The Mako Shark Corvette was designed by Larry Shinoda under the Styling and Design head Bill Mitchell in 1961. It was a concept for future Chevrolet Corvette production cars. To stay true to it's name, the hood of the corvette was designed to a pointed snout.
Other parts of the design were inspired by the fast-moving, sleek short finned Mako shark. A widespread story has it that Mitchell had an actual mako shark mounted on the wall in his office, and ordered his team to paint the car to match the distinctive blue-gray upper surface gently blending into white underside of the fish.
After numerous attempts to match the fish's color scheme failed, the team hit upon the idea of kidnapping the fish one night, painting it to match their best efforts on the car, and returning it to the office. Mitchell never realized the difference and pronounced himself pleased with the team's duplication on the car of nature's handiwork.