What color of Split-Window would you buy? Mecum has all 7

It’s Corvette Jeopardy! Here are your answers: Riverside Red. Ermine White. Silver Blue. Tuxedo Black. Sebring Silver. Saddle Tan. Daytona Blue.

The question: What are the seven colors Chevrolet painted its 1963 Corvette Split-Window coupes?

We mention this because, at the Corvette-heavy Mecum Kissimmee auction to be held January 2–14 in Florida, one of the most coveted groups of cars among the 4000 to be sold features seven Split-Window coupes, one in each available color. Mecum is calling it the Colorama Spilt-Window Collection, but we hesitate to call it a collection because it’s basically a group of Corvettes assembled by a dealer, ProTeam Corvette Sales, to sell through Mecum as individual lots. But the cars are getting a lot of traction in the Corvette-centric media, and with good reason.

Bill Mitchell’s design team, which included talented designers such as a very young Peter Brock and Larry Shinoda, designed a fastback Corvette that looked—well, marvelous. For the rear window, they decided to use two pieces of glass, split by a few inches of body-colored fiberglass and framed by aluminum strips. That was in 1963. For 1964, the split window was replaced by a solid piece of curved glass, thus making the 1963 Split-Window an immediate collectors’ item. They dubbed it the Sting Ray (two words; it wasn’t one word until 1969).

Some 10,594 Split-Window Corvettes were built, as well as roughly the same number of convertibles. There have been plenty of collectible Corvettes built in the car’s 70-year history, and the Split-Windows are near the top of the list.

So what kind of money are we talking about here?

The most expensive of the seven Split-Windows is likely to be the Daytona Blue one. It has the coveted Z06 performance package, as well as an interesting backstory: It was exported new to Australia, where it was converted to right-hand drive. All the Colorama Corvettes have some version of the 327-cubic-inch V-8 and four-speed manual transmissions; this one has 360 horsepower. (The 327 also came in 300- and 340-horsepower versions, and all are represented in this group.) Mecum is valuing the Australian Z06 at $450,000–$500,000.

The Riverside Red Split-Window carries Mecum’s lowest estimate at $225,000–$275,000. It’s a lovely numbers-matching car, with low-mileage (47,844), and was the subject of a body-on restoration and an engine rebuild. However, it doesn’t have fuel injection (four of the seven cars do), and it doesn’t have the provenance the rest have, such as a Bloomington Gold certification.

The remainder of the cars are valued slightly higher than the Riverside Red representative, and less than the Z06. Perhaps the most interesting of that lot is the Ermine White model ($250,000–$275,000). It was a present from Jesse James (West Coast Choppers, Monster Garage) to actress Sandra Bullock, presumably during their marriage, which lasted from 2005 to 2010. Bullock subsequently donated the Corvette to charity (sigh). As for James, he is currently married to adult film star Bonnie Rotten. Bullock never remarried.

Click here for the Mecum listing of the Colorama Split-Window Collection. You can also click here to look at the spilt-window Corvettes that ProTeam Corvette Sales has in stock, starting at $149,000 for a Riverside Red model.

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