by Scott Teeters as written for Vette Vues
62-Thankfully, Chevrolet cancels the 4-seater Corvette “Thunderbird Fighter
In the 1950s and 1960s, unlike some of the small, low-volume European carmakers, Detroit was all about “how many cars did we sell.” From 1955 to 1957 the Corvette and Thunderbird were obvious competitors with the T-Bird vastly outselling the Corvette in 1957, 21,380 units to the Corvette’s 6,339 units – over three-to-one! Then Ford shocked everyone by walking away from the 2-seater sports car platform to a 4-seater, almost mid-size coupe and convertible. Sales shot up to 37,892 in 1958 and by 1961, Ford sold 73,053 Thunderbirds, compared to Chevy’s 10,939 Corvettes. Cole wanted Chevrolet to have a piece of the action, so he suggested (ordered) that a 4-seater ’63 Sting Ray Coupe be built as an R&D project.
Bill Mitchell’s lead Corvette stylist, Larry Shinoda was charged with the duty of making the svelte new Sting Ray into a four-seater, Thunderbird killer. As ridiculous as that sounds, when the president of GM says, “I want to see it.” you get it done. All things considered, Shinoda did a good job. Accounts vary stating that either 6-inches or 10-inches was added to the wheelbase. The Sting Ray Coupe’s distinctive boat-tail roof, with its split window was made slightly taller and extended back just enough for minimal rear seat headroom.
According to Shinoda, when the car was presented to upper management, a ’62 Thunderbird was shown for comparison. Since the Corvette was a “running prototype,” GM executives wanted to “get into the car.” According to Shinoda, GM’s chairman, Jack Gordon got stuck in the back seat because the seatback latches “accidently” locked. Engineers had to unbolt the seats to get him out! Gordon stormed off and that was the end of the four-seater Sting Ray.
By the time the car was shown, Ed Cole had been promoted to president of GM and Semon Knudsen was the general manager of Chevrolet. According to Knudsen’s diaries, Cole was “hot” on the four-seater all the way up to the September ’62 introduction of the Sting Ray. Cole even threatened to give the concept to Oldsmobile! But Knudsen’s attitude was to let Cole hang himself. Powerful men can often be very stubborn. Eventually, the four-seater was sent to the crusher. Too bad Cole didn’t buy the car. – Scott
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