While there may be considerable enthusiast interest in a car company renovating one of its classic models, in truth there is very rarely any significance to the act.
For the most part, this kind of thing is a craven marketing move, as car companies try to pump up the volume of whatever street cred they might have by pillaging their history. In these instances, the grunt work on resurrecting a classic model usually falls to a bunch of freelance gearheads at a suburban firm that specializes in restorations.
Which is why Ed Welburn, GM's vice-president of global design, wants everyone to know that the recent work on a signature model of one of his predecessors, the legendary Bill Mitchell, was actually done in house by GM Design Staff personnel whose day job is creating new cars.
The Sting Ray Racer is undoubtedly one of the jewels of the Mitchell era at GM, which ran from 1958 to 1976 and is perhaps most famous for the popularization of the big fin suburban car.
Mitchell did not get the idea for the Sting Ray in sprawling American cities, he actually got it touring the Turin Salon in 1957, where he turned his eye to collaboration between Fiat, tuning specialist Abarth, and Pininfarina, the famous coachbuilder.
The Abarth, as it came to be popularly known, was unlike anything then running on the streets of North America. It featured a low and aggressively streamlined body over a knee-high racing car powered by a 747-cc that created 45 hp, which was a fair output for the time. Notwithstanding that demure horsepower rating, the little engine had powered the small-caliber bullet to the creation of several endurance records for running at 220 kmh over long distances.
Mitchell saw the nugget of an idea in the Abarth, centered on the car's combination of a single strong horizontal theme line accented by four vertical blips over the tires. "The simple essence of that shape would soon adorn not only the Sting Ray Racer," says Welburn, "but also the Corvette Sting Ray production models introduced for 1963."
Upon his return to the US, Mitchell shared his inspiration with Research Studio head Bob McLean, who was beginning work on a new Corvette planned for 1960. McLean turned to stylists Bob Veryzer and Pete Brock and with the collaboration of six clay modelers they created a "fresh, original shape built around Mitchell's idea."
The first full-scale model -- code-named Q-Corvette -- was completed in November of 1957.
The Q project was eventually cancelled, Welburn says, but "its fine design lived on."
After a 1957 industry-wide ban on direct factory motorsports involvement terminated the Corvette SS road racing effort, Mitchell purchased a mule chassis from the program for use in a private racing endeavor.
Designer Larry Shinoda was assigned the task of adapting key design features developed for the Q-Corvette -- that strong horizontal theme line accented by four fender blips that Mitchell so admired in Turin -- to what soon became the Sting Ray Racer.
Since the car was personally owned and campaigned by Mitchell as a method of getting around the racing embargo, it carried absolutely no Corvette or General Motors identification. This carries the notion of a privateer racing effort to new heights.
For the most part, this kind of thing is a craven marketing move, as car companies try to pump up the volume of whatever street cred they might have by pillaging their history. In these instances, the grunt work on resurrecting a classic model usually falls to a bunch of freelance gearheads at a suburban firm that specializes in restorations.
Which is why Ed Welburn, GM's vice-president of global design, wants everyone to know that the recent work on a signature model of one of his predecessors, the legendary Bill Mitchell, was actually done in house by GM Design Staff personnel whose day job is creating new cars.
 |
| Sting Ray Racer (photo: General Motors) |
Mitchell did not get the idea for the Sting Ray in sprawling American cities, he actually got it touring the Turin Salon in 1957, where he turned his eye to collaboration between Fiat, tuning specialist Abarth, and Pininfarina, the famous coachbuilder.
The Abarth, as it came to be popularly known, was unlike anything then running on the streets of North America. It featured a low and aggressively streamlined body over a knee-high racing car powered by a 747-cc that created 45 hp, which was a fair output for the time. Notwithstanding that demure horsepower rating, the little engine had powered the small-caliber bullet to the creation of several endurance records for running at 220 kmh over long distances.
Mitchell saw the nugget of an idea in the Abarth, centered on the car's combination of a single strong horizontal theme line accented by four vertical blips over the tires. "The simple essence of that shape would soon adorn not only the Sting Ray Racer," says Welburn, "but also the Corvette Sting Ray production models introduced for 1963."
Upon his return to the US, Mitchell shared his inspiration with Research Studio head Bob McLean, who was beginning work on a new Corvette planned for 1960. McLean turned to stylists Bob Veryzer and Pete Brock and with the collaboration of six clay modelers they created a "fresh, original shape built around Mitchell's idea."
The first full-scale model -- code-named Q-Corvette -- was completed in November of 1957.
The Q project was eventually cancelled, Welburn says, but "its fine design lived on."
After a 1957 industry-wide ban on direct factory motorsports involvement terminated the Corvette SS road racing effort, Mitchell purchased a mule chassis from the program for use in a private racing endeavor.
 |
| Sting Ray Racer (photo: General Motors) |
Since the car was personally owned and campaigned by Mitchell as a method of getting around the racing embargo, it carried absolutely no Corvette or General Motors identification. This carries the notion of a privateer racing effort to new heights.