A Quick History of the Corvette Stingray (aka Corvette Sting Ray)

The Corvette Stingray moniker has adorned the “base” model since the 2014 C7 generation’s debut. But the name dates back to 1959.

Since the C7 era of the Corvette was introduced for the 2014 model year, the “base” model has been named the Stingray. Today, the Stingray is a mid-engine sports car with a 6.2-liter V8 mounted behind the driver’s seat, offering 490 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque. When the Stingray name was first introduced by Chevrolet, it was back in 1959 on the Corvette Stingray Racer. Stingray Racer images courtesy of Wikipedia.

The 1959 Corvette Stingray Racer was, as you may have guessed, a race car. While it was technically a concept car, it did see some racing action with Dr. Dick Thompson at the wheel. The car made its racing debut in 1959, winning its class and finishing fourth overall.

After several revisions to the body, the dry weight was reduced down to just 2,000 pounds. When coupled with the 280-horsepower, 283-cubic inch Chevy V8, the Corvette Stingray Racer was quite quick, helping Thompson to win the SCCA championship in 1960. Of course, the biggest impact of the Stingray Racer was the exterior styling, much of which went into the production version of the C2.

C2 Sting Ray

The first production use of the Stingray name came in 1963, with the introduction of the C2 Corvette. From 1963 through 1967, the name Sting Ray in two-word form accompanied Corvette on all C2 models.

C3 Stingray

It would continue to be part of the Corvette name during the C3 generation, except from 1968 through 1976, it was featured as one word, Stingray. For the 1969 model year, the Stingray script logo was removed and it would not show up again until the 2013 debut of the 2014 C7 Corvette. C2, C3, C7, and C8 images courtesy of General Motors.

C7 & C8 Stingray

Of course, since the 2014 model year, Stingray has been the name of the base model Corvette. This continues with the C8 models for 2020 and is likely to continue into the future.

Editor’s note: this content was originally published in a longer singular post about four Corvette trim level histories. We’ve divided them up to help people find them easier. 

Glossary

A Quick History of the Corvette Stingray
A Quick History of the Corvette Grand Sport
A Quick History of the Corvette Z06
A Quick History of the Corvette ZR1

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