The hoodscoop was reversed, perhaps by accident. Dat sideboob, tho.
Aside from old TV shows, I didn’t exactly have that sort of guidance when I was a kid. Case in point: the mullet haircut. I eventually knew about the stereotypes, but properly done, like a leading 1980s TV actor, I thought it was pretty cool. I even rocked one akin to it for a while during college. Pictures show that I didn’t look as good as I thought back then. Lesson for future daughter: long hair, regardless of style, requires a lot of maintenance.
So if I was to say that I lust over the Corvette Summer Corvette, does that make me a misguided fool? It isn’t the most loved Corvette out there. Outside some scratch-built model kits, you won’t find any merchandise of it. For such a well-known car, the desire to build clones is non-existent, and the brave few that dare have to deal with rare, overpriced pieces from a guy who knows a guy, or build everything from scratch. Just checking out its IMCDb page, most of the comments are about how ugly it is. That’s pretty sad. It kinda makes me want to stand up for it. Then again, lust doesn’t necessarily go by what’s beautiful. Judging by my taste in women, I should know.
In case you’ve forgotten, this is how the ‘Vette was in the beginning.
Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder with this one, and it doesn’t look more beautiful to anybody else except Kenny, the movie’s main protagonist. While the local high school shop class was looking for a project car, Kenny –as if by divine intervention- notices, thanks to a falling ‘Corvette’ badge, a rare once-in-a-lifetime opportunity literally passing by over him: a junked, 4 year old Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. After frenetically stopping the car’s date with the crusher, it was chosen as their project.
- Mr. McGrath: What are you doing in here anyway?
-Ken: I don’t know. I was thinking. Maybe we should’ve lowered that spoiler. Maybe even gone for a wing (sic) or a fastback.
- Mr. McGrath: What are you getting me, it’s perfect. Be proud of it.
-Ken: Yeah, you’re right. It is perfect.
While a MacArthur High School Advance Auto Shop class build, it’d be Kenny that would have the deepest bond with the car. Before laying down fiberglass, he drew the sketches, made a small-scale clay model, etc. It became his sole distraction. He even considered using it as his rolling resumé. After being stolen under a classmate’s nose, Kenny went to search for his ‘Vette. Ending up in Las Vegas and teaming up with Vanessa, Kenny would get into plenty of trouble, sometimes life-risking, every time he got close to his now-repainted gold ‘Vette. But not even a visit from his shop teacher could sway his quest.
-Mr. McGrath: Listen Dantley—Kenny: I’ve been around automobiles all of my life. They’re mechanical devices, they always let you down. You buy ‘em, you drive ‘em, you break ‘em, you fix ‘em, you sell ‘em. Goods in the market place. Easy come, easy go. Don’t get too attached to this car.
- Ken: You don’t fool me, Mr. McGrath. You might’ve seen a lot of cars, but you love this one just as much as I do.
After selling out and joining the gang that stole his ‘Vette, Kenny came back to his senses, pull an all-nighter repainting it red with all its graphics, and made his way back home with Vanessa. The ‘Vette would have to flex its muscles, as the gang ring leader wasn’t going to let him get away.
After a life-endangering chase, the ‘Vette is returned to Kenny’s high school. Kenny gets his diploma, but leaves the ‘Vette there for another one of his schoolmates to take care of, rather than take the opportunity to buy it.
From the rear, I find that the rear fender flares jut straight out and protrude too much. It’s purposeful alright, but in a showy car, I feel that function and form have to meld as best as they can, and I don’t feel it was achieved here. Then there’s the stance. I’m a firm believer that proper stance can transform even the most mundane vehicle and ruin the best of ‘em. Whether it’s by practicality for filming or just a plain oversight, the Corvette just sits a little too high for my taste. Could be that the wheel wells are a bit too big, even with those rims and tires doing their best to fill them. Maybe Kenny should’ve stuck around with the lowrider crew a little longer for some pointers.
Like the hoodscoops, the tilt hood is said to have been made from scratch. Headlights are said to be Monza’s or Caprice’s. Molds were taken to build the back-up car (more on it later). It’s said that the molds were in a museum, but I’ve found no evidence of this. Another source said that they were destroyed before filming ended, and the builder had to make it all again from scratch for a customer car back in the ‘90s. Under that hood and dressed up in shiny bits is a plebeian smallblock Chevy with a slushbox tranny.
My biggest pet peeve aesthetically speaking is the big, gaping mouth the ‘Vette has under that pointy nose. It feels like something’s missing, and those two foglights tacked there barely help. If the designers would’ve paid more attention to this particular area –reshaping/redesigning the bottom lip- the ‘Vette would’ve looked a little less weird. After all, this is the face of the car we’re talking here. On the other hand, lack of air going to the radiator shouldn’t be a problem, right?
I like RHD conversions. I like the idea of our regular cars being driven from the other seat. The idea of driving like they do on certain parts of the world as well catching people off guard is fun! Almost makes up for the added trickiness of using drive-thrus or creeping into another lane as one’s brain still think you’re still LHD. Story-wise, the conversion was done so that the driver could get closer to the girls on the sidewalk while cruising. Production-wise, rather than building and troubleshooting a system from scratch, the steering box was left on the stock location, using –I kid you not- motorcycle chains and sprockets for steering wheel input on the right. But while it’s the steering wheel that gets all the looks, the pedals are just as important. The hardware (brake booster, master cylinder) was also left in place, with transfer shafts crossing from left to right. Crude, but it got the job done.
The picture above originally comes from a period Corvette News article. You can find it here. The ‘Stingray’ script as well as the flame job on the fender flares differ a bit from the picture shown earlier. This picture could’ve been taken when the car was painted gold.
The car’s design came down to Art Director Jim Schoppe. Further sketches were provided by Tom Daniels and Roy Jones. With the California custom kustom car scene as inspiration –as well as input from production designer Michael Haller- he designed the car for maximum camera exposure as well as filming duty, meaning that there were choices made to ease the burden on both car and crew. The front tilt hood is a good example of this: it allowed cameras to be mounted to the underbody without further modifications. It’s also the reason why the cars don’t have the considered superchargers –one less thing to break down.
Photographic evidence shows that the B car was the one painted gold.
The cars –there were two made for filming, a close-up car and a less detailed back-up/stunt car (A car and B car, respectively) were sourced from a junkyard (!). According to SuperChevy.com, the A car was an insurance write-off destined for the crusher after a serious rear-end collision. Another website allegedly quoting an Australian car magazine says that the B car was another insurance write-off after a wet-weather crash. It wouldn’t be the last time the B car would come close to scrap due to the wet stuff, but more on that later… Anybody else saying that there were more cars built are WRONG.
The Corvette Summer Corvette Stingray wasn’t the only ‘Vette that Richard “Korky” Korkes built. It wasn’t even his only custom! Some info on the legend here. Not sure who’s that in the middle.
$30,000 and just 13 weeks were given to the man responsible for the ‘Vettes (and bad guy Firebirds). They were built and looked after by legendary customizer Richard “Korky” Korkes. He ultimately became the caretaker of the ‘Vettes after the movie wrapped (the studio didn’t want ‘em, they only paid for the conversion). He also became a bit of a script advisor and taught Mark Hamill a thing or two.
Broken chin spoilers and vapor lock weren’t the only things that the ‘Vettes suffered from during filming. One of the ‘Vettes was stolen, the A car. Drove right off the lot. I kid you not; you can’t make this stuff up! It was soon recovered. Turns out it was all based on internal studio politics: one group wanted to get the other fired, so they set ‘em up to take the fall. Later on, the name of the movie, originally called Stingray, was swindled from under them for another movie, hence the title Corvette Summer.
Street & Strip, issue 7, 1987, edited by yours truly, just to be safe. We can tell that the B car has been rebuilt and improved upon. Some info on the article found here. No pictures, sadly.
Stories circulating Corvette forums and backed by an Australian newspaper clip tell that the B car was wrecked while being shipped cross-country years after the movie wrapped. A small custom shop in Brisbane, Smooth Customs took on this major task. Not only did it end up being fixed, it was completely overhauled. It’s said that it received a 454 Chevy big block with twin downdraft cars with a Turbo 400 trans. The car was made properly roadworthy in Australia, which it has to be, since they’re more stringent down under, meaning that all its movie-prop shortcuts and faults had to be remedied. Even the hood and hoodscoops had to be made new due to how poor the quality of the original was. Basically it’s Corvette Summer Corvette Stingray 2.0. Pictures and descriptions of the job can be found on their Facebook page. My book source, printed in 2010, mentioned that the B car is said to be in Japan, but it appeared in a 2015 Australian auto show:
The pics above were found on a public shipping services auction site, of all places. The date: 2015. The destination: New Orleans. The shipment: The Corvette Summer Corvette… or is it? Bonus: Comment says that the paintjob alone is worth $18K. I don’t doubt that.
The A car was sold to an individual. It later became part of the long-since closed Corvette Americana Museum. It was on display on Mid-America Motorworks’s My Garage Museum exhibit, but doesn’t show on their web list, despite being one of their more popular cars. Other than that, I’ve found no concrete evidence that it’s been sold. In their care, the car’s unrestored, though the T-tops and shiny bits under hood are different from the ones on the movie. I wish I had answers for the picture compilation above. The only thing that they tell is that the Corvette Summer ‘Vette mythos is alive and kicking.
It used to be that the main thing that enticed me about the Corvette Summer Stingray was the kischiness of it all. Then the story added a whole new dimension to the car(s). I also found another reason to respect the Stingray: many people stating that this was their gateway-Corvette, sending them down the fiberglass-lined rabbit hole of Chevrolet’s sports car. That alone makes it endearing for many, despite that their tastes have changed, probably. I can respect this because I can relate to the process since it’s happened to me, in my case with Pokémon, among other things. Liked I as a kid, not into it now, but without it I wouldn’t have progressed in my drawing style. And I’ve hinted before how important is drawing is for me. Part of it sticks to you, and you’re cool with it because you can’t imagine being who you are today without it, regardless of how small it is in the grand scheme of things.
I hope my future daughter can agree.
--Tigerstrypes
References:
Opening pic: http://www.wallpaperup.com
Movie poster: Tumblr
Gifs made by moi, powered by Giphy. Find ‘em here, here, and here.
Wreck and high school class pic: IMCDb.
“Have You Seen This Car” pic: printscreen
Chase scene: www.corvetteonline.com
Period model and ‘Vette: Tumblr
Concept artwork: Google Books
Rear end: Pinterest
Car wash: Photobucket
Hood bulge and asymmetrical scoops: http://www.corvettefever.com
Film crew: http://neatocoolville.blogspot.com
Korky’s Kustoms ‘Vettes: Photobucket
Cobbled-up Aussie news: http://www.makoshark2.com
Street and Strip magazine: http://www.motorbookworld.com
B Car in Sydney: http://www.streetmachine.com.au
A Car repaint: http://www.uship.com
Recommended: https://www.facebook.com/SmoothCustoms/
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