1963 Corvette Rondine Pininfarina Coupe



The Corvette Rondine show car was designed by Pininfarina and built by Sergio Scaglietti on a production 1963 Sting Ray chassis. Two rooflines were tried: an inward slanting rear window with the roof cut off at the B-pillar (below) and a sloping rear window (above).



The car was designed by Tom Tjaarda, the Michigan native who had worked for Italian carrozzerie since 1959. At a time when many manufacturers switched to a unitary chassis construction, the fiberglass bodied Corvette was a popular subject for Europe's coachbuilders. Pininfarina was one of them and at the 1963 Paris Motorshow they launched the featured Rondine Coupe. The Rondine sports a very elegant shape of which various cues were later found on the Fiat 124 Spyder.



Still owned by Pininfarina, the unique Corvette is seen here at the 2005 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este where the Italian coachbuilder's 75th anniversary was celebrated.


Thanks to Stefan Heins from ALT-OPEL Interessengemeinschaft von 1972 e.V. for additional information on who designed and who built this car.