Galactifan
Sr Member
Congrats on getting that super vette!
Corvette Summer Stingray: My ultimate screen used prop
- Thread starter the Pawn
- Start date
Monster Dave
Sr Member
SciFiMuseum
Sr Member
Not a bad looking car for something Mark's character supposedly made in auto shop!!! Thanks for sharing, that is an awesome screen-used 'prop' to own.
Here are the pictures of the restored Corvette Summer car. The only original parts are the doors. The interior is gray instead of saddle tan. The engine is a 454 instead of a 350. The color is more of a magenta or maroon instead of candy apple red with metal flakes.
Thanks for the post on this. I as well saw the for sale ad in Hot rod back in the 80's. Then I saw the car in person at the Corvette Museum in Cooperstown, PA. I wonder how many of us have all shared the siting of the car in Hot Rod and wished at that time we could have purchased it. Thanks, Jeff
The new owner of the restored Vette put a 454 into his build, so the entire front end had to be remolded. The hood scoop is removable on his Vette.
As you can see from the photos in my previous post, most of the car was totaled in the accident when it went into the river.
An article in Street and Strip (an Australian Hot Rod Mag) had an indepth article on this build and stated that the only parts used off the original car were the doors.
As you can see from the photos in my previous post, most of the car was totaled in the accident when it went into the river.
An article in Street and Strip (an Australian Hot Rod Mag) had an indepth article on this build and stated that the only parts used off the original car were the doors.
kamandi
Sr Member
I was 10 or 11 when that film was in theaters. I loved that car! THAT is a great movie piece! Congratulations.
Maybe you can tell me if this is true: I had read that there were four cars. Two were originally built but stolen during filming. Two replacements were slapped together to replace them but then the originals were recovered and returned in time to continue filming. I also wondered which car was repainted gold as seen in the film.
They showed Corvette Summer on the 'Speed' network a few years back. The narrator in the promo comercial said "...and now Mark Hamill reminds us sometimes great movie roles come along only ONCE in a lifetime..." Ouch.
Maybe you can tell me if this is true: I had read that there were four cars. Two were originally built but stolen during filming. Two replacements were slapped together to replace them but then the originals were recovered and returned in time to continue filming. I also wondered which car was repainted gold as seen in the film.
They showed Corvette Summer on the 'Speed' network a few years back. The narrator in the promo comercial said "...and now Mark Hamill reminds us sometimes great movie roles come along only ONCE in a lifetime..." Ouch.
JMChladek
Sr Member
Now that was a great car. I am SO glad it is in the hands of somebody who can appreciate it. If Mark Hamill could be coaxed into being seen with it, that would be most cool as felt that movie probably showed more of his acting range than SW ever did. I wonder whatever happened to Vanessa's custom van. 
I don't know if it would be smart to drive this on the roads. As I recall from an article I read once, the right hand drive was a chain and sprocket setup in front of the dash. The creators sawed off the steering shaft, welded a gear on it and chained it to another gear on a short shaft on the other side. While it worked good for a film production, I would NOT want to be driving this if the chain decides to let go (it is a 30 year old car afterall).
As for the lack of a model kit of this beast, it had a lot of angles on it that were not exactly easy for injection tooling to replicate. Plus, this car was essentially a one off (or two off in this case). The movie was made at the end of the 1970s, and custom car model kits were starting to decline a little (the custom vans were more king) and companies were repopping older customs instead of doing new ones (such as MPC repopping the Monkeemobile as a Fonzie car from Happy Days). Sure AMT did Farrah Fawcett's custom vette, but that wasn't as radical a change from a standard Vette as this beastie was. I recall about 17 years ago there was a modeler in Finland who did the Corvette Summer Corvette in 1/25 and took it with him when he visited the AMT/Ertl factory. He got it pictured in an issue of AMT's Blueprinter magazine and it looked pretty good.
I remember in the film the car got repainted from red to gold and then back. I presume one of the cars was painted gold to make it easier to film rather than repainting the first one. Do we know which of the two machines this particular one was?
I don't know if it would be smart to drive this on the roads. As I recall from an article I read once, the right hand drive was a chain and sprocket setup in front of the dash. The creators sawed off the steering shaft, welded a gear on it and chained it to another gear on a short shaft on the other side. While it worked good for a film production, I would NOT want to be driving this if the chain decides to let go (it is a 30 year old car afterall).
As for the lack of a model kit of this beast, it had a lot of angles on it that were not exactly easy for injection tooling to replicate. Plus, this car was essentially a one off (or two off in this case). The movie was made at the end of the 1970s, and custom car model kits were starting to decline a little (the custom vans were more king) and companies were repopping older customs instead of doing new ones (such as MPC repopping the Monkeemobile as a Fonzie car from Happy Days). Sure AMT did Farrah Fawcett's custom vette, but that wasn't as radical a change from a standard Vette as this beastie was. I recall about 17 years ago there was a modeler in Finland who did the Corvette Summer Corvette in 1/25 and took it with him when he visited the AMT/Ertl factory. He got it pictured in an issue of AMT's Blueprinter magazine and it looked pretty good.
I remember in the film the car got repainted from red to gold and then back. I presume one of the cars was painted gold to make it easier to film rather than repainting the first one. Do we know which of the two machines this particular one was?
Objetivotuning
Active Member
Amazing ride !!
Love the Stingrays ! i've only seen one in a car show
Thanks for sharing !
Love the Stingrays ! i've only seen one in a car show
Thanks for sharing !
darth_myeek
Sr Member
That's awesome! That car get's cooler with age.
Check under the seat for a lightsaber!
Mike
Check under the seat for a lightsaber!
Mike
There were only TWO (2) Vettes made for the film. One was shown being built during the production of the film. One of the Vettes was stolen off the Studio Lot prior to release, but was found unharmed within a day.
Its hard to say which Vette was the "Hero" Stingray and which one was built during production. I always thought my Stingray was the "gold" vette in the movie, but I now have a behind the scenes production picture that shows the cut-out hole for lighting the license plate on the rear clip, is identical to my Vette. The shape is unique and the Australian vette does not have the hole in the pictures that I have.
I know that after production of the film, both Vettes were altered somewhat, possibly by Korky. My Vette's interior was died black at one time, and Mid-America restored it back to saddle tan.
If you look at the pictures of the Australian Vette, the hood scoop had been cut out and altered at one time. Not much is known about the ownership of that Vette between the time Korky owned it and the Australian collector bought it.
Its hard to say which Vette was the "Hero" Stingray and which one was built during production. I always thought my Stingray was the "gold" vette in the movie, but I now have a behind the scenes production picture that shows the cut-out hole for lighting the license plate on the rear clip, is identical to my Vette. The shape is unique and the Australian vette does not have the hole in the pictures that I have.
I know that after production of the film, both Vettes were altered somewhat, possibly by Korky. My Vette's interior was died black at one time, and Mid-America restored it back to saddle tan.
If you look at the pictures of the Australian Vette, the hood scoop had been cut out and altered at one time. Not much is known about the ownership of that Vette between the time Korky owned it and the Australian collector bought it.
Similar threads
