blackray

I was 16 years old in 1964 and was crazy about the muscle cars long before then. I recall watching Bonanza on Friday nights and enjoying the commercials as much as the show. If my memory serves me right the Corvette was the last to be introduced and they took a few months longer to "unveiled" it on TV - seems like it was the middle of the new tv show season - December or January (and an eternity for me!) Hence one interpretation of the term "Mid Year".

Others contend it refers to the 1963-67 period which was in the middle of the sixties decade. Which was the decade of decades for the Muscle Car.

Anyone have any other information on where this nickname came from? I'd really like to share the "facts" with all my Mid Year friends.

Brian

Go to www.midyear.org if you have a Mid Year!

SWCDuke

NCRS began judging early C2 Corvettes in the mid to late seventies. At that time they were the "middle" generation of the three generations of Corvettes that were then on the road.

Thus they were given the moniker, "midyear".

The C... naming convention didn't come along until sometime in the early to mid-90s when it became known that the new Corvette GM was working on was referred to interally as "C5", so enthusiasts picked up this nomenclature as a shorthand way of referring to the various Corvette generations.

Duke

Tripleblack51

Hey Duke,

That's interesting.

I asked that question to several mid-year owners at a car show a few years ago. Most had no answer.

I finally was told that the moniker of "mid-year" was assigned to the second generation corvettes because they were built in the middle of a decade... 1963-1967.
Of course back in that era, they were just called corvettes.

I'm just happy to have my 67...the last mid-year year.
Damn...that sounds funny, doesn't it?

Regards,
Pedro

DZAUTO

As I recall it, Duke is 100% on the money. After the 68-later body style was introduced, the quickest way to distinguish between what was at that time 3 basic body styles, 53-62, 63-67 and 68-later was to call them early, mid-year and late model (keep in mind that the basic body style introduced for 68 lasted through 82----------------15 YEARS!!!). So, that's where the term mid-year came from. To me, a 63-67 Vette is still a "new" car. I clearly remember when the 63 was introduced. It was such a radical design, that it was almost as if it were from outer space! BUT, to some people, the 82 model is a dinosaur! I guess time and space will always be relative.
Also, diesel locomotives still seem kind of new to me, because I remember steam locomotives and I also remember riding to town with my mother on the streetcar! (in Okla City, streetcars went out in '48)

wombvette

Yep, this thing about mid year release is a bunch of bull. Production started in Aug. or Sept. every year and They were released in Sept. just like all of the other lines. And they are midyears, because they are in the middle of the only three styles of Corevettes built. And they were called Sting Rays before the so called C3s were produced. And thats another story.

66427-450

i agree, back then we had; straight axle cars, mid years, and smog pump cars. or at least that's what we called them in MI back in ~'75.

Ironcross

I don`t know exactly what mid year means but logically they came out in the middle of the 60`s from 63-67 between the 62`s and 68`s and were called Stingrays which was not applicable to either the 62 or 68.

wombvette

I guess they should be called mid-decades then right? A theoretical question. If the 68 up Corvette had not been produced, would they still be midyears? I rest my case.

67ratrag

Duke, DZ, You is Zactly right. They were given that name when there were only three generations of vettes. Long before the C4 and C5, they were the mid years, the 'Sting Ray', then the next model was named the 'Stingray' until the last 76 rolled off the assembly line. The "shark" moniker for the C3's came later, maybe to denote a C3 from the C2. Another subject to be debated.

blackray

I did a little more research on this question - According to Nolan Adams as quoted from his "The Complete Corvette Restoration & Tech. Guide-Vol.2 1963 through 67 here is what he has to say that may be relevant to why these Sting Rays are called "Mid Years":

"The terms "model year" and "production year" are more or less interchangeable. Both the model year and the production year straddled two calendar years,typically from August to August or September to September. The model year is used to describe the "year" of the car, regardless of the calendar year in which it was assembled: 1963 Corvettes were assembled in both 1962 and 1963. the production year is used to describe the period of time over which the St. Louis plant produced a given model year Corvette, which means that a part assembled in the middle of the 1964 production year was built in January or February, not May or June."

Could this be why 1963-67 Sting Rays were refered to as "Mid Years"? Seems more logical than to tie it to the middle generation between C1's that ran for 10 years and C3's that ran for 14yrs. If that were the case we should be calling these the "short years" rather than "mid years".

What also seems more logical to me is the brief five year run of the C2s - all in the "Mid Years" of the Sixties muscle car era! Something that has not occured since.

Jeff Garner

[Quote]: Could this be why 1963-67 Sting Rays were refered to as "Mid Years"? Seems more logical than to tie it to the middle generation between C1's that ran for 10 years and C3's that ran for 14yrs. If that were the case we should be calling these the "short years" rather than "mid years".

What also seems more logical to me is the brief five year run of the C2s - all in the "Mid Years" of the Sixties muscle car era! Something that has not occured since.[QUOTE]




NO, STILL NO! Cars today are still manufactured from the end of one year into the next model year. There was nothing unique about 63-67 Corvette production runs.
The term "midyear" again comes from the body styles between the early Vettes 53-62 and the later 68-82 Vettes.
By the way, I still refer to mine as midyear and not C2.

SWCDuke

The question has been answered and now you want to rewrite the story based on pure speculation and convoluted "logic".

Nolan's explanation of the model year and production year applies to just about every Corvette model year with a few exceptions due to strikes or a delay in getting a new model into production at the normal start of the model year in late summer. It has absolutely nothing to do with or any relationship to how 1963-1967 models became known as "midyears".

If it were the case, then virtually all Corvettes would be "Midyears". Your "logic" defies logic.

Imagine you're a Corvette owner in the mid to late seventies. There are three generations of Corvettes on the road. Use of the terms C1, C2,... lies far in the future. The early cars are informally called "solid axles", and the current models have yet to have an informal name applied. The 1963-1976 Sting Rays represent years 11-15 of the cars nearly 25 year production history.

What do you call them? "Midyears? " Nah,... makes absolutely no sense at all.

Duke

wombvette

By the mid-year production logic, the 1970 would be the only true midyear.

Now about the C1,C2,C3 thing. They are supposed to be clasified by platform, but the 63-82 is on the same platform. So if you do it right their designation shoud be C2.

Jeff Garner

Out of curiosity, I visited www.midyear.org and there it was in black and white, second sentence in, stated as a fact: 63-67's were affectionately known as "midyears" because they were introduced in the middle of the year.
First time I've ever heard that one.

SWCDuke

What a crock! Sounds like www.midyear... is FoS, like so many websites that just invent information for their own convenience.

Duke

SWCDuke

Platform? Back in the sixties a "platform" was something you dove off of into the water.

Duke

wombvette

Never did much platform diving, and never liked this C thing either. They are Y bodies aint they, then they should by Y1,Y2.

blackray

Duke,

You make a good argument because we are talking about a nickname that was created many years ago - perhaps you are right. But then again, this is your opinion and it just might be as far off as ours may be. Doesn't mean you're FoS anymore than we are. We're willing to look for the facts which in this case is anything but convenient.

In the string "AMYS 1965 Frame Off Picture Documentary" which is an official AMYS project car and also on this forum, Mike Smith mentioned that we were misguided in our interpretation of "MidYear". Our response to him was "You raise a very good question on the "Mid Year" definition and I'll put it out to the Forum on a separate string for some more feedback." We also mentioned in the opening statement above in this string that we wanted to find the truth (if that is possible) so we could share the "facts" with our many "Mid Year" friends.

So the search for provable facts continue. Is there a former Chevy Dealer out there who can shed light on advertising the Mid years or when they actually got there hands on these Sting Rays? Does anyone have an old magazine - say early 70's using the nickname "Mid Year" refering to the "rubber axle" Sting Rays (according to the straight axle guys) that can validate Duke's and Jeff's interpretation of this nickname?. Better yet, if it is mentioned at all in a magazine of the mid sixties - WOW! If so, then perhaps we're all wrong!

In any event we'll avoid being FoS as Duke put it and do our best to share the best "factual" information available with the members of the American Mid Year Society.

Thanks to all for your feedback on this!

JohnZ

There is no "search for provable facts" required - the facts are already there, and are well-known and fully-documented. C2 Corvette production started in September '62 for '63, September '63 for '64, August '64 for '65, September '65 for '66, and August '66 for '67; this is the same schedule followed for all passenger cars of the era, and new Corvettes were in the showrooms at the same time as the cars were. The term "midyear" has absolutely nothing to do with when the model year started and stopped, or when the new Corvettes were in the showrooms. AMYS should bone up on the established/documented facts before publishing some new theory invention as factual.

MasterDave