Fan Friday: Roger Wait's 1963 Red C2 Corvette Split Window Coupe
Fan Friday is back on ClassicAutoStoreOnline.com, and we're kicking it off with one of the most recognizable classics ever built.
There are Corvettes that turn heads. And then there is the 1963 split window coupe — the car that makes even people who don't know what they're looking at stop and stare. Roger Antony Wait of the UK has owned one since 2012, and the journey to get there is exactly the kind of story a car like this deserves.
Roger bought his first Corvette in 1975 — a red 1969 with a 427 and a split roof — but had to wait until he was 25 just to afford the insurance. He sold it in 1978 to fund his wedding. The next one came in 1990: a lovely C1 1960 twin-headlight 283 with a hardtop, which he kept for over 20 years before selling it to a buyer in Belgium — delivering it personally, in tears. The sale of that C1 funded a large part of what he'd actually been after all along. The split window. The car he always wanted.
Chevrolet built just 10,594 split-window coupes in 1963 — the only year the design was ever produced. The distinctive spine running from nose to tail, bisecting the rear window into two panes, was Bill Mitchell's personal design vision. Zora Arkus-Duntov opposed it from the beginning, arguing it compromised rearward visibility — and he was right. It was removed after one model year. That single season of production is precisely what makes every surviving example so significant, and Roger's is among the rarer specimens in Europe. He estimates there are only 8 to 10 split-window Corvettes in the entire United Kingdom — a figure that's easy to believe given that the vast majority of these cars never left North America. Finding one in England is uncommon. Keeping one is a statement of purpose.
Roger's coupe is powered by the L76 327 cubic inch V8 in 340 horsepower specification — the most powerful carbureted engine available on the 1963 Corvette — backed by a four-speed manual transmission. The L76 was a $107.60 option over the base engine in 1963, equipped with a Holley four-barrel carburetor and mechanical valve lifters that rev with a crispness that makes the driving experience immediately clear. The car's bright red exterior — consistent in hue with Riverside Red, the most popular factory color offered on the 1963 Corvette — sits over chrome spinner wheel covers and period-correct whitewalls, and the chrome details throughout are immaculate. The 1963 Corvette also introduced hidden headlamps — the first on an American production car in over two decades — visible as the clean, uninterrupted nose in the photo, one of the defining design elements of the C2 generation. Parked on a British brick driveway with the hedges trimmed behind it, it looks as though it's been there forever. Thanks for sharing this one with us from across the Atlantic, Roger — and for the patience it took to find it. 🏎️
For a C2 Like Roger's
Corvette Collection — Parts, accessories, apparel and gifts for every generation, including plenty for the C2. → Shop Corvette
Car Covers — A car this rare deserves proper protection between drives. → Shop Car Covers
Chevrolet Diecast — A scale split window on the shelf is the next best thing to having the real one in the garage. → Shop Chevrolet Diecast
Want to be featured in a future Fan Friday? We'd love to see your classic. Email us at info@carolinaonlineretail.com and tell us your story — the car, how you found it, what you've done with it, and what it means to you. Great photos make a huge difference, so bring your best shots.
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