Gary Ricketts’ Flaming Silver Bullet Sting Ray Corvette

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Mannington, New Jersey, Du Pont Safety Consultant, Gary Ricketts’ Pro Street ‘65 Sting Ray Coupe

South Jersey lifetime resident, Gary Ricketts came of age at the tail end of the muscle car era, with the party peaking before he got his driver’s license in 1971. Like most teenage car guys his age, he got to watch his favorite muscle cars duke it out at tracks such as Atco Raceway, Englishtown, Maple Grove, and Cecil County Drag-O-Way. When it comes to cars, what a young man is exposed to usually sets their taste in performance cars for a lifetime.

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Gary had a series of street machines through the ‘70s and ‘80s, including a ‘64 Corvette, a ‘70 SS-454 Chevelle, a hot rod ‘33 Plymouth Coupe, a ‘69 Corvette, a ‘57 Chevy Nomad, and eventually a blown small-block Chevy-powered Model A street rod. (The engine from the Model A lives on today in his ‘65 Pro Street Corvette.) But when it comes to “car matters-of-the-heart,” Gary is first and foremost a GM guy. So by 1990, when Ricketts went to a Super Chevy Show at Maple Grove Raceway, he was itching for another GM machine – this time, another Corvette.

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Gary found something close to what he was looking for and it was over halfway complete. At a Chevy Show was an all-black, ‘65 Corvette Sting Ray Coupe with a 454, and a 5-speed, that was “FOR SALE.” Thus began Gary’s next project car, but first, he had to sell his blown Model A. Here’s where Gary’s street rod/parts swapping skills came in to play. It only took a few weeks to sell the Model A and it turned out that the buyer didn’t want the blown small-block Chevy engine. This worked out great since Gary preferred the SBC to the big-block 454 for his new, black ‘65 Sting Ray project car.

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After taking delivery of the Sting Ray, Gary and his friends removed the 454 and 5-speed and installed his supercharged small-block, along with a 400 Turbo-Hydramatic 3-speed automatic with a 3,000-rpm high-stall torque converter, similar to what the Super Stock Chevy racers were using. He sold the 5-speed to a racer in Philly and got enough cash to buy a new Posi rear and a ‘65-’66 big-block Corvette hood. The $3,500 Gary got for the 454 big-block was enough to finish his Corvette! Within a year, Gary had his blown black Pro Street ‘65 Corvette on the road. So, when did the car turn silver?

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Fast-forward to 2002. Gary was ready for something different for his Corvette. Since the car was only driven occasionally and never raced, the mechanicals were still in excellent shape. After some consideration, PPG Metallic Silver was sprayed on by Alloway, New Jersey painter, Fred Green. When a “Dad” owns a car such as this, it’s often a family affair. Gary’s children (Kelly and twins Steven and Jody) and wife Patty are all into cars. Steven, the family’s artist, volunteered to layout the flames.

As Gary tells the story, “After the silver paint was sprayed and set, my son went into the paint booth and in about four hours, he laid out the flames by hand. Then Fred came back with three coats of Apple Red from House of Kolor. After the flames had set up, Steve loaded up the small spray gun with black, and he put the flame shadows on.” Afterwards, the complete car got several coats of clear, that was then sanded, and polished to show car quality.

While street machines are almost never “done,” Gary was getting awfully close to complete. The only other significant thing was some stock car/dirt track racer-type under the hood tin-work. Gary hired Carney’s Point “tin man” Phil Scarfo to fabricate the easy-in, easy-out, engine compartment panels. And to complete the look, his son, Steven again to applied his flame magic to the tin-work. This Pro Street Corvette is also a show car, so under the hood has to look sweet too!

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Part of the fun of owning a show car-level Pro Street machine is attending car shows and displaying the car with the hood up. The hood on Gary’s Sting Ray is one of several features that throw traditional Corvette enthusiasts. It’s not the classic ‘67 Stinger hood with a huffer poking through the top, which gets the Corvette crowd’ attention. It’s the fact that the hood is hinged at the back, like a normal car. “It gives you an altogether different dimension of the engine compartment, verses the stock Corvette. With the hood hinged at the back, you get a much better view of the motor.”

This Pro Street Vette is dripping with drag racing features, including: a full roll cage, Corbeau racing bucket seats, a big B&M shifter console with a T-handle, an AutoMeter temperature gauge, and a set of drag racing wheelie bars. What? No parachute?

While it’s common to see header/side pipes on early Corvettes, Gary always liked the mid-year side pipe setup, but a factory-size pipes would have been a real choaker for his supercharged small-block. The 1-7/8-inch Hooker Headers collect into a 2-1/2-inch stainless steel exhaust pipe that’s connected to 2-1/2-inch Turbo tube mufflers, carefully tucked under the factory side pipe covers. The silver/chrome covers with the silver with red flames paint job, flat-out works!

Gary’s SBC is an excellent example of how the little Mouse Motor can be built to be powerful and long lasting. Built in 1990, the Daryl Fithian, of SKY Performance-built engine measures 355 cubic-inches and has been dynoed to 580-HP @6,600-rpm and 465 ft/lg of torque at 4,650-rpm thanks to the Weiand 6-71 supercharger, two 600-cfm Edelbrock four-barrel carburetors, and 9.8:1 compression. The engine uses a Comp Cams roller cam and stock Chevrolet cast iron heads with 1.94-inch intake and 1.60-inch exhaust valves. A MSD electronic ignition handles the spark and a BeCool aluminum crossflow radiator keeps the pressurized SBC cool. The heater/defroster is a refurbished stock unit and A/C is provided by “rolling the windows down.”

Another feature on Gary’s Corvette that gets its share of questions is his wheel/tire combo – especially those rear tires. In keeping with the car’s drag racing theme, period correct, polished American Racing Torq-Thrust mag wheels (15×4 on the front and 15×14 on the rear) are shod with JTL 165R15 front tires and mammoth 31×18.5-15 rear tires. Steering is factory GM/Saginaw recirculating ball and non-power-assist and the brakes are non-power-assist factory 4-wheel discs. The car’s front suspension is stock and the rear is a narrowed 9-inch Positraction differential with locating ladder bars, and coilover shocks.

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While it’s obviously not a daily driver, Gary and Patty drive and enjoy their Corvette every chance they can. According to Gary, “It’s a good car to drive and very street-worthy. When we take it to or from a show that may be a couple hours away, we’ll put it on a trailer for transport. But if its no more than about an hour’s drive in the area we live (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland) we drive it.” Don’t ask about gas mileage. “I do have to stop at several gas stations along the way, but we get there.”

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Gary’s next project is a sweet ride for his wife, Patty. Currently in their garage is a ‘64 Coupe that Gary bought for some cash and a ‘79 Corvette daily driver that Patty had. The ‘64 can best be described as “rough” and no doubt will one day be a hot-looking sister car to his flaming silver and red ‘65. And that will be another story.