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Here's the story...
The 1965 Mako Shark II may well have been the most exciting Corvette show car of all time. This one show car had more direct impact on future production Corvettes than any other. The car was a world traveler as GM trotted the Mako Shark II all over the automotive globe, wowing car lovers everywhere it went.
By 1968, with the debut of the new C3 Corvette, the Mako Shark was old news. But when your pockets are as deep as GM's, why not make a great thing even greater? Even though $2.5 million had been spent on the Mako Shark II, the General spent almost another $3 million on the Manta Ray!
The biggest change was the long, tapered tail, a 'la the Astro Vette Show Car. Endura bumpers gracefully covered functional metal bumpers. The roof line featured a beautiful, sweeping, tapered style, similar to a Sting Ray roof, but scooped out with a small slot for a rear window. For hard braking and turn signaling, flip up lights popped out of the rear deck. Four taillights were fared in under the rear bumper line with a center-located license-plate holder.
An awesome show car should have an awesome engine. The Manta Ray used the new, all-aluminum, ZL-1 engine with a special air cleaner. Side pipes were beautifully crafted into the side rocker panels and sounded great. This was part of the Bill Mitchell trademark.
The nose of the car was basically unchanged, except for an extended bumper ring around the air inlets and a small chin spoiler. Normal sideview mirrors were deleted in favor of small, bullet-shaped mirrors that were attached to the top of the A-pillers. Like the previous Mako Shark cars, the Manta Ray was painted dark blue with pearl white fogging along the lower edges. Special badges and Corvette crossed-flags insignias completed the car.
This may have been the last "pure" show car Corvette. Later show cars were serious engineering studies. Cars like this sure got a lot of us juiced up for the "next" Corvette. Ah, the stuff of daydreams!
Be sure to check out the NEW Illustrated Corvette Series Portfolio.
This portfolio of Scott Teeters' "Vette Magazine" series, covers every production Corvette from 1953 to 1996. Also included are all of the major Corvette show cars, engineering prototypes, concept cars, and several Corvette racers.
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