C2 Corvette Stingray test drive video
YouTube: Petrolicious

Man's Journey to Get the Chance to Drive a '65 Corvette Stingray Is an Incredible Gearhead Story


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Cars have the ability to be utterly boring, or, when the right combination of talent and passion merge together, they are presented with the opportunity to be completely enthralling. The latter is the case with Mathieu Houtreille's "sacred monster," a 1965 Corvette C2 Stingray, which you can see in all its glory in the below video. Just don't forget the subtitles. Unless, you know, you're fluent in French.

Houtreille grew up completely committed to cars and machines. His dad, an avid gearhead, would encourage the young Mathieu to hang around mechanics, and from that moment, the young boy was hooked. The only exception between father and son's passion for cars centered around nationality. The senior Houtreille loved the refined styling of Italian sports cars, while Mathieu felt drawn to American muscle packing powerful V8 engines.

"For me, the monsters that gave me goose bumps were the ones with massive V8s and a thunderous sound coming out of their tailpipes," Houtreille says. "That's what I loved."

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Eventually, Mathieu was awarded the opportunity to own the car of his dreams. He stumbled across a classified for an Ermine White 1965 C2, and decided it was time to own his favorite piece of history. Houtreille drove to the seller's house, discovering a massive car collection when he arrived, and convinced the seller to take him for a test drive. He was too nervous to drive himself.

After getting behind the steering wheel and hitting 110 MPH on a damp forest road, the deal was sealed. It was love at first backfire. I mean, for a classic car enthusiast, does it really get any better than that?

The Chevrolet Corvette C2

In case you didn't know, the C2 Corvette has a pretty incredible history. Developed by General Motors engineers/designers Zora Arkus-Duntov and Bill Mitchell (who made a name for themselves by designing concept race cars), the second-generation Corvette was most popularly known as the Stingray.

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Available in both 2-door convertible and 2-door coupe body styles, the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray also came equipped with either 3-speed manual, 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, or four-speed manual transmission, depending on the model year.

Produced between 1963 and 1967, the C2 Corvette definitely took the auto world by storm.

Per Motor Trend:

When the C2 debuted, the automotive world shook. The bulging, vented hood, creased lines from tip to tail, and performance was everything that Zora had wanted for the car since day one, and it would only get better from there. In 1964, there were only small stylistic changes and few mechanical. The fuel-injected models had 15 hp bump to 375 hp. 1965 was a huge year, literally. It was the first year of the 396 ci big-block engine (that put out 425 hp) and four-wheel disc brakes.

In 1966, two big-block variants were made available: the 396 and the almighty 427, which was rated at 435 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. With two massively powerful options, the small blocks, while still no slouch, were less popular. The 1967 model year big block cars could be outfitted with the infamous L88 427 engine which was essentially built for racing. It featured 12.5:1 compression ratio, better flowing heads, and forged pistons to name a few aspects. This engine option was also accompanied by power brakes, a Positraction differential, and stronger suspension. A radio and heater delete was an option as well.

This post was originally published on July 7, 2017.

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