A Most Unusual Way to Enjoy Corvettes!

Chevrolet had a great run with the C3 Shark Corvettes, selling 542,861 Shark-styled Vettes from 1968-to-1982. It all started in the spring of 1965 when then-Chief of Styling, Bill Mitchell showed upper management at Chevrolet his vision for the next Corvette, the Mako Shark-II. As distinctive as the C2 Sting Ray was, the Mako Shark-II was more so. It truly looked like “the car from another planet”. Management was blown away and wanted the Shark as the new Corvette for 1967, a mere eighteen months away!

It turned out that translating the Mako Shark-II’s shape into a car that could be mass-produced was a bigger fish to fry than management realized. The 1967 release date was pushed back to the 1968 model year, and even that was premature, consequently, the first C3s were plagued with all kinds of troubles.

Management wasn’t too broke up about it because the ’68 Corvettes sold a record 28,566 units, but they did take it on the chin, as many road tests were scathing, mostly because of quality control for a premium-priced car. In hindsight, the car should have been released as a 1969 model, but it’s all history now.

Storm Clouds On the Horizon

The 1969 Corvettes were much better. Various upgrades were implemented and trouble areas fixed. Customers continued to like the new Shark-styled Corvette, setting a big new sales record of 38,762 cars sold. Management was very happy, but there were storm clouds on the horizon. Continue reading “Fred & Alcy Panasik’s Matching His & Hers 1980 Corvettes” →