Beschreibung:

It would be an understatement to say that America’s sports car fans were awaiting the new Corvette with anything less than excited anticipation. Leaks, hints and suggestions had been dribbling out from GM for a couple of years. Corvette designer Bill Mitchell was nothing if not adept at suggesting to his audience what was coming. While the foreshadowing looked like sharks the new Corvette arrived with the name Sting Ray and it has stuck ever since. Bill Mitchell and Zora Arkus-Duntov were a complementary pair. They both practiced the art of the possible but while Mitchell ruled the roost at GM Duntov labored to get his ideas accepted and suffered the indignity of having his competition ambitions throttled by GM management and the famous AMA ban on direct racing involvement. Mitchell ran his own race team with support from Duntov. The cars had stunning, futuristic design but unfortunately Duntov couldn’t get all the pieces they needed to match performance to their looks through Chevrolet Engineering. But enough of corporate politics. The simple fact is that the 1963 Corvette was a dramatic, exciting, wonderful breakthrough in American automobile design, engineering and specifications. Its four-wheel independent suspension was as good as the best European exotic. It should have ruled on the road course circuits of the time, and would have except for Carroll Shelby’s Cobra that mated a new lightweight, powerful V-8 engine with an antiquated, wobbly but lightweight English chassis and four disc brakes. It essentially disappeared in five years. The Corvette that Duntov and Mitchell unleashed upon the world in 1963 was still around – the same basic car, engine, drivetrain, suspension and a one-generation removed body – in 1983, two decades later. In just ten years, from 1953’s six-cylinder Powerglide boulevardier, Corvette had evolved into a race-winning contender for value-for-money champion of the world. Nothing else came close. The beautiful example offered here is emblematic of the heights that Corvette had reached in 1963. It is equipped, first and foremost, with the top of the line 327 cubic inch 360 brake horsepower Rochester fuel injected small block V-8 engine. It is backed up by the close ratio 4-speed transmission. Its power windows may surprise some collectors but performance enthusiasts in the early 60’s knew (or thought they did) that the power window mechanisms, even with motors, were lighter than the hand-wound windows. It is represented as a numbers matching example, a position that the block deck stamping, 3105012F1116RF, and the J222 (October 22, 1962) block casting date support. It is one of only 1,110 360hp fuel injected Corvette roadsters built in 1963. An NCRS-judged 96.4 point Top Flight judging in August of 1991 supports the quality of this early 90’s restoration by Master Works in Madison Heights, Michigan. It has been carefully maintained since and still is in exceptional condition. The consignor reports that everything – even the radio and clock – work on this outstanding Corvette. Finished in Saddle Tan with Saddle leather interior this is a rare and highly collectible example of Corvette’s graduation from the straight axle years to the fully-independent suspension Sting Ray. Any 1963 Fuel Injected Corvette is a collecting trophy, a welcome addition to any collection and one of the most enjoyable, exclusive and exciting cars to drive. On this one the top goes down.