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C3= Shark Why?

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Old 02-20-2005, 07:54 PM
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bozzman3
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Default C3= Shark Why?

Why do we call our C3s Sharks? A Stingray is not a shark.
Old 02-20-2005, 07:57 PM
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it came from a concept car that ours ended up looking very much like...the mako shark...

edited for the spelling *****...

Last edited by Avette4me; 02-22-2005 at 06:08 PM.
Old 02-20-2005, 08:00 PM
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turtlevette
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because it looks like a shark.

63 thru 67 is the real Sting Ray
Old 02-20-2005, 08:05 PM
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OK, my spelling sucks...Mako Shark, it was..

Old 02-20-2005, 08:06 PM
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OK,I thought only C3s were considered stingrays?
Old 02-20-2005, 08:09 PM
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Originally Posted by bozzman3
OK,I thought only C3s were considered stingrays?
cliff notes:

they tried to get rid of the "stingray" label in '68...
people pissed and moaned..
they put it back for a while..
they took it off again (77?)...
shark still applies to all C3's...
Old 02-20-2005, 09:40 PM
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I really hate the term C3. Growing up they were always referred to as Sharks. When the '84 came it it was simply called the "New" Vette. GM did some creative history revision to help the C5 owners find a connectioon to the older cars. So they henceforth began calling the "solid Axle" cars C1, The "Mid-years" C2 and the "Sharks" C3, and so on. Personnally, I like the romantic names better than the alphanumerics. We need to come up with names for the late model cars. C4's could be the Digi dash cars, the Birdcage cars or the clamshells. I think the C5's should be called the LeMans cars cause of you know what. Obviously, the C6 could be the Exposed headlight cars or simply the new corvette until the next gen comes along. Sure marketers like the alphanumerics and we'll probably never get rid of tehm. But it would be nice to try!!!
Old 02-20-2005, 09:47 PM
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Old 02-20-2005, 10:00 PM
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Originally Posted by vwcorvette
I really hate the term C3. Growing up they were always referred to as Sharks. When the '84 came it it was simply called the "New" Vette. GM did some creative history revision to help the C5 owners find a connectioon to the older cars. So they henceforth began calling the "solid Axle" cars C1, The "Mid-years" C2 and the "Sharks" C3, and so on. Personnally, I like the romantic names better than the alphanumerics. We need to come up with names for the late model cars. C4's could be the Digi dash cars, the Birdcage cars or the clamshells. I think the C5's should be called the LeMans cars cause of you know what. Obviously, the C6 could be the Exposed headlight cars or simply the new corvette until the next gen comes along. Sure marketers like the alphanumerics and we'll probably never get rid of tehm. But it would be nice to try!!!
Old 02-20-2005, 10:08 PM
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Originally Posted by vwcorvette
I really hate the term C3. Growing up they were always referred to as Sharks. When the '84 came it it was simply called the "New" Vette. GM did some creative history revision to help the C5 owners find a connectioon to the older cars. So they henceforth began calling the "solid Axle" cars C1, The "Mid-years" C2 and the "Sharks" C3, and so on. Personnally, I like the romantic names better than the alphanumerics. We need to come up with names for the late model cars. C4's could be the Digi dash cars, the Birdcage cars or the clamshells. I think the C5's should be called the LeMans cars cause of you know what. Obviously, the C6 could be the Exposed headlight cars or simply the new corvette until the next gen comes along. Sure marketers like the alphanumerics and we'll probably never get rid of tehm. But it would be nice to try!!!


Me too
Old 02-20-2005, 10:28 PM
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I never liked that C3 name also.The shark has a more agressive name. Solid axle, mid years and shark were nice.The '84-'96 had the new corvette name and when they came up with the '97 they call it the C5. insted of calling all the other C's vette we should call them like we use to. C5 it's the '97 to '04 that it that all. GM dont just lack of imagination on creativity but in names too. Since the shark model they never came up with a vette that really knock your socks off like the shark did in '68. And so there names.
Old 02-20-2005, 10:36 PM
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Originally Posted by vwcorvette
I really hate the term C3. Growing up they were always referred to as Sharks. When the '84 came it it was simply called the "New" Vette. GM did some creative history revision to help the C5 owners find a connectioon to the older cars. So they henceforth began calling the "solid Axle" cars C1, The "Mid-years" C2 and the "Sharks" C3, and so on. Personnally, I like the romantic names better than the alphanumerics. We need to come up with names for the late model cars. C4's could be the Digi dash cars, the Birdcage cars or the clamshells. I think the C5's should be called the LeMans cars cause of you know what. Obviously, the C6 could be the Exposed headlight cars or simply the new corvette until the next gen comes along. Sure marketers like the alphanumerics and we'll probably never get rid of tehm. But it would be nice to try!!!

That is DEEP !!!!
Old 02-21-2005, 01:04 AM
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Funny how girls, esp younger girls all think the sharks are sexier, booyah
Old 02-21-2005, 10:01 AM
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I'm having a tough time adjusting to the Cx naming methodology too.

Solid axle
Mid-year
Shark (or shark-body)
Late Model
C5
C6 - I guess

That's what I call them.
Old 02-21-2005, 10:18 AM
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OK, so "shark" is easy to trace through history to the Mako. What about "stingray"? Like the originator said, a stingray is NOT a shark...
Old 02-21-2005, 10:44 AM
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Rays are a type of flattened fish and are closely related to sharks. Rays evolved from sharks. Rays belong to the group of fishes called Elasmobranchii, which also includes the sharks, skates, and ratfish. The Elasmobranchii are all fish that have no bones, only cartilage.

Wow who would have thought science classes I took would have a use in the real world Ok so I copied it from a website. I did know they were related though so my teachers/prof. must have taught me something.
Old 02-21-2005, 11:04 AM
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House cats are related to tigers, but I'd never use aspects of one to describe the other. I recognize the scientific relationship, but it seems a little obtuse to be a viable explanation for the moniker. Perhaps it was just cool sounding and they didn't realize a stingray wan't a REAL shark, but just it's slow, defenseless, floppy cousin???

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Old 02-21-2005, 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by CGGorman
Perhaps it was just cool sounding and they didn't realize a stingray wan't a REAL shark, but just it's slow, defenseless, floppy cousin???
Or they thought that the C2's were slow, defenseless, and floppy...
Old 02-21-2005, 12:07 PM
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It's all marketing...the prototype/show cars were the Mako Shark I and II, but Sting Ray/Stingray just sounds cool from an advertising standpoint. For the Mako Shark I, the styling cues were taken from a shark Bill Mitchell caught while deep-sea fishing (and there is a funny story about how the paint guys repainted the mounted shark when Mitchell was out of the office, as they couldn't get the car's paint to match the shark well enough).

I have no problem with the C1-C6 designations...they're an easy shorthand when comparing different groups of cars. The only issue I have at all is that it's off by 1 - the C6 should be the C7. If all the solid-axle cars are grouped together under the C1 designation, the mid-year and shark cars should be grouped together, too, as the chassis was relatively unchanged from 63-82 (the way I understand it - I've never had the good fortune to crawl around under a mid-year).
Old 02-21-2005, 01:16 PM
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Before the C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 nonsense. We use to refer to the different Corvette groups as subcategories such as '53-'55, '56'57, '58-'60, '61'62, '63'64, '65'66, '67, '68'69, '70-'72, '73, '74-'77, '78,'79, '80-'82 ........and so on.


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