Buyers Guide

Hidden Gem Corvettes, Pt. 6: C2 1964-1967 383 Stroker “Lightweight” Sting Ray

A Do-It-Yourself Lightweight Driver C2 Sting Ray Corvette? 

Scott Teeters··
Last updated:

1963 Corvette Sting Ray – The American Performance Car From Another Planet

When the new 1963 Sting Ray arrived on the covers of car magazines and in Chevrolet dealership showrooms, it was a complete game changer. The Sting Ray Coupe looked like nothing ever seen before. Compared to regular cars in 1963, such as the Chevy II, the Ford Falcon, and the Plymouth Valiant, the Sting Ray looked like “the car from another planet”.

The new Corvette Sting Ray wasn’t just a pretty face. It was, in fact, a vastly improved sports car. Structural design and styling work started around 1960. By then, Fuelie Corvettes were becoming the dominant force in SCCA racing. Thanks to the stout 283 Fuelie and the availability of Zora Arkus-Duntov’s “Racer Kit” RPO option, racers such as Dave MacDonald, Bob Bondurant, and others put Corvette on the sports car racing map. The TV show “Route 66” brought Corvettes into the living rooms all across America. Corvette was on its way to becoming “America’s sports car.”

Members only$35 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

CorvSport Membership is for people who'd rather spend an hour inside one engine option than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • Every members-only story

    Deep history, market reports, buyer's guides, and the full archive back to 2010.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • Every model year, 1953 to today

    Production numbers, VINs, RPO codes, colors, options — one page per year.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every CorvSport shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join CorvSport — Keep Reading

$35 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CORVETTE PEOPLE, NOT A CORPORATION. Your membership keeps a small independent team of historians, photographers, racers and writers doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $35/yr