abdo

When I bought my '57, it was heater delete, did not have courtesy lights, and did not have the parking brake alarm. However it did have the radio. My question: Is it common for '57 heater delete cars to have a radio? I spoke to a NCRS master judge some time ago and he maintained that a '57 heater delete car would also be a radio delete car.
You '57 experts, is that true?

MaineDoc

Delete isn't really the correct way to look at it. Early Corvettes did not come with heaters or radios unless actually ordered. So every early Corvette started life, if you will, as a car with no radio and no heater, as well as some other things. If you wanted a radio, etc. you ordered it and it was built that way. As an example we don't think of these cars as white wall delete because the base price included just blackball tires. You want white walls, you order them and pay more above the base price. Some selection combinations may appear rather unusual. At a recent NCRS meet I saw a loaded 66 coupe with PS, PB, teak, tele, air, etc. but three speed. The original order person clearly ordered what he/she wanted but left off something that most would see as logical to include. You want these options you pay for them. It is not like the 57 came fully loaded and you deleted what you didn't want.

JohnZ

In '57, 966 Corvettes were built without a heater, and 2,704 were built without a radio - there's no connection between the two; the judge was wrong.

abdo

MaineDoc:
I concur with your explanation. It seems logical then that getting a heater delete car with a radio is not at all unusual. There seems to be a belief going around the Corvette hobby that certain options go together.
My '57 was originally purchased in Florida and I can understand why the owner did not need the heater. However, I find that having a defroster would be welcome on rainy days up here. Not that I intentionally drive in the rain, but sometimes I get caught in it.

abdo

John:
Thanks for the statistics. That answers my question. I am surprised, however, at the numbers. Didn't realize they were that high.

DZAUTO

All the info above is good.
Back "in the day", MOST cars came as base cars and MOST accessories were added, such as radio, heater, white wall tires, etc, etc, etc (I'm not sure that air cond was standard even on a Cadillac in 57). And that included Corvettes. UNFORTUNATELY, that is not the case with today's cars. You cannot just add whatever options you want without adding other options. Today, everything comes as a package and you can no longer pick and choose!!!
As far as I know, the ONLY 57 Corvette that came with mandatory options and/or "deletes", was the RPO579D option (for MANY, MANY years this has INCORRECTLY been known as RPO579E). This is the car that is known by the nickname "Airbox" car (essentially, a factory built race car------------and in its time, it was a killer!!!), which includes the solid lifter FI engine and a fresh air duct providing cool air to the FI unit. Part of that pkg was HD brakes, suspension, wide wheels, NO heater and NO radio. As far as I know, all RPO579D cars came with a 4sp and positraction, but I won't swear that they were mandatory options with the RPO579D pkg.

1955 copper

A woman near me had a black 57 she bought new having just a engine 3 speed soft top base Corvette. Also had a friend owning a 67 from the factory having no paint on the body as he ordered it so he could have it painted a non- GM color he liked better. Back in those days anyone could basically order any car as they wanted

OC-1

If you looked at ads for cars in general, even in the 1960s, the ads would always include R&H, meaning it had a radio and heater. Significant ad information because as mentioned many cars of all brands did not have either or just one and not the other.

Randy G.

Our '57 fuelie is a heater delete car with a radio. Don't know if it came that way, but that's how it was when it was judged "Top Flight."