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Art & Inspiration The Mako Or Manta Ray II

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Ryan, Feb 7, 2018.

  1. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
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    Ryan submitted a new blog post:

    The Mako Or Manta Ray II

    [​IMG]

    Continue reading the Original Blog Post
     
  2. Bill Mitchell was a genius.

    I thought you were going to mention Jeffries' Manta Ray as well......
     
    scotty t likes this.
  3. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
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    I love Dean's car as well...

    [​IMG]

    But it's more "custom car" than prototype... and in my mind there is a difference. Hard to pinpoint exactly what that difference is, but I feel like the Mako II had a little more continuity to it. Which is understandable being GM had a much larger budget obviously...
     
  4. Love that car, especially the rear. The correlation between certain details of the body just... works!

    2.jpg
     
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  5. czuch
    Joined: Sep 23, 2008
    Posts: 2,688

    czuch
    Member
    from vail az

    I saw a Manta ray in the Indian ocean that we could have landed a CH-46 on.
    He was just sunning right below the surface.
    They are awe inspiring.
     
    Stogy likes this.
  6. Not disputing the difference, I get that.

    I was thinking that if I had seen the Ray, I guess it would have reminded me more of Dean's Manta Ray...

    Not that I don't see the genius of Mitchell's design. It is brilliant, damn near organic....

    Excellent topic!
     
    Ryan likes this.
  7. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
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    Yes... If you swim next to a ray, you will see all of these details you pointed out in the animal as well... It's really, really amazing... and not something I had ever noticed before.

    The ray I swam with was about 9 to 10' across and easily 5 to 10 times my own mass. He was huge... and slippery... and graceful... and...

    It's funny, I started this whole dive thing because I want to be in the water with as many different shark species as I possibly can. I'm still doing the shark thing, but I've become much more enamored with Rays simply because I see so much automotive design in them.
     
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  8. Jeffries car may feel like it is more in our scope and it was a beautiful car but you have to admit the Mako eventually became the stingray on the showroom floor and while we seldom see them in our little piece of hot rod history they were beautiful cars and could be had by anyone with the means.

    This may take this entirely off the rails and I will apologize before hand but the other Mitchel car that I really liked was the 'vair concept. I built a slot car with one of these bodies when I was a kid and always wished I could have owned one.

    cm1.jpg
     
  9. Big Plan Dan
    Joined: Sep 16, 2015
    Posts: 138

    Big Plan Dan
    Member

    Does anyone know what happened to Jeffries' car? It was displayed in his Hollywood shop for years. He died a couple of years ago. This car really helped build his career. I look at it and marvel at how well the body was designed and formed...all by someone with the resources that are available to us HAMBers. In the late 70's or early 80's I took my '27 T roadster to Dean Jeffries for a flame job...he had it done in about an hour. Speaking about customizers, Gene Winfield was at last week's Grand National Roadster Show, along with his old shop truck which is owned by someone else and has been restored. The work and design on that ruck are very impressive!
     
  10. wvenfield
    Joined: Nov 23, 2006
    Posts: 5,580

    wvenfield
    Member

    Being a young kid when this car came out it was certainly impressionable. The only negative about the car is it inspired some very ugly creations that came after it.
     
    Atwater Mike likes this.
  11. I don't know who owns it now but it was shown at Pebble Beach last year.
     
    HEMI32 likes this.
  12. Rolleiflex
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,243

    Rolleiflex
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    I love the Mako Shark I and II, but I don't care for the running version of the Mako Shark II quite as much (the one pictured with Bill Mitchell). The non-running Mako II is just a work of art.
     
    63fdsnr likes this.
  13. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
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    Totally agree... They had to dumb it down a bit I guess... The only thing on the original concept I'd change is the stance. It needs less fender gap all the way around.
     
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  14. !REPORT! :D Off topic.

    Just messing with you Boss. HRP
     
    Bubba1955, loudbang and czuch like this.
  15. Ryan,

    The story behind the color scheme goes even deeper- Mitchell told the team that he wanted to match the colors of the shark in his office, but every time they painted the car, he balked- "too light, too dark, doesn't match", etc...

    Finally, they waited until a weekend, took the big fish off the wall, off the mount and paint IT to match the car, and put it back in Mitchell's offices so that they wouldn't have to paint the car any more :D
     
  16. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
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    Yeah, I've always wanted to paint a '65 riviera with a similar scheme... of course, a '63 split window would work pretty well too!
     
  17. keywestjack
    Joined: Jul 14, 2013
    Posts: 96

    keywestjack
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Pittsburgh

    Probably why I love the C3 generation of Corvettes.
     
  18. love them both !
     
  19. czuch
    Joined: Sep 23, 2008
    Posts: 2,688

    czuch
    Member
    from vail az

    HA!!! I got quoted by the Boss!!
     
  20. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
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    That's no honor my man... That's a kin to a curse in some circles in fact!
     
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  21. AndersF
    Joined: Feb 16, 2013
    Posts: 884

    AndersF
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  22. GordonC
    Joined: Mar 6, 2006
    Posts: 3,141

    GordonC
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    No matter how you slice it they are swoopy bastards and great to look at!
     
  23. treb11
    Joined: Jan 21, 2006
    Posts: 3,948

    treb11
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    Still have the remains of a MPC Mako II kit buried in my junk. Can't throw it away, too purty.
     
  24. lostone
    Joined: Oct 13, 2013
    Posts: 2,820

    lostone
    Member
    from kansas

    Yeah Bill Mitchell needs to give John delorean and Pontiac credit for that one.
    Delorean and Pontiac designed and built it in 1963 to become the 1964 Pontiac banshee concept car but g.m. pulled the plug and turned it over to Chevy. Old news.

    Here's a pic
     

    Attached Files:

  25. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
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    I always hear that argument from Pontiac folks, but the Mako I was shown three years before the Banshee project even started up under Delorean. And the Mako II started at around the same time as the Banshee...

    At the Corvette museum in Bowling Green, they mention that the two design teams shared members as freely as they shared design ideas and cues. So, I'm betting both the Banshee and the Mako II were done parallel to each other while Delorean and Bill Mitchell fought for the in-house credit. And at the end of the day, it would be hard to argue that Delorean had a better eye than Mitchell given their respective track records.

    It does make sense that GM would scrap the Banshee though... They couldn't have another brand compete with the Corvette.
     
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  26. MaineDoc
    Joined: Apr 22, 2014
    Posts: 103

    MaineDoc
    Member

    I have a dark blue 64 Riv with silver interior. Maybe I should have silver faded in at the bottom to mimic the Ray.
     
    scotty t and Ryan like this.
  27. [​IMG]

    When I look at my 69 Stingray I think of this!
     
  28. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 12,287

    Bandit Billy
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    I've had a love affair with stingray vettes since I was 19, owned 12 of them and I still look at the ads. Mako II cost me a lot of money.
     
  29. I had one of those as a kid, wish I still had it.
     
  30. lostone
    Joined: Oct 13, 2013
    Posts: 2,820

    lostone
    Member
    from kansas

    Actually, the banshee was given to Mitchell in late 65, known as the xp833 thru Gm. Some of the info from delorean and others that dealt with the banshee have always held the project was taken from them. One of the reasons Delorean had given years ago for quitting g.m.

    The mako 1 was the gen2 vette and the banshee basically became the gen3 vette.

    Also too, there have been supposed internal g.m. memos that have been found to back up deloreans side of the banshee abduction to Chevy.
     

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