78-82...A Stingray in the un-informed public eye?

[KANE]

What I find amusing about the poll is everyone on this site KNOWS the history (some better than others!) of the name Sting Ray / Stingray.

The rest of the public usually associates the Stingray name with the C3 Vettes. Most of the public goes through life misinformed and just assumes that they know everything or that what they see is completely accurate in reality (one of the principle reasons for the imbeded media in Operation Iraqi Freedom). This maybe because the C3 body style ran for so much longer than the 63-67s beaing the name Sting Ray. Of course, then there are movies like Corvette Summer and Boogie Nights where those generations of cars are featured.

Blame the media. Everyone else does.

 

[ArkShark]

I'm glad I found this thread.

I just recently purchased a '77 vette. After reading the CAC specs on the '77 vette, (it states: "This is the first year that the Stingray moniker was not used."), I've determined my Shark is just a Shark, not a Stingray. Afterall, "Stingray", is JUST a moniker...and in 1977, they stopped using it.

I have an early 77, so no badges on the side, just the alarm key.

I read that spec on the '77, and still found later C3's for sale with the "Stingray" name attached. I wondered what was up. Now I know its just owners that like the name "Stingray" and continue to use even though it was not badged, or even sold, as such.

One last thing, I can understand the uninformed public calling any C3 Shark a "Stingray", but when I was looking to buy a C3, I found many 77-82 Vettes listed as "Stingrays". The owners of these cars, who should know better, had listed their Vette as a "Stingray". Maybe an attempt to make their Vette look better than the other ones listed? 1979 "Stingray"?

Oh well, I will call mine a Shark.

Mike

 

[Big Tex]

My brother-in-law told me last month that his boss had just purchased a Stingray. When I asked him what year model, he said that it is an '03. I corrected him that the newer models aren't Stingrays and he said that he thought ALL Vettes were Stingrays.

Just goes to show that the word Stingray is often thought of when the general public thinks of a Corvette. Right or wrong, them's the facts.

BTW, his boss is a jerk and does not deserve a Vette...

 

[u.k.vet]

stingray or not it will always be a corvette and thats the bottom line from a f a C1 to C5 ,

 

[Stallion]

But if you think about it then, you can't call a '68 a Stingray either then..? I don't know. When people refer to mine as a Stingray, I don't correct them. But I don't refer to her as a Stingray, if anything besides "Corvette" or "Vette", I use "Shark".

 

[brit_trader2003]

To the General Public a Corvette Stingray is a C3. When I first saw a C3 I loved it and when I found out what it was I discovered it was a Corvette Stingray. I vowed then I would one day own one. Twenty years later I do. It is only now when I became an enthusiast that I discover that it is a C3 and that strictly speaking Stingray stopped in 76. Those who are selling a C3 are trying to market it to the public. They have every right to say it is a Stingray irrespective of year, because that is what the public know it as.

Who cares, the C3 is a gorgeous car and it is only communication.

 

[C3RVETTE]

I agree with this to, Dark :L

"Badges...we dont need no stinking badges!" A shark is a stingray is a ray is a vette! Did ya know sharks & stingrays are related:confused

 

[Stallion]

"Badges...we dont need no stinking badges!" A shark is a stingray is a ray is a vette! Did ya know sharks & stingrays are related:confused

Ditto.

 

[GATOR454]

What the heck is a shark? To my knowledge Chevrolet never badged or referred to any production corvette as a shark.

I was a teenager in the 70's and no one I knew referred to the C3's as sharks. They were corvettes or stingrays. After 76 we still referred to them as stingrays even if they didn't have the badge. If we saw a '80 on the road it would be "check out that stingray" it didn't need a badge to be one.

In 1980 if you walked into a chevy dealer and asked to see a 'shark' they would probably have gotten a confused look on their face and ask "what is a shark?". If you walked in and asked to see a new stingray they would probably take you over to a corvette and say "here is a new stingray".

My nephew has a 1980 and I think it is just as much a stingray as my 1974. It never was a shark.

If I take the stingray badge off of my '74 does it cease to be one? No. It doesn't need a badge to be a stingray, and by 1977 Chevy didn't even need to put a stingray badge on a corvette for it to be one as far as the public back then was concerned, so why not save a few bucks and leave it off.

I've been un-informed for the past 30 years and I am still un-informed.

 

[Don&Kelly]

I agree with GATOR 454 -

 

[C3RVETTE]

I assume we get shark,from the original concept car,for the design of the "stingray"...the Mako Shark!!

 

[81kix]

C3 Mods.

I am soooo......confused, can someone start over and explain this StingRay, shark deal again.

 

[C3RVETTE]

I am soooo......confused, can someone start over and explain this StingRay, shark deal again.

Hasnt anyone here seen the Mako Shark? :confused :eyerole

 

[Grizzly]

Real Sting Rays

Real Sting Rays - 1963 to 1967 based on Sting Ray show car
Sharks - 1969 to 1982 based on Mako Shark show car

That's all you need to know no matter what the script says on the car.

Signed..............A True Believer

 

[MaineShark]

What the heck is a shark? To my knowledge Chevrolet never badged or referred to any production corvette as a shark.

Did Chevrolet ever call the second generation cars "mid-years"? No? That doesn't stop it from being their nickname. The same goes for "sharks." The third generation body is a derivative of the Mako Shark II concept car, so "shark" became the official unofficial nickname for the third generation.

Joe

 

[GATOR454]

Grizzly
Sting Rays - 1963 to 1967 based on 1961 Mako Shark show car
Stingrays - 1968 to 1982 based on 1965 Mako Shark II show car

1963 to 1967 corvettes resemble the 1961 Mako Shark show car more than they resemble the 1959 Stingray Special RACE car. The 1959 Stingray Special was not a show car and I didn't get Stingray wrong, so the script on your car must not be correct and the script on my car is. If you want to get real picky the Mako Shark show car was based on the Stingray Special race car which was based on the Q-Corvette concept car, so based on your argument C2's aren't real Sting Rays they are Q's. To think that C3's can't be Real Stingrays because of C2 Sting Rays or the Mako Shark II is just ridiculous.

If you're classifying corvettes based on show car naming then C2's would be Sharks and C3's would be Shark II's. So you "it's a Shark" guys need to get it right because a Mako Shark looks like a C2.

I just don't see why you would correct someone that called a 1980 corvette a Stingray by telling them it isn't a Stingray it is a Shark. If it's not a Stingray because it wasn't badged that way then it most certainly is not a Shark.

 

[C3RVETTE]

Blah,Blah,Blah! Yada,yada!Its the same body lines all the way thru with the C3',except the rear window,& bumpers,basically.So whats the big deal anyway! Unless you're competing NCRS,or something.They are nicknames based in fact,if somewhat loosely.

 

[GATOR454]

Actually I don't really care. I was at work and didn't have anything better to do than yank a few chains while upping my post count at the CAC.

 

[C3RVETTE]

Actually I don't really care. I was at work and didn't have anything better to do than yank a few chains while upping my post count at the CAC.

Isnt that what you always do:confused :eyerole

 

[Paranoid]

It's pretty simple. If it has "Stingray" badges then it's a Stingray. Except that little Hundai running around with 'em. And forget about that Civic with the HEMI badges.