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

[C3RVETTE]

My '77 was a "Stingray",and so is my '79 :cool

 

[sherry_ridgeway]

Hi all
to the uninformed public my 77 has been called everything from a "shark" to a
"stingray" to "vette" to a "sure ass kicker"
I feel that "vettes are like people" and labels dont mean a whole lot
Espessally when ya look under the hood
just my 2 cents
Sherry

 

[stingray fsu]

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.

I have to agree with Gator here (from a Seminole no less! :eek ). My dad had a 1970 Stingray & I grew up using the name Stingray for any C3 Vette.

Now that I'm in the hobby I use "C3" more often with enthusiasts and "Corvette" with others.

Of course the best label for my Corvette is "MINE"

 

[early shark]

I believe as some others, here, have voiced their preference. The shark body had its debut in '68. It was not a stingray, however Chevrolet chose to call the '69 a stingray, and labeled it as such!

The stingray nameplate continued thru the model year '76, afterwards the model was referred to as simply a Corvette. It should be referred to by people correctly, in my opinion.

 

[Chas]

Actually the "shark" body was introduced in the early 60's...61-62....the Mako Shark...the proto type for the C-2 body style..Bill Mitchell had to have a car that looked like a shark he caught in Florida...the painters couldnt get the color just right...it HAD to match the shark on the wall....so one night the painters took the shark and painted it to match the car and Mitchell was happy....never knew the diffrence.....and in '68 the Manta Ray was introduced , bringing the next generation of Corvette's....

So the way I see it, the C-2 is a "Shark" and the C-3 is a "Ray"....

And when i was a kid we never even heard of the "C" generations....only a Vette....nothing else needed!

This is just how i see the shark thing , and its not Bible by any stretch, but this is how the cars came out , as i have read.
Chas

 

[mike weyman]

If it don't say stingray, it ain't.

 

[drags1998]

Well, this is how I see it. The General has A BAD HABBIT of calling A number of there cars names that many of us hold SACRED!!!!!! ie Z-06 is and always will be a C2. And the one that burns my A--!!!!!! A Z-16 is a big-block 65 CHEVELLE NOT A VETTE!!!!! So I would say any C3 is a sting-ray,ad

 

[Grizzly]

A Little History Lesson

Actually the "shark" body was introduced in the early 60's...61-62....the Mako Shark...the proto type for the C-2 body style..Bill Mitchell had to have a car that looked like a shark he caught in Florida...the painters couldnt get the color just right...it HAD to match the shark on the wall....so one night the painters took the shark and painted it to match the car and Mitchell was happy....never knew the diffrence.....and in '68 the Manta Ray was introduced , bringing the next generation of Corvette's....

So the way I see it, the C-2 is a "Shark" and the C-3 is a "Ray"....

And when i was a kid we never even heard of the "C" generations....only a Vette....nothing else needed!

This is just how i see the shark thing , and its not Bible by any stretch, but this is how the cars came out , as i have read.
Chas

The first Sting Ray was a racer built by Mitchell on a mule chasis for the 1957 Corvette SS in the winter of 58-59. It was raced to the C/Modified championship by Dr. Dick Thompson in 1960. It was then refurbished and put on the show circuit in 1961.

The Mako Shark II, the model for the 68-82 cars was introduced at the 1965 New York auto show as a non-working show piece.

The Mako shark I was built in 1961 and was an ugly cross between the two that was an evolution of the Sting Ray but not yet the Shark.

So if you use the show cars to define the names, 63-67 is Sting Ray and 68-82 is Shark. Always note that the newer cars spelled it Stingray, not Sting Ray as on the original cars. I think those of us who own 63-67's feel that these are the only true Sting Rays

Drags1998 is right about the General renaming things. The 68's didn't even have the Stingray script on the fenders. I think that sales weren't too good any little thing to help would be used. It was dropped when things got going good again.

Thus endth the lesson...................

 

[Chiller]

When I was growing up around Watkins Glen , alot of the older guys said that the steel bumper vettes where only ones that rated to be called "Stingrays". On another note; If your going to call any of the rubber bumper vettes a stingray, shouldn't all them be called Stingrays ?

 

[Scott Winebarger]

If it don't say stingray, it ain't.

Yeah , What he said... Mine is a Corvette !

 

[JJS]

They're all corvettes, to me!

I never refer to mine as the/a "Stingray," even though it has those badges. I don't recall ever hearing anyone else refer to it as a Stingray either, so maybe the importance of that term has something to do with the part of the country you're from.

I always refer to mine as the "Corvette." To me, they're all corvette's as I've
never seen one of any style that I wouldn't want. From C1 - C5, I love 'em all. Some maybe a little more than others, but not much more!

 

[Bender]

When I was at a car show I saw an 82 with the StingRay badge :/

 

[74bigblock]

Didn't the Stingray monacre dissapear the same year that emissions controls appeared (i.e. cats)???

 

[C3RVETTE]

When I was at a car show I saw an 82 with the StingRay badge :/

I've actually considered using one on mine,but havent.

 

[Stallion]

Well, if you see a bit of a pattern (besides a few exceptions), the people (like me) that think that all C3s are Stingrays, have one without a badge. And those that think it shouldn't be called a Stingray, have one that does have the badge. Why you guys holding that name out on us?

 

[81kix]

Ok.... My dog looks like a dog
My cat looks like a dog
So....
Should I cat my cat....Cat-Dog?
:confused

 

[Stallion]

...........why does your cat look like a dog? :confused I would look into that one.

 

[C3RVETTE]

Well, if you see a bit of a pattern (besides a few exceptions), the people (like me) that think that all C3s are Stingrays, have one without a badge. And those that think it shouldn't be called a Stingray, have one that does have the badge. Why you guys holding that name out on us?

:confused :cry I think they want to hold on to whatever they have thats a little different from the have-nots.

 

[Art Jett]

My '77 has courtesy light switches for a '76, the alarm switch is in the fender, it has crossed-flag emblems and the t-tops are 18 pin-late model. It is all oroginal. I know this cause I'm essentially the 2nd owner(true 2nd owner never even drove the car, it sat in an airplane hangar for 13 years before being sold to me). Seems like the assy. line people just put in whatever parts were close at hand at the time of assy. By the way---I think of it as a Shark, not a Stingray.

 

[Ganey]

http://ganeys.home.sprynet.com/STINGRAY.htm

Since 63, for 15 years (63-77) Corvette & Sting Ray were synonymous.

78- 25th anniversay of the Corvette- not Stingray. There is some lead time between design & production. Bill Mitchell, head of styling, who did the Stingray bodies retired from GM in 77. By this time the 78s were done w/ Mitchell's favorite color silver even in the Pace car interior & lower body. They were already working on the C4 & McLellan had said the styling would be reeled in. 84 induction & 700R4 were in production in 81. So the focus was on the C4.
http://ganeys.home.sprynet.com/STINGRAY.htm