incredibly beautiful automobile and arguably one of the most beautiful cars of all time. It was the first year of the C2 series of Corvettes. The C2 series ran from 1963 to 1967. Like the previous generation, it stuck with fiberglass paneling instead of steel. That Corvette trademark lasted for a long time.
The most distinguishing feature was the split rear windows on the tapered rear deck. Those windows are incredibly appealing from the outside. They are sleek and perfectly incorporated into the car. It’s a seamless design. However, the visibility out of the windows wasn’t good enough. This led to the windows only being a single year feature. Later C2 Corvettes had to ditch them for safety, but admittedly they didn’t look nearly as good.
Source: Shutterstock
Power
When the ‘63 Stingray came out, it came with a 360 horsepower V8. That’s some serious power for a car in the 1960’s and the Corvette could absolutely scream when the pedal was put down. There was other lesser options available as well. The minimum horsepower was 250, but the L84 fuel injected V8 was easily the best choice.
Source: Flickr
Collectability
This is easily one of the most collectibles of corvettes that has ever existed. Aside from all of the great features already mentioned, there was only 10594 created. Prices for the Split-window coupe in today’s market will vary. They can cost from $40,000 to $185,000. Most of them will cost closer to the lower end of that spectrum. This means that collectors can actually realistically hope to get one in decent condition. The most expensive version to collect is the Z06 option collection. This had all of the performance options and only 198 Z06 coupes ever existed.
Everyone has their favorite cars from the past. Often they were the dream cars of a person in their teens. But the 1963 Corvette Stingray is transcendent. Even young people who see it for the first time are blown away by what they get to see. Personally, this is probably my favorite car of all time. I hope if you weren’t a fan before, I’ve been able to get you at least slightly excited at the thought of driving and enjoying a 63 Stingray.
