Biggus Blockus

I know it's a silly question, but I've been involved in the Corvette hobby for 15 years and I"ve always heard the term "midyear" and used it myself to describe 63-67 vettes.

Anyone know the origins of this nomenclature?

My guess is when the 68-72 were considered "late models" the term showed up to describe the "middle 60s model years" then shortened to the term we know today. Just a guess. :confused:

SWCDuke

I think you are correct. In the early to mid-seventies the C2s were the middle years of the 20 or so years of production, so the term came into use.

C1...C5 came into use recently when it became known in the early nineties that a new Corvette in development was being referred to internally by GM as the C5.

C3s are often referred to as "Sharks" - no doubt because its design derives primarily from the Mako Shark II show car, but I'm not sure how long that nickname has been used.

"Solid axle" goes back to the sixties when Stingrays were current, and sometimes they were referred to by the pejorative "rubber axle."

It's interesting that vintage Corvettes all have affectionate nicknames but late models are just known by numbers.

Duke




[Modified by SWCDuke, 8:48 PM 7/16/2002]

62fuelie

In days of yore, (pre shark days) Vettes were simply known as Corvettes (C1's), or as "Stingrays" C2's. Life was simpler in those days. :D

K2

It was the middle of the decade of the 60s. 61 and 62 were the last of the C1s then the C2s were the "middle" (63,64,65,66,&67) and the sharks of 68 and 69 finished off the decade and oh what a decade it was!! :smash:

66427-450

You're correct (Nucking Futs)..... I first heard the term used in the 70's to describe the post-straight axe/pre-shark cars.

Swamp Thang

Am I the only one who gets angry when people call the '63-'67s as a C2s?? Something about that just sounds so wrong to me. Maybe it's just that I do not believe the C5 is the center of the Corvette universe. :D

7vettes

I've got some pretty old Vette mags/books and in some of them the "Sharks" are referred to as the 5th Generation Corvette. :eek:

Every Vette I've ever owned has simply been called "the Vette", or by its year, and I see no reason to change.

7vettes

I just came in from the pool, whence I also had a couple of my special Kettle One Bloody Marys. :cheers: That combo reminded me of an incident at the Ecklers Spring Show back in May when an especially animated attendee approached me and asked if I was the guy who'd gotten out of the "black C2", as they pointed to my 64 parked up on the hill behind the main show grounds.

In so-many-words I told them ,"no......I'm driving the Daytona Blue Sting Ray up there", as I pointed to the same car. Turns out this person was very nice and very interested in Vettes, and it was a fun encounter, but when was the last time someone asked if that was your "Sting Ray" over there?

Bluestripe67

I had a young one in his late teens in traffic about two months ago ask, is that a Stingray? He was driving a late model Mustang.

KingRat

I agree with K2. It isn't easy to describe the Vettes from the sixties as "60s" Vettes. I think when the Sharks came out people described Vettes as Solid Axles, Midyears, and Late models.

62fuelie

In print, I have seen some folks make 3 generations out of the solid axles: 53-55, 56-57, 58-62. By this reasoning there's got to be at least two or three generations of sharks, and the 84-96's have got a couple of gens as well. Let's see, that would make the 97-02's C8's or C9's, maybe even C10's or C11's 'cause you can divide the MY's into 63-64's and 65-67's. :crazy:

SWCDuke

Chevrolet would have done us all favor if they had called the '68 model the "Corvette Shark". It would have made sense because the design was based on the Mako Shark II concept car, and "Shark" is certainly more ferocious sounding than "Sting Ray". Though they pack a powerful tail stinger, stingrays are usually quite docile and rarely bother divers unless they are provoked. Sharks, especialy the larger species, are something best to avoid.

For the '68 model year the name "Sting Ray" disappeared from both the body emblems and the sales literature. Then, for the '69 model year the name returned, but was spelled "Stingray" rather than "Sting Ray". BTW the former is the way Bill Mitchell spelled the name for the original Stingray racer that he built on the mule Corvette SS chassis and raced with Dick Thompson as driver in '60 and '61. The design of the Stingray was inspired by a shark (Mitchell was an avid tropical fisherman), but he called it the Sting Ray instead. No one seems to know why. Maybe he thought that shark sounded too predatory.

The "Stingray" name disappeared later in the C2 model run, but I can't remember the year.

No one that I am aware of has ever come up with the explanation tall this name business, but I suspect it would be contain some interesting history on the internal political stuggle within GM over who controlled the Corvette.

Duke

wombvette

First let me say that I detest the C designations. they mean nothing to me. I was in the Corvette buisness almost 20 years before the dreaded C`s came into being. A fabrication of some GM shirt who needed a handle to refer too. In reality there have been only Four distinct Platforms and that should be what defines a generation. All Solid axles were built on an and share the same chassis. Mid Years and Sharks share the same platform. 84-96, and the present models. But these designations in many cases are not descriptive enough so there are terms like, solid axle, rubber axle, midyears, Sharks, etc. to describe them. I would rather a person refer to the year of the specific car in question and I will not have to sit down and cipher which one he is talking about.

INMYBLOOD

(NuckingFuts) I also think you guessed it right. I also think those who came up with the "midyear " term probably feel they did not make any corvettes after 73. :jester

Donn 66

What ever you call a MID-Year there cool ! I go for STINGRAY myself but Corvette , vette , Mid year , Stingray , they are the coolest one ever built!! :cool: :cool: :cool: