Corvette Model Gallery
Sting Ray III
1992
Concept cars come and go but once a Corvette label is hung on one it’s there forever. This could describe the eggplant purple roadster built by the GM Advanced Concept Center in the early 90's. Although it was pitted against the designs of John Cafaro, designer of the C5, did it ever have a chance to become the next Corvette? Originally designed by the ACC to hold a V-6 engine, it was later refitted with an LT1, it was envisioned to return Corvette to its roots as a simpler more affordable sports car. This fact alone may have been reason enough for its demise as the future Corvette. Whether GM admits it or not Corvettes future path was set in the early 80's as a high tech, high end performance car and this was not a road the Stingray III could have traveled.
Davis Palmeter built this "Fantasy '97 Le Mans winner" based on the Sting Ray III.
The car is based on the Revell Sting Ray III as a 40th anniversary tribute to the '57 GT winner at Sebring.
The car is painted Testors 1245 White and the wheels are Testors 1203 Red. The interior is Testors 1250 Flat Red.
The wheels and tires are Arii parts pack pieces.
David's comments:
This is a car I did in 1993 as a fantasy "1997 Le Mans Winner". I have always been fascinated with the 1957 Sebring Corvettes so I made this as a 40th anniversary tribute to the '57 GT winner at Sebring. The car is based on the Revell Sting Ray III and the engine has overhead cam heads from the Revell Corvette Indy kit. The driver's seat is from a Revell T-Bird pro-street car, cockpit electronics are from a Revell Whistler Trans-Am Mustang and a scratch built roll cage, a 5-point harness and a fire bottle were added to the interior. The convertible top was sanded smooth to represent a hardtop, the body scoops have been opened up and backed with fine mesh, hood notched for an air intake, roof and side marker lights, antenna and racing fuel filler added. The car is lowered and modified for very wide tires and photoetched rotors are used with the stock calipers. The wheels and tires are Arii parts pack pieces. The car is painted Testors 1245 White and the wheels are Testors 1203 Red. The interior is Testors 1250 Flat Red. The blue stripes are Auto World tape - great stuff - flexible and thin and, unfortunately, long since discontinued. The car was photographed by Pat Covert at the October, 1993 Toledo NNL and was the lead photo in the coverage for that event in the April, 1994 Scale Auto Enthusiast. It also won the "Best in Show" in what may have been the first ever "cyber contest" on CompuServe in 1995. My proudest moment, however, was when it showed up as a feature car and COVER car in the May, 1995 "Car Modeler". The feature article was written by Tim Powers. I don't get much built these days but this one has kept me smiling for severalyears.
If you would like to contact David on this model go to: www.palmeter.com
Page updated 01/03/05