From the ’60s to the mid-’70s, William L. “Bill” Mitchell was a highly influential mind behind the design of many of GM’s cars. His creative visions avidly promoted a “sheer” look, with smooth, aerodynamic lines and rather bold styling.

His most notable contributions to the General’s cars were, of course, to the Corvette. In fact, Mitchell was responsible for the single-year split-window design of the ’63 Corvette coupe. Unfortunately, however, the public did not share his love of the split-window look, and the design was pulled from the ‘Vette the following year.

Rightfully so – given his artistic vision – Mitchell held positions within GM in the Art and Color department, as the Chief Designer for Cadillac, as the Director of Styling, and finally as the Vice President of the Styling Section for all of GM.

His more personal, custom escapades with the Corvette resulted in several radical, highly-valuable art pieces, such as the “Great White” Corvette concept, the “Scirocco” and “Mulsanne” Stingrays, and this colorful ’80 Stingray we came across on eBay.

There’s not a whole lot of info surrounding the car, as it’s seen little exposure over the past few decades. But, according to the ad, the project started on this car in 1981 and was completed a year later. The custom body work is readily obvious, along with the absolutely stunning paint job; but what the ad also claims is that the car features a built suspension, bigger brakes and a “hand-built” 450-horsepower motor. These, added to the badass, retro Recaro seats, were intended to make the car a capable track machine.

But all performance-aspects aside, the car’s paint is easily the most striking feature. It’s not often we have the pleasure of gazing upon three-decade old paint that looks better than that of most cars leaving factories today. While destined to be nothing more than a collector’s-piece, the $250,000 price tag might just be worth it for that glorious red.