It’s not easy updating a classic like a 1964 Corvette Stingray but Ares Design, led by former Lotus CEO Dany Bahar appears to have done it. First introduced in 1953, the Corvette was introduced at the GM Motorama in 1953 as a concept show car but it would take more than 10 years to become the classic car we know and love today, thanks to the Stingray model.

Designed by Larry Shinoda, the Corvette Stingray was the second generation of Corvettes, continuing with fibreglass body panels, but overall, was smaller than the first generation.

1964 Corvette Stingray by Ares Design, A Literal Modern Classic

Introducing a new name, Stingray, the 1963 model was the first year for a Corvette coupé and it featured a distinctive tapering rear deck but that the distinctive split rear window. Maximum power for the 1963 Stingray was 360 bhp (270 kW) and was raised to 375 bhp (280 kW) on the Stingray 1964 model. That year, Corvette also eschewed the split rear window for full width window.

Ares Design has taken this legendary 1964 classic coupe and invested over 3500 hours of painstaking work – from the detailing and of course, to the muscle under the hood. Suffice it to say this 1964 Corvette Stingray by Ares Design is totally souped up. Beginning with stronger chassis  (for safety) and new axles, the classic Stingray adopts modern suspensions and electric handbrakes from the current Corvette C7. The 1964 Stingray also gets a boost with 6.2 litre V8 LS3 engine delivering 525 horses; am slightly surprised they didn’t go with the 650 bhp supercharged LT4 aluminium 6.2L V-8 engine from the 2015 Z06 Corvette Stingray. Naturally, instead of modern automatic transmission, Ares Design has opted for the tactile feel of a five speed manual transmission.

Inside, the classic Corvette Stingray has a new but vintage look burgundy leather upholstery and the acoustics delivered by an Alpine 500w multichannel audio system, with hidden speakers and an eight inch subwoofer.

For more on the modern classic 1964 Corvette Stingray, visit Ares Design