The Chevrolet Corvette is known around the world as being one of the premier performance cars, now entering its 55^th year of production.  A trip to any automotive event in the United States, whether a car show or drag race, will likely turn up at least a few of what has consistently been one of the highest performance production cars from an American company.  However, the Corvette had a rocky start, with less than 10,000 units sold each of the Vettes first seven production years.  1960 marked the first time that the Corvette would see more than 10,000 units produced and in 1962 there were almost 15,000 new Corvettes on the road, but having used the same basic look for the first ten production years, General Motors knew that it was time to make a change, and in 1963 Chevrolet debuted the second generation of the Corvette. 

While the mechanical options didn’t chance much from 1962 to 1963, the exterior trim changed a great deal.  The previous flat front was removed in favor of a far more aerodynamic front clip, hiding a set of reverse flip-open headlights; a feature that would be found on the Corvette until the 2005 model year.  This new, sleek body style captured the heart of the American automobile market, and sales figures over the years of the C2 Corvette (1963-1967) reflected the passion for the Corvette.  The Corvette had been intended to give American motorists an alternative to some of the Europe’s performance cars, and by the time the first C2 Corvette rolled off the assembly line, it’s reputation had cross the pond and Chevrolet had the attention of performance enthusiasts around the world.  One such company that took special notice of the 1963 Corvette was the European based fabricating company Pininfarina, more commonly known for producing the bodies of the popular Cadillac Allante. Pininfarina had a relationship with General Motors prior to introducing their take on the C2 Corvette, but at the 1963 Paris Motor Show, 1963 Corvette Rondine Coupe met the world.

Someone who has no idea that the Rondine is based on a 1963 Corvette may not have any idea what the car is, although it is distinctly European.  However, once a viewer of the Rondine knows that this car is based on the C2 Corvette, certain styling cues become noticeable.  The lower front grille area carries similar separated bumper portions, wrapping from the fenders around to the front, but stopping short of connecting to the other side to make room for the horizontal-bar grille.  The headlights were brought down and in for the Rondine, but still carried a subtle hide-a-way headlight setup with dual lights on both sides.  The final styling cue of the front end that stands out between the Chevy model and the Pininfarina model is the sharp body line that separates the upper and lower section of the front clip, and that sharp line wraps around to the wheel wells, then melting away.  That sharp line picks back up on the Corvette just past the door handles, extending around the back of the car, but the Rondine’s high rounded quarter panels ignore the front end body line.  The sloping fastback of the Corvette is replaced with a notchback and a trunk lid on the European model, and while small angular tail lights on the edge of the rear fascia replace the Vette’s small round lenses, the wrap around bumper is similar on both models, and the panel in which the lights rest share a similar downward facing angle.  The rear overhang was slightly longer on the Rondine, as it rode on a shorter wheelbase than did the Corvette, and in European fashion, the Pininfarina model sat lower and wider than the GM issue Corvette.  The most obvious physical similarity between the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette and the 1963 Corvette Rondine is the exterior composition, as they are both comprised of reinforced fiberglass, with the body finished in metallic power blue, with chrome trim adorning almost every angle.

Dimensions, 1963 Corvette – 1963 Pininfarina Rondine Coupe:

Wheelbase: 2470mm – 2489mm

Length: 4555mm – 4453mm

Width: 1800mm – 1768mm

Height: 1210mm – 1265mm

The drivetrain of the Corvette Rondine Pininfarina Coupe was a General Motors L75 engine option; a 327 cubic inch overhead valve V8 fed by a Rochester fuel injection system.  The Rondine was stated as having 304 horsepower, (listed as 300 horsepower by General Motors), and that was sent to the wheels via a 4-speed manual transmission.  Like the<