why are C3s referred to as Sharks? I understand the Stingray reference and it is even on the fenders, but Shark????

 

It was modeled after the Mako Shark show car of the 60s.

 

I have story about this.

I work with a women from Malaysia. So in conversation, I told her that I purchased a '79 Corvette. She didn't even know what a corvette was, let alone what company even makes them. I took her for a ride, and when she got out she said...

"It looks like a shark"

 

When the Corvette was in the planning stages, Billy Mitchell tagged it with the 'Mako shark' moniker. Even though Chevy marketing turned it into a Stingray [after he retired], the "shark" tag stuck.

 

If all about Billy's fish!

http://www.netcarshow.com/chevrolet/...shark_concept/

The XP-755 Mako Shark show car was designed by Larry Shinoda under the direction of GM Design head Bill Mitchell in 1961, as a concept for future Chevrolet Corvettes. In keeping with the name, the streamlining, pointed snout, and other detailing was partly inspired by the look of that very fast fish. The "Mako Shark" was very similar to the 1963 Corvette, with some alterations. These included adding two more brake lights in the rear (six total), making the nose of the car longer and more pointed, creating a clear glass roof with a periscope-like rear-view mirror, and remodeling the interior.

A widespread story has it that Mitchell had an actual shortfin mako shark mounted on the wall in his office, and ordered his team to paint the car to match the distinctive blue-gray upper surface gently blending into white underside of the fish. After numerous attempts to match the fish's color scheme failed, the team hit upon the idea of kidnapping the fish one night, painting it to match their best efforts on the car, and returning it to the office. Mitchell never realized the difference and pronounced himself pleased with the team's duplication on the car of nature's handiwork.

After a period, he removed the original body and redesigned it as the "Mako Shark II" in 1965. The original Mako Shark was then retroactively called the "Mako Shark I".

The 1968 Corvette styling was highly derivative of the Mako Shark II.


http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...pes/mako1.html

The story of Mako Shark II can't really start without saying a few words about Mako I.
After all, the whole "shark" theme was Mitchell's idea and many of the ideas found on Mako II were also on Mako I. The "shark" theme was such an influence on Bill that it just had to carry-on for several years. This was the start of the famous story about the paint guys having to repaint Bill's fish to match the car, too. But since I've told that one so often, I'm not going to repeat it here. It is enough to say that the iridescent blue top body fading to a white underbody was a real challenge for the paint technology of the day but, when you look back, it was really a show-stopper.

So, if I can recap briefly, in 1962 the design work on the new 1963 Sting Ray was already done. GM wanted something to promote the new car and build some excitement. I did a couple of sketches of the 63 with the back clip of the XP-700 (double-bubble roof) added. At first it was about as incongruous as a guy in a tuxedo wearing a pair of tennis shoes but we worked on it a little more until it met Bill Mitchell's approval. This was Mako Shark I, or XP-755.

Everyone had a different opinion on some of the features we put on the car. Bill was very excited about the double-bubble roof, the side pipes and the periscope rearview mirror. Some of us argued against the lexan roof but Mr. Mitchell insisted. Ed Wayne to do the actual engineering for the roof. It was quite advanced technically, with a vaporized aluminum coating on the inside to cut down on heat gain and the periscope rearview mirror built right into it. I wasn't really enthused about it but I think it would be fair to say that, at least in design terms, the roof had some roots in the bomb-shaped headrest that I had done for the StingRay SS. So I guess I can take some consolation in that.

I don't want to dwell on this, but the prism-type periscope rearview mirror was really a big item with Bill and it appeared in several other subsequent cars up to ASTRO I. Maybe the most interesting story about the periscope mirror relates to its application to that car. ASTRO I was originally supposed to meet a 31 inches total overall height. Engineering couldn't meet that target but they did get it down to 33 1/2 inches. After that, they added the periscope rearview mirror and the highest point on the car was now about 35 1/2 inches. Because it was still under 36 inches, GM designed yardsticks with the 35 1/2 inch mark prominently displayed as one of their promotional give-aways for the New York auto show, to emphasize the fact that it was so low. I've got another story about the same mirror on ASTRO III, but I'll save that for the right article.

The Mako I had a lot of other design features that inspired some of us. First, the car came with a Latham supercharger. Wally Wyss wrote about Mako I and called it a "Roots-type" supercharger and suggested that it was made by GM's Detroit Diesel Division. I think that there is a lot of similar technology reflected in these brands, but as I recall it was a Latham. In either case, this was quite an elaborate set-up, with the side draft carburetors and all. So to show off this little bit of exotica, we developed some very fine detail for the hood bulge. The radial chrome fin arrangement let you see the supercharger as you eye moved over the hoodline. This feature got a lot of play in the magazines.

In more technical terms, the car was built on a 1961 chassis and made its debut in 1962. The nose of the car was heavily customized with headlights hidden in the grille area and almost 12 inches of extra length. The tail was upswept and that meant that we had to move the rear-most cross-member forward a little bit.

The Mako Shark I had a number of features that re-appeared on Mako Shark II, as I said. A lot of these were ideas that Bill had developed and that, depending on your outlook, either added to the design or fell in the category of gadgets. This was the first time we did the pop-up brake flaps, which were mirrored panels which raised (electrically) when you applied the brakes. The mirrored coating reflected a second set of upward pointing brake lights and gave additional warning of the fact that you were slowing down. There have been many variations on this theme since and now even the federal government is in the act with its CHMSL. A lot of show cars also use different intensity LED's in the brake light package to show things like the intensity of braking.

I did most of the original design work for this car in the basement studio that they now call the skunk works in Chevy Design III. Bill gave the overall direction and I did a lot of the exterior work.

 

The C3 was modeled after the 1965 Mako Shark 2 concept car

 

Vampyre
Nice answer, reply and story.

kdf

 

what Vampyre stated is why they call them sharks, the 68-69 fender indents is why the name stuck with all C-3's

 

thanks , now it makes sense........now a more perplexing thought....

Why the name Stingray then?????????

 

that Mako II looks good! wonder if it's still out there somewhere?

 

I was wondering if/how the Pontiac concept car - believe it was called the Firebird (prior to the real Pontiac Firebird coming out and nothing like it) relates to this story. Anybody know if this concept car done after the MAKO cause it sure looks like the C-3 body shape came right from that Pontiac concept car so I'm assuming the Pontiac Concept design must have come after the Mako.

 

Is this the car your referring to?

1964 PONTIAC 'BANSHEE' XP-833