Fan Friday: Roger Wait's 1963 Red C2 Corvette Split Window Coupe

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 entirely believable given that the vast majority of these cars never left North America. Finding one in England is genuinely 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. It's worth noting that 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 Roger's 1963 Split Window

C2 Corvette Apparel Collection — For the owner of one of the rarest Corvettes in the UK, wearing the generation is fitting. Our C2 apparel collection includes hats, tees, and lifestyle pieces specific to the second-generation Sting Ray — the right badge for someone who waited decades for the right car. → Shop C2 Apparel

C2 Corvette Gifts & Collectibles — Die-casts, clocks, glassware, and signed memorabilia — our C2 gifts collection is built for the collector who appreciates the generation as much as the car. A 1963 split-window die-cast in red, displayed alongside the real thing, is a combination that speaks for itself. → Shop C2 Gifts

C2 Corvette Car Covers — A car this rare and this well-presented deserves a proper fitted cover between drives. Our C2 collection includes indoor and outdoor options sized specifically for second-generation Corvettes — the right protection for a car that took Roger the better part of fifty years to find. → Shop C2 Car Covers

Want to be featured in a future Fan Friday?
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