The third-generation Corvette ran for fifteen model years, 1968 to 1982, longer than any other Corvette shape has lasted. It began as the Mako Shark II show car, drawn under Bill Mitchell with Larry Shinoda's hand in it, and it arrived looking like nothing else on the road. The waist pinched. The arches flared. The headlights hid away until they were wanted. People have called it a shark ever since, and the name stuck the way nicknames do.
The Stingray script, one word now, sat on the front wings from 1969 to 1976. Beneath it the story moved quickly. The 327 gave way to the 350 small block in 1969, and above that sat the 427 big blocks, including an all-aluminium ZL1 listed at 430 horsepower and quietly making rather more. Then the decade tightened. Compression came down for low-lead fuel, catalytic converters arrived in 1975, and the base engine fell to 165 horsepower. The shape never blinked.
By 1978 the coupe wore a fastback rear window, and Chevrolet marked twenty-five years with a two-tone Silver Anniversary edition and a black-over-silver Pace Car replica, honouring the first Corvette to lead the Indianapolis 500. Buyers approved. The following year, 53,807 Corvettes left the factory, a sales record for the nameplate.
“The shape never blinked.”
Drive one now and the cabin feels snug, the view forward mostly bonnet. The small block idles with the easy manners of an engine that has been rebuilt in a million garages, and parts are everywhere. Lift off the T-top panels on a warm evening and the car stops being a period piece.
Our current listings lean towards the shark years. Worth a slow look, before somebody else finds the one you had in mind.
