Brack c

I decided to send off for a copy of my build sheet through the National Corvette Museum just to see some history of my 82 . When I got it today , I was left more confused than before . I always thought my car was originally Silver / Claret . This due to the fact that some of the paint that was on it when I bought it ( white ) had a bunch of chips in it & I could see what I thought was original paint underneath . The car also came with cloth seats , which I thought all vettes in that era were leather .

The build sheet says , if I'm reading correct , that my car did come with red cloth seats and the " two-tone " paint job was listed as "13L silver met." & "13U- silver met ." With 99M dark clar accents ..

Am I just reading this wrong , because it looks like the upper & lower were both painted sliver and had the dark claret striping ?

Also I found statistics on the cloth interior ...the number of cars with it is listed N/A . Any reason for this .

I'm not asking to say , wow look what I got . Because it's brand new white with leather interior , LoL ...just curious .
Thanks

Brack c

Any help ???

hunt4cleanair

For clarification, I take it the car has been re-painted and is white today? Out of curiosity, what are the codes on your trim tag?

I believe you are interpreting your build sheet absolutely correct. The U, L and M represents the upper, lower and medium portions of a vehicle and common codes used across all GM brands for paint. This tells us the whole car was painted silver metallic before the dark claret striping was applied.

Having said that, to show off or highlight the Bowling Green paint shop, Corvette offered buyers two-tone paint jobs that in your case, the codes would have been 13U, 99L. In contrast, the 99M, instructs workers that there is a special paint instruction, dark claret, in the middle in form of a stripe. The "two-tone" message was an alert to the worker for those special instructions. That box was used for various "message" options over the years. For example, in 1982, it was also used to alert workers that this vehicle was a hatchback.

?

The Black Book is clear on this question and consistent with other published sources...cloth seats were optionally in 1982. I've seen them and always liked the feel of the material...nice quality!

You may be thinking that the Collector Edition Hatchback all came with leather seats.

Hope this helps!

Easy Mike

I agree with Tom. Cloth upholstery was a buyer's choice 79-82. The D84 option confirms the two-tone paint.

gbvette62

Starting in 77, both cloth and leather seat covers were offered, as a no charge option.

The trim code shown on the trim tag of your 82, would have been the same with either cloth or leather seats. Trim Code 74C would have to be specified to order cloth claret seat covers, but the trim tag would list 74I, whether the car had cloth or leather seats. Without a window sticker or the build sheet, there's no way of knowing which seat covers an 82 originally came with.

As far as the original color(s) of your car, it's clear from the build sheet, that it originally was the optional two-tone combination of Silver Metallic over Dark Claret Metallic. In this combination, above the body belt line, the car would have been painted silver, and below the belt line, it would have been dark claret. There would have been a two-tone (light and dark claret) tape stripe, around the belt line, separating the silver and claret, as well as an identical stripe around the power bulge of the hood.

As far as the paint codes being listed as 13L 13U 99M, this is typical of how GM always listed two-tone combinations. I think it goes back to the days when two-tone combinations were normally done as the body of the car one color, and the roof painted a different color. Though Chevrolet marketed the paint treatment applied to your car as "Two-Tone", for ordering and production purposes, the claret is actually considered an "accent" color. If you look at your build sheet, you'll see that Dark Claret is listed as an accent color. Corvette order forms from the era, required that a car ordered in silver over dark claret, required that the order listed the car's colors as 13 13, and 99 had to be ordered as the accent color.

The first picture below is of a page from the 1981 Chevrolet Ordering Guide, for Bowling Green built Corvettes. The colors and trim codes are different than 82, but the format and ordering process, was the same. The second picture is of an 82 in the Silver and Dark Claret Two-Tone, from the 1982 Corvette sales brochure.

Brack c

Thanks for y'all s input guys . I just thought it was weird . It looked like it read Silver / Silver so I was shaking my head . The trim tag ( along with the door ) is long gone . It was painted white by Bubbas paint shop when I bought it . I kept it white , personal preference , but went back with leather seats . To be honest , I looked for replacement cloth seats and couldn't find so I thought Bubba just went the cheaper route and used cloth instead of leather .

Mike Ward

The trim tag is on the driver's side pillar post, not the door itself. You sure it's gone?

Brack c

Ahhhh , my bad ...thought you were talking about the tag on the door . I'll check this evening . Thanks Mike

gbvette62

You'll find the trim tag above the driver's side upper door hinge. It will look like the pic below. This tag is from my Charcoal Gray Bowling Green 81. Notice that even though my car is a solid color, the trim tag shows 39L AND 39U, for the paint code (the 13I is the Slate Gray interior).

The tag on the door was the Federal Certification Label. It was a glued on label, that had various information typed on it, such as the VIN, month and year of production, tire size, vehicle weight, etc., but it did not have the interior or exterior colors on it.

Brack c

qwank

well it looks like it was silver according to your trim tag. My '81 st Luis car had cloth seats and it actually has code 29C on the trim tag. your's says 74I

Mike Ward

St. Louis '81 and '82 Bowling Green tags are different.

Easy Mike

13 for silver, the primary color. The 99 is the code for the claret. The OPs car was originally two-tone.

qwank

that's what I figured. That's why I made it a point to say mine was a St. Louis car. So what tells you cloth interior on a Bowling Green tag?

qwank

This tag is so confusing because it says 13 for upper and lower

Mike Ward

See post #5.

qwank

I looked at those pictures but never read what he wrote.

it all makes sense now

Brack c

Thanks for all yalls input . Was just a little confusing to me .

Easy Mike

What can possibly be confusing about a two tone car with three paint codes and a choice of upholstery?

Street Rat

I have an '81 that was built in St. Louis. According to The National Corvette Museum my car's information was lost in a fire. That really sucks . I was interested in getting one of those build sheets too.