Chevrolet Corvette Second Generation the Mid Years

Chevrolet planned to build one hundred Grand Sport Corvettes in 1963. Only five ever left the factory, and all five still survive in private hands today. That’s just the beginning of the story of the second-generation Corvette’s five model years, which moved from a one-year-only split rear window to a factory 427 so powerful Chevrolet wouldn’t put the real horsepower number on paper. Read on to find out how the Sting Ray earned its reputation.

Only five. That’s how many examples of the rarest Corvette ever built by Chevrolet actually made it off the assembly line in 1963 — out of a planned run of one hundred. The other ninety-five never happened, and the reason why is one of the more overlooked stories in Corvette history. What did happen, over the five years that followed, was a mid-generation Sting Ray lineup that quietly evolved from a fragile styling experiment into one of the most feared engines on the street, with a factory horsepower rating that even Chevrolet itself wouldn’t put its full weight behind.

A Design Born From Three Different Cars

The second-generation Corvette’s styling wasn’t invented from scratch — it drew directly from three earlier projects: the “Q” Corvette concept car, the Mako Shark show car, and the Sting Ray racer. When the production version arrived for 1963, Chevrolet gave it the name “Corvette Sting Ray” and, for that year only, a distinctive split rear window that divided the back glass down the middle. The ’63 also marked the first time a genuine coupe body style joined the Corvette lineup, complete with a tapered rear deck and non-functional hood vents that existed purely for styling. The largest engine option that first year produced 360 horsepower, and the only real visible option buyers could add was a Delco electronic ignition system.

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Why the Split Window Lasted Exactly One Year

For 1964, Chevrolet reversed course on two of the ’63’s signature styling touches: the decorative hood vents disappeared, and so did the split rear window, pulled specifically because of visibility complaints from owners. The top engine option carried over mechanically but got a bump in output, from 360 to 375 horsepower. It’s a rare case in automotive history where a design detail collectors now prize as the most desirable version of a car — the split-window coupe — existed for only a single model year because Chevrolet’s engineers decided function mattered more than form.

The Z06 Option Almost Nobody Got

1963 alone offered a genuinely rare competition package under the “Z06” designation, adding stiffer leaf springs and multi-segment lined brakes with finned drums for track use — Chevrolet dropped the option after just that one model year, even though pieces of its hardware lived on as standalone options into 1964. Only 199 Z06-optioned coupes left the factory that year, and a long-running rumor about a factory Z06 convertible has never been confirmed — most Corvette historians consider it debunked, since the package’s oversized fuel tank was originally engineered around the coupe’s structure. Both model years still kept the Sting Ray’s signature hidden headlights, a styling element that would remain a C2 hallmark through the end of the generation.

Five Cars, Five Numbers, and a Cancelled Program

The rarest Corvette from these years never reached full production at all. The Grand Sport Corvette began as an ambitious plan for 1963: build one hundred lightweight competition cars to homologate the Corvette for international racing. Only five were actually completed before the program was cancelled, numbered 001 through 005. All five survive today in private collections, and their scarcity — five cars against a planned hundred — has made them among the most valuable Corvettes ever built, regardless of the more commonly cited big-block engines that came later in the generation.

1965 Brings Disc Brakes and the First Big-Block

The 1965 model year delivered two genuinely significant mechanical upgrades: four-wheel disc brakes became available for the first time, and buyers could finally order a “big block” engine option. That first big-block displaced 396 cubic inches and produced 425 horsepower, an option that would remain available through 1967 and could be paired with factory side pipes for buyers who wanted the engine’s presence to match its sound. The 1965 version of this 396 came equipped with Rochester fuel injection — and 1965 turned out to be the last full year Chevrolet offered fuel injection as an option on the Corvette for years to come.

The 427 Takes Over From the 396

For 1966, Chevrolet retired the 396 altogether and replaced it with a genuine 427 cubic-inch big block, offered in two distinct states of tune: the hydraulic-cam L36 at 390 horsepower for $181, and the solid-lifter L72 at 425 horsepower — matching the outgoing 396’s top rating — for $312. Buyers responded in a big way, with the pair combining for over 10,000 units and landing under the hood of nearly 38 percent of all ’66 Corvettes built. Beyond the engine bay, 1966 buyers could also check boxes for a “Wonderbar” auto-tuning AM/FM radio, air conditioning, a telescopic steering wheel, and headrests — comfort features that would have seemed out of place on the stripped-down ’63.

The Final C2 Year Trades Chrome for Cleaner Lines

1967 closed out the second generation with restyled fender vents and noticeably less chrome and ornamentation than the Corvettes that came before it. The backup lights switched to a rectangular shape and moved toward the center of the car, while the two-lamp taillight setup gave way to four individual red lenses — a look that would carry over into the following generation through 1968. It was a quieter, cleaner send-off for a design that had started with a split window and a tapered deck lid just five years earlier.

216 Engines Chevrolet Wouldn’t Fully Admit To

The most legendary engine of the entire C2 run arrived in its final years: the L88, factory-installed in just 216 Corvettes across 1967, 1968, and 1969 combined — a mere 20 of those in that debut year alone. Officially, Chevrolet rated the L88 at 430 horsepower — a number widely understood at the time to be conservative for insurance and marketing purposes, with unofficial figures placing the real output at 560 horsepower or higher. The L89 427 offered a different kind of high-water mark, running a Holley triple-two-barrel Tri-power carburetor setup as the most powerful naturally-aspirated option Chevrolet listed for the car. Between the L88’s underrated muscle and the L89’s factory Tri-power theater, the second-generation Corvette went out swinging. For a generation of buyers who came of age watching the split-window coupe on showroom floors, the arc from a 360-horsepower debut to a factory-underrated 560-horsepower L88 is the whole reason C2 cars still command serious money at auction today.

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