A couple of years ago, we featured Ray Farhner's '63 Corvette. Despite the fact that I'm not much of a "show rod" guy, I fell head over heals for the car. I love the asymmetrical front-end, but it's t... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
I love the looks of the original configuration. It's to bad someone chose to deviate from that look. I hope at some point the Peterson Museum gets rid of the square headlights at the very least.
The original 63 fastback split window was perfect in itself, much like the 40 Ford. To change it is like revving past the redline on a motor. Good things will not happen.
IMO you cannot make body modifications on any Corvette without hurting the original good looks. BTW my personal favorite is the '56/'57 Vette.
I love the older versions, they look like factory styling studies. I wish more old custom Vettes hadn't been restored to stock.
X 2...........IMO Farhners mods made this car fugly. Terrible waste of a '63 split window......and I'm not even a 'Vette guy. Ray
The only old vette's I really like are the hot rodded or custom ones but I think the whole asymmetrical thing is what kills the looks of this one. The passenger side view is kinda cool (although not something I'd do to one today) but when you see the driver side with the offset headlights I think it spoils the whole look.
I've always kinda dug the asymmetrical styling exercises when done right (many, if not most are not in my opinion) and I think Farhner's is one of the best. I got the same nasty "shark" impression as Ryan when I first saw this car in the magazines. Farhner's Sting Ray is an iconic representation of that era in customizing and although split window's need nothing in terms of styling (again, my opinion), it would be a shame to loose one as recognizable as this one is to a restoration. -Dave
Customizing a Corvette is like turning a Series 70 Colt 1911 Pistol into a race gun...you can do it,but why?
I don't think it's completely impossible to improve upon the design of a '63 Corvette split window coupe, but I also don't think this particular effort was a step in the right direction. Personally, if I had a '63 Corvette split window coupe I'd do everything I could to restore it to its original configuration and preserve it that way.
I love this Corvette the asymmetrical design rules! all good 60s show rods had it. Great to hear it has survived but a shame it was changed after it was restored. Get over it! It was customized when new. Not every Corvette needs to be original or restored to "Bloomington Gold" standard. I like restored Corvettes my dream vette would be a '67-'68 L88 or L89. I do prefer modified corvettes and one like this has more historic & interest value than a stock Split Window. I am sure you both would love this, Bob Nordskog 1963 "Asteroid"
Get over it! It was customized when new. Not every Corvette needs to be original or restored to "Bloomington Gold" standard. Nothing to get over, just stating my opinion and as far as my opinion of the "Astroid" goes, ugly but not as ugly as Farhner's.
That thing rules! I would totally drive the wheels off it. And yes, I mean the way it was originally customized.
I remember seeing the Asteroid at a car show in the new Long Beach arena in around November of '62! I thought how did they do that in two months!?! Not only was the car just tit's, they had a custom ski boat trailer and Cadillac all done in the same flake! The only thing I ddin't like about it or the Farhner car was that they couldn't be driven on the streets of California without the cops busting them for the so easy "headlights too low" law. (they still use that one around here, but usually on lowered ricers.) Ive always been partial to cars that were cool without being definitely "outlaw."
Get over what???? Merely expressed my opinion...as did you.....so other than disagreeing........what's to get over? The Asteroid is not my cup of tea either.......but if I had to be found dead in one of them, then I guess I'd choose the asteroid......otherwise, I'd choose ....uummmm.....let's see.......maybe a Bugeye Sprite Ray
I always loved it in blue with the white interior. I'd like to see how it looks now, what era is it restored to? It's latest I would assume but I hope I'm wrong.
I love the guys who think outside the box. Won't always work, and certainly won't appeal to everyone. Hard to fuck up a '63 'Vette, though. What's not to like about this car, other than the somewhat disconcerting headlights? I like it. The one-off . . . thank the Lord for the one-offs (and the folks with that creative drive.)
Honestly? No. I don't. It looks like somebody slapped a bunch of shiny pipe on the side with no sense of line or form and altered the car's nose, sides and tail in ways that simply aren't improvements over the original.
Ryan, here's another early shot of it. I'm scanning old pics all day. I'll keep an eye out, if I come across any more in Ray's pile I'll post em' up.
The first show cars I ever saw were in a tent at the Kansas State Fair in the mid 60's. I was 10 or so years old at the time. I'm sure the show was promoted by Farhner. I imagine this Vette was there, but the one I really remember was the Boot Hill Express. Also my nieghbor at the time had a new Vette that Starbird had done, custom nose ,sidepipes thru the fender, red metelflake, etc.
I like a lot of the features, just a couple that I would change. I think it could grow on me though, always thought the 63-67 Vettes were the best!
As we can see it's hard to do, but it seems it's not impossible. I appreciate all the hard work on the car, but I think maybe they should have picked a different car. Just my opinion, and I'm most definately not a vette guy.
The Stingray came to Ray's shop as a complete total in '63. It was brand new, untitled, and had hit a concrete bridge abutment head on at high speed. It was so bad that he paid $950 for it. Brand new. I was there and saw the shattered pieces of the car when they were delivered to Ray's shop on a flatbed truck. So no one destroyed a precious, stock Stingray. Besides, Corvettes weren't even collectible then anyway. The rear window configuration was left stock.
So . . . there you have it. Guess all the nay-sayers either scattered or never checked back in to read Tom's statement of fact. Of course, they would probably say that Ray should have restored it to original spec. But then, if that's all he had done, we wouldn't be talking about him, would we? Just another '63 vette instead of a head-turning, head-scratching, controversial one-off jolt of history. Which some of us think is cool.