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1963 Corvette Sting Ray

Split-Window Built to
Modern Z06 Specs
Split-Window Sting Ray in Modern Z06
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27 PHOTOS

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John Gilbert - Writer; Eric Geisert - Photographer | Feb 1,

2019

There’s a lot more to Ron Brown’s 1963

Corvette Sting Ray than meets the eye.
Yes, the obvious is it’s a silver split-
window coupe with larger custom
wheels and wider tires, but that’s just
the tip of the iceberg.

Going back to its earliest days, this

particular ’63 was bought new by a
doctor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The doctor let his son take it to college
in Minneapolis where it served year
long. Through Minneapolis winters the
Corvette toiled as a common
transportation car trudging through
salt-laced slush until eventually it was
crashed hard, destroying the frame
and shattering the front half.

27 PHOTOS

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There wasn’t much left of the ’63 by

the time Ron entered the picture. He
bought a stage-four basket case
suffering from extreme rust damage
and crusty delaminated separations of
broken fiberglass. Typical for a
Rustbelt Corvette, the birdcage was
rusted beyond repair. Ron sourced a
rust-free birdcage from the remains of
another Sting Ray body and scrapped
the stock frame. It’s highly unlikely
Ron’s basket case ’63 was one of the
199 Z06 Corvettes produced in 1963,
but one thing is for sure, the car is now
every bit of a 1963 Sting Ray coupe
constructed beyond modern Z06
specifications.

The undercarriage is a work of tubular

art. The stock ’63 chassis and
suspension were tossed in favor of a
SRIII Motorsports Stage II tubular
frame uprated with C6 front
suspension, an IRS third member in
the rear and Viking coilover shocks at
all four corners. The differential is a
3.70-geared Currie 9-inch with a
Truetrac unit housed in a Dutchman
housing. Rated to withstand 1,000
horsepower, Driveshaft Shop Porsche
CV axles are mated to Corvette hubs.
Braking is handled with 12-inch
Wilwood disc brakes in the rear and
14-inch Wilwood disc brakes in front.
For rolling stock, Diamond Back redline
radial tires are mounted and balanced
on Budnik billet aluminum wheels.

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Typically, a big-block Stinger hood

ends up on a small-block Sting Ray to
bode big things have happened under
the hood in the horsepower
department. Ron went the sleeper
route maintaining the ’63 hood, but
kicked the horsepower up to 630 with
a Doug Rippie built LS. It’s a square
motor, Doug started with a brand-new
LS7 block and laid an Eagle 4.125-inch
stroker crank hung with Eagle rods,
and 4.125-inch bore 11.2:1 JE pistons.
Valve action begins with a DR
Motorsports proprietary grind Comp
camshaft and related Comp valvetrain
components linked to a pair of DR
Motorsports-modified LS7 heads with
a port-matched intake manifold and
fuel injection.

There are two more top gears than an

original Z06 came equipped; Ron’s
modern take on the pricey $1,818.45
1963 option uses a six-speed
TREMEC. And there are two exhaust
route options available to a SRIII
Motorsports frame buyer: side pipes or
undercar. Ron chose the latter and his
shop custom-fabricated the exhaust
from LS7 headers routing into a pair of
MagnaFlow stainless steel mufflers.
The cooling system features a Ron
Davis Racing Products radiator. A Ron
Francis wiring harness customized to
suit the needs of this car satisfies 12-
volt current demands.

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Ron handled a fair amount of the early

stages of construction and the chrome
plating at his business, North Star
Plating in Brainerd, Minnesota. From
Minnesota, the ’63 was sent to
Squeeg’s Kustoms in Phoenix for
completion. The car showed up with
the body on the SRIII chassis and in
black gelcoat. To accept wider rear
tires the quarter-panels are 1 1/2
inches wider than stock with larger
wheeltubs, and SRIII Motorsports
narrowed fiberglass floorpan kit.
Squeeg’s cut the shattered nose off at
the firewall and grafted on a new nose.
The fitment of the body gaps and the
durability of paint materials exceed
what the factory did and sprayed in St.
Louis. Squeeg’s used PPG products
from start to finish; the silver PPG
paint is a custom mix reminiscent of
the ’63’s original color Sebring Silver.

BW Upholstery, a one-man shop in

Scottsdale, Arizona, did the custom
interior. Brian Willingham explained
how the interior is a far cry from the
spartan surroundings of an original ’63
Z06. Instead of radio and heater delete
plates, one will find the controls for
Vintage Air air conditioning and
AM/FM stereo radio with Bluetooth. To
give the stereo a full sound, premium
quality rear speakers were installed.
Brian replicated the OE look of the
dashboard speaker grille over the rear
speakers and went to extra lengths to
conceal retractors for three-point
seatbelts.

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Brian began with a pair of Glide

buckets and then modified the shape
extensively, then enlisted friend Trevor
Hauan to hand form aluminum
seatbacks. All of the interior panels
were cabinet worked from 1/8-inch
Baltic Birch plywood. The upholstery is
Relicate black full grain leather with
perforated leather inserts on the
custom door panels. Ron was very
specific he wanted the interior of
Corvette sound proofed to the
extreme. A trio of competing brands
beneath the black German square
weave carpet is a layer of Dynamat
topped with Vibro Solution damping
mat and Second Skin Damplifier.
Inside the doors and packed into the
quarter-panels is Vibro Solution’s
35mm sound absorbing foam.

The steering is also an upgrade over

1963 issue that happened using a
Flaming River 1963-’82 Corvette rack-
and-pinion cradle kit. A Flaming River
tilt-steering column completes the
package and is topped with a leather
rimmed three-spoke steering wheel.
Full instrumentation is hybrid
analog/digital gauges from Dakota
Digital.

Ron Brown’s 1963 split-window coupe

is a perfect example of what the
factory would have built back in ’63
had the technology existed, and an
even better example of how an old
Corvette can survive on the road,
jockeying for position amongst
modern cars. Vette

27 PHOTOS

Photography by Eric Geisert

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