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Hey I am new to the forum so bare with me on this first reply. I have a 77 and every single person that asks about my car says "I Love the Stingrays", then I tell them mine is not. I love this site!
From: Arlington Va Current ride 04 vert, previous vettes: 69 vert, 77 resto mod
Originally Posted by Rodney Denton
Hey I am new to the forum so bare with me on this first reply. I have a 77 and every single person that asks about my car says "I Love the Stingrays", then I tell them mine is not. I love this site!
The '68 was a Sting Ray, they just did not have the nameplate on the fender.
Wrong! If they wanted it to be called a Stingray it so would have been badged. If you want to apply any fish name to a 68 then correctly it would be a Mako Shark.
I was under the impression that the late 77 was not a stingray and it does not have any of the emblems? They could have been removed before I got the car?
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Just look at the factory advertisements & publications of the era. What, I believe there is an ad from 1980 that say's "New Stingray for 1980"
And it's still just a 1980 Corvette.
They're called stingrays because of their unique fishy look. Not because it has a bigger engine, sporty suspension or a better interior. Anyone who thinks a certain C3 is a Stingray and others are not Stingrays are the same guys who believe the ProTeam 1967 Corvette is the most important "Stingray" ever in the whole wide world end of story and are foolish enough to spend 600,000 for a corvette and probably not real corvette enthusiasts anyways but just some dude who had too much beer with an ego problem on vacation in Arizona with his hot babydoll girlfriend this is the longest paragraph and diatribe I have ever put out on this board....face it, they are all Stingrays
Some Corvette history & knowledge is helpful to ID a Stingray.
63-67 In 63, the new smaller body & chassis w/ I.R.S. was called a Sting Ray.
68-77 When the body was redone in 68 at first called Sting Ray in ads & then used Stingray emblems in 69. Emblems are for identification & some can not identify w/o the emblem. Seems some place far more importance on emblems than the factory ever did. The factory wanted to change the new car so that it could be identified as new at the time.
Stingray has a meaning & is not an option or emblem, some are unmarked.
Chassis essentially same from 63-77, body essentially same 68-77 & interior essentially same from 68-77.
There can be no question that 68-77 are Stingrays.
During the C3 STINGRAY years 68-77, the term mid year came about to describe C2.
Since 63, for 15 years (63-77) Corvette & Sting Ray were synonymous.
78- 25th anniversay of the Corvette- not Stingray. Many changes.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. CORVETTE says it all anyway.
Obviously between 67 and 68 marketing would have wanted different designation to highlight the "new" design. The term "Maco Shark" is accurate, and is why C3's are affectionately known as "Sharks". For whatever reason Marketing did not follow through with the designation. By 67 the term "Sting Ray" was fully entrenched in the marketplace and was infact synonomous with "Corvette". It is my opinion that when the 68 was born, marketing was most likely divided and she left the factory an "Unnamed Child". To make matters worse it looks like the media department released sales literature maintaining the "Sting Ray" name, Accidental mistake??...We'll never know!... By 69 to save "face" I'm sure some bright spark came up with concept of "Stingray" (One word) and the rest is history.
I do not claim these to be "Facts", only those present in what I'm sure would have been "Closed door" meetings would know the "Facts", Just my opinion on a Logical explanation
From: Arlington Va Current ride 04 vert, previous vettes: 69 vert, 77 resto mod
Originally Posted by Rodney Denton
I was under the impression that the late 77 was not a stingray and it does not have any of the emblems? They could have been removed before I got the car?
Well gentlemen you can call your Vette whatever you want. But my 68 only has CORVETTE across the back. So mine is only a Corvette and i`m very comfortable with the name as I bought a Vette not a fish. Actually one of the principal reasons that I kept it for so many years. In fact I even de-badged my 63 including the FI emblems because of my distaste for the "F" word {F for stingray or fish} However it was a Stingray and I couldn`t get around that as much as I tryed and thats really why I love my 68.
Stingray was used along with Corvette from 69 to 76. All Corvettes in that time frame were Stingrays. From 63 to 67 they were called Sting Rays, 2 words, and again all were Sting Rays. No Stingrays in 68 and none after 76.
Stingrays also produced 2014 to present 2014 Stingray