- 1 of just 771 fuel-injected examples produced in 1965
- Highly optioned, including knock-off wheels, teakwood steering wheel, hardtop, and power windows
- Numbers-matching 375-HP, 327-cid fuel-injected V-8 engine mated to a Muncie four-speed transmission
- Rare and striking factory color scheme
LOT 404
Selling on Saturday
1965 Chevrolet Corvette ‘Fuelie’ Roadster
To say that the Sting Ray's arrival caused a sensation would be grossly understating its impact on the North American sports car market. Indeed, such was its runaway success that the St. Louis factory hired a second shift but still could not build cars fast enough to meet demand. Styled in General Motors' Art and Colour Studio under Bill Mitchell, the new Corvette featured radical styling pioneered on Mitchell's successful Stingray sports-racer. Beneath the skin was an all-new ladder-frame chassis with independent rear suspension, the adoption of which enabled the center of gravity to be significantly lowered, improving both road holding and ride. This new frame was the work of Corvette Chief Engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov who said, "For the first time I have a Corvette which I am proud to use in Europe." Now recognized as representing a 'golden age' for the Corvette, the Sting Ray was manufactured from 1963 to 1967 and has since gone on to become a highly collectable modern classic.
It is interesting to note that the 1965 model year would prove to be the last time one could order a C2 Sting Ray with two modern driving conveniences: fuel injection and disc brakes. This combination, which we take for granted today, would not be offered together again on a Corvette until 1982 when fuel injection was reintroduced. With only 771 of 15,376 1965 Corvette Sting Ray convertibles specified with the fuel injection option, you almost can't blame Chevrolet for striking it from the dealer catalog at the end of the model year - even as this relative rarity when new has made fuel-injected C2s among the most valuable and most desirable of all Corvette variants today.
This rare Corvette is presented in Ermine White with a striking and seldom seen white interior with contrasting red dash and carpets, and the factory folding soft convertible top is in excellent condition, having rarely been used. Factory interior options include power windows, AM/FM radio, tilt and telescopic steering column, a handsome teakwood steering wheel and genuine leather seating surfaces. All instruments and accessories work as they should. Other desirable and significant factory equipment includes a removable hardtop, power-assisted four-wheel disc brakes, and special cast aluminum knock-off wheels fitted with correct 7.75x15 gold wall bias-ply tires.
Benefiting from an older, correct, and high-quality restoration, this Corvette possesses the correct hoses, clamps, decals, stampings, and paint finishes you expect to find in a properly restored Corvette of this vintage and remains in superb condition, thanks to proper care and storage. The undercarriage is clean and displays the same attention to detail and correctness as the rest of the car. Powered by the original numbers-matching L84 fuel-injected HG-suffix 327/375-HP engine and four-speed transmission, this powerful Corvette runs and drives exceptionally well - a testament to the quality of the restoration and the fine care it has been treated to over the years.
This example is a great, matching-numbers, factory four-speed, fuel-injected 1965 Corvette - the very model which Zora Arkus-Duntov is known to have called the best of the 1963-1967 C2 production run. This is an opportunity not to be missed. Viewed simply as a car of any era, or make, it is an extraordinarily desirable and appealing example. The fact that it is a Corvette, and a last-year 'Fuelie' Corvette at that, makes this exceedingly rare and worthy of close inspection. By any measure, it is a great example of this iconic sports car.
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