Detroit Steel

Did you know that the Shark-inspired Corvette Sting Ray of the late sixties almost didn’t happen, due to a debate over the coupe’s roof design?

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sub006

The article didn't seem to open, but I think they were saying the SIXTY-EIGHT almost didn't happen. The C3 was LATE-'60s. while the C2 spanned the early-to mid '60s (late '62 through mid-'67. And I would imagine there were more arguments about the C3 roof's potentially rattly and leaky removable panels and decreased luggage volume than the C2 coupe's already well-accepted fastback design.

PLUS the C3 was inspired by the '65 Mako Shark (which had a fastback), while the C2 came from Mitchell's '59 Sting Ray racer body on a mid-'50s Corvette SS chassis!

Nybbler

The article says the '67 almost didn't happen because that was when the C3 was planned to debut. The C3 was delayed until 1968.

fyreline

This.

Let's not read too much into this. The story of the 1968 having been delayed (it was supposed to be the 1967) is fairly well-known.

Bluestripe67

Well know old news. Glad it happened. Dennis

corvettewill

Here is my 67 L71 coupe that "almost didn't happen".

wmf62

it would make sense if the 68 was to be the 67... (I never thought much of the 68 anyways...)
Bill

Mossy66

I think that's correct. They sure made a lot of changes from the '66 for '67, only to change body styles the following year in '68.

JohnZ

The coupe roof surface design error occurred in 1962 (mold surface was designed 0.1" low to the true surface, causing the entire roof to be 0.1" low) Once the real problem was discovered, making a new roof mold was out of the question financially, and "reefing" the upper half of the coupe doors continued through the end of '67 production.

67ermineconvert

John what do you mean by reefing?

wmf62

bending the upper part of the door to fit....

see the current thread about coupe door fit

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...el-better.html


Bill

Donn21

I read the C3 was supposed to debut in '67, but there was so many issues, Zora delayed it. Turned out all the issues weren't ironed out when it did come out the following year. Personally, I'm glad it played out the way it did, (see avatar).

JohnZ

Here's a brief column on the subject I wrote for the "Vette Signal", our Michigan NCRS chapter quarterly magazine, a year or two ago:

"THE MYSTERIOUS 1968 CORVETTE LAUNCH

-or-

WHY SO MANY CONVERTIBLES?

John Hinckley


Although the 1968 Corvette program was already a year late (it was supposed to launch for the 1967 model year), only half of the program appeared at launch in August, 1967, for the 1968 model year. Why?

The original design for the coupe had a one-piece targa removable roof panel; however, the first prototype coupe testing showed that due to body and frame torsional deflection, unless the car was parked on a dead-flat surface plate, you couldn’t remove the roof panel, or install it.

This resulted in a crash last-minute redesign of the coupe body structure, which added the “T-Bar” for additional stiffness and split the roof panel into two pieces; this delayed the launch of the coupe until February of 1968, which meant that the first six months of 1968 Corvette production (10,000 units) had to be 100% convertibles.

The convertible top supplier was only tooled and manned-up to produce 60 top assemblies per day, so when Chevrolet notified the supplier that they’d need 120 tops per day, Chevrolet had to step in and help him hire and train extra people and add a third shift, and the supplier ran seven days a week for the first six months of 1968 Corvette production.

That’s why you won’t find any ’68 Corvette coupes with VIN numbers below 10,000; there weren’t any!"

sub006

My folks were friends with another couple in Orange. The husband struggled for years with an Austin Healey 3000, and the wife wanted to surprise him with a '68 Corvette from Selman Chevrolet. Must have been later in the model year because she wanted a coupe at first. Howard Selman talked her out of it, telling her the T-tops were rattly and leaky. Hubby was THRILLED with his bronze convertible, drove, loved and babied it for years.

Anybody else get a surprise like that?