Hot Rod Magazine Dec 1965 Asks, “Is this the ’67 Corvette?”
Mako Shark-II, the Corvette from another planet!
To read the Mako Shark-II article from the December 1965 issue of Hot Rod Magazine, CLICK HERE.
GM’s VP of Design, Bill Mitchell was infamous for saying, “I design Corvettes around here!” Mitchell may have been autocratic, but he had several things in his favor. First, he was a dyed-in-wool car guy; he loved cars, especially, fast cars. As a young illustrator, he hung out with the Collier Brothers and was part of the formation of the Sports Car Club of America; the SCCA.
Based on the strength of his illustrations, Mitchell was hired by Harley Earl and learned the car business from Earl, the inventor of automotive styling. After Earl was retired out of GM, Mitchell took over and was responsible for the styling of all GM cars and trucks.
Mitchell’s style motif was this; “A vehicle should look like a freshly pressed suit, with sharp creases.” Indeed, look at GM cars and trucks from 1960 to the mid ’70s and you’ll see sharp edges and creases. Mitchell was more than capable of rendering and designing, but he did not sit at a drawing board and sketch; he directed every line, based on the vision he had in his mind’s eye.
Here’s what he told his designers he wanted for his vision of the future Corvette; “A narrow, slim, center section and coupe body, a tapered tail, an all-of-a-piece blending of the upper and lower portions of the body through the center (avoiding the look of a roof added to a body), and prominent wheels with their protective fenders distinctly separate from the main body, yet grafted organically to it.”
Got that? Or as my grandmother used to say, “Yea, clear as mud!”
When Mitchell showed the non-running, full-size prototype to GM’s upper management in the spring of 1965, the decision was unanimous; the Mako Shark-II HAD TO BE the next Corvette!
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A full-size, running version of the Mako Shark-II was ordered. While the running version was being built, the non-running version hit to show car circuit. When the running version was completed in the fall of 1965, the non-running version was pulled from the public, never to be seen again.
The non-running version had a then-new 396 big-block and stylized side exhaust. The running version (as seen in the December 1965 cover story in Hot Rod Magazine, was powered by a 427 big-block, without side exhaust.
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GM’s management wanted the Mako Shark as the 1967 Corvette, mainly because Mitchell designed the Mako Shark to utilize the C2 Sting Ray structure and running gear. So, the “suits” naively believed in the spring of 1965 that an entirely new body and interior could be designed for production in one year. They were way off.
E
ven as a 1968 model, the new Mako Shark-II Corvette barely made it in as a ’68 model, and in hindsight, should have been launched as a ’69 model. Many of the early ’68 cars were not good. Regardless, Mitchell’s Mako Shark laid down the styling DNA for all Corvettes going forward. Mitchell even got a U.S. Patent for the design.
To read the Mako Shark-II article from the December 1965 issue of Hot Rod Magazine, CLICK HERE.
The Mako Shark-II was shown to GM management, late in March 1965; sixty years ago this month. The Mako Shark-II still has no rivals and still looks like a ’60s sex kitten. – Scott
PS – I covered the Mako Shark-II in my Illustrated Corvette Series for Vette Magazine in the late 1990s. We still have a small supply of my 11″ x 17″ parchment paper prints that are signed and numbered by me. Check it out in our Man Cave Car Art Etsy store, HERE.
