bmarsh451

Does anyone know what the original Harry Mann Frame for a 1957 Corvette color was? I have seen red and black and want the correct frame for my 57 Corvette. I believe the back is stamped with Robert W. Brown Any assistance greatly appreciated

jimgessner

Both colors were used. Are you sure you have a HARRY MANN car?

bmarsh451

Pretty sure as I have contacted previous owners (2) Car is late 57 with 283/270hp and factory 4 speed, also has original 4:11 rear end. Trying to document as much as possible and bring back to all original
Thanks for your reply

TCracingCA

They sold alot of Corvettes (#1 in the country in the 1960's). I have some of their Frames and what I think I know was some of the early Corvettes had a Mann Chevrolet without Corvette on it and those were red for awhile and then black and then Mann added or made a special frame with Corvette and those were black, but not sure of the year of change. I have a few in my garage!

Now if you have one of his special dealership painted black cars, that is cool! I have some cool personal memories of visiting that dealership!

futura

I recently received the copy of the NCRS shipping document for our 1967 SS/RS 396 Camaro. Also a Harry Mann car. Picked up a black repro license plate frame with Corvette on it EBay for it. If anyone knows of a red frame without Corvette, I'd be interested. After 22 years of ownership, it's nice to finally have a starting point.

bmarsh451

Wow my first muscle car was 69 SS
will keep my eyes open for you! Good Luck

jimgessner

Now I see more info that answers my questions on your other question. TC Racing has tons of written history of this era.

bmarsh451

Mine is not the black corvette; however; pretty certain it is a Harry Mann car, want to sell one of your original corvette plates?

65hihp

they're always up for sale on flea bay.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...frame&_sacat=0

TCracingCA

I have had two Z-28's (67 and a 69), so even though we are also a Corvette family, having Corvette on mine was something I steered away from! Because the Camaro warrants proud Ownership parallel to Corvette Ownership. So a black plate, non Corvette one with just Harry Mann and then Chevrolet would be more period Correct. And guys like me, will just assume that you jumped out of a car with a screwdriver and took that off of a Corvette in the middle of the night!

TCracingCA

Been around since the 1920's and still trying to find out when the Dealership was started because they were peddling Chevy models prior to the dealership! Early on they had alot of red in their motif! Some of the service vehicles were painted red. Then the Owner started liking black cars, and in the Corvette years tried to trade for as many as he could get from other dealerships because they sold! Then he resorted to taking new cars, and repainting them black, so this I believe coincides with the introduction of the plate color addition. The black frame was pretty neutral and displayed well on most any color. This guy liked the black cars because he touted his body shop as being the best, so the black jobs showed the body work and painting talents. This Owner was meticulous on his styling and presentation, so a little detail of the frame and plate color were focused on is what i believe.

TCracingCA

But there was a runof metal Harry mann frames without the ears reproduced by someone in the early 90's and those mostly are the ones being peddled on Ebay. I tried to sell a real nice one of those for alot less $250, but the stupid questions irritated me, so even though that frame was priced decently because I was the only one telling the truth as to what it was, then guys would pass on it, while the same plates were listed up by others for $800, $725 etc. The real ones I have I will not sell! And to share what I might think or know, I would have to see a picture of what frame we are talking about!

PS i don't do private messages anymore generally and only occasionally.

TCracingCA

ya, i am still hanging around! I don't know who owns the Gordon Wilson big block race car, but I posted up a thread this past month on some additional info for the registry just because some past Owners of my car acquired that car after crashing mine!

Also to stay on mann topic, with the advent of the California yellow plates with black lettering-- with the red frame it kind of was looking too cartoon with all of those colors (red and yellow). Ps there were certain colors that they would not order or if he could get those unpreferred colors in high desirable options, then he would use those for trade!

bmarsh451

Thanks will check it out

TCracingCA

I am sure the earliest Corvettes would have had Harry Mann Chevrolet (and probably did not have Corvette on them initially) and that was probably a red frame. I will check through my picture catalog to see if I have a red frame with Corvette! Off of the top of my memory, I don't think I have seen such. And I don't know the exact year of switch over to the Black Plates and don't know if Harry Mann started putting the generic Harry Mann Chevrolet Black plates on without Corvette for awhile and then switched over to the Black frames with Corvette which was on some C1 cars, but 1957 not sure exactly. I am a C2/C3 guy so my study of the 1950's would be interesting also, but I have never felt a need to really retain or study the doing in Southern California as extensively for the 50's as I have done for the 1960's (the era when I was born) and the birth years for the cars that I have owned. My tattered 1967 Z-28 White with Black stripes car with black vinyl top was a Harry Mann car, so I kept the frame and plates off of the car when I sold it back in the early 80's.

PS I gave up after one attempt to sell the 90's Harry Mann Corvette black frame in excellent condition, so I have ""nothing"" for sell to check out! Plus as I said above, if the cars is a 1957, I don't know exactly what frame would have been on that early of a car. I will look at some of my pictures if I ever get free time.

bmarsh451

Thank you! Greatly appreciate your feedback!

robbie shirkowski

I have a black plated California car with two Harry Mann plate frames. They are faded and pitted so I believe they are original to the car. They are the black frames and the car is a 63 coupe. After NCRS ran a document search on the car I found it was shipped to another CA dealership. I'm thinking the car was a dealer trade.

TCracingCA

I am always interested in the color of the cars, because he was big on trading for black cars and it is interesting to know what cars they may have wanted! Naturally if a customer came in and wanted something in particular especially color, then Mann and others would have gotten it for them if possible. Also knowing what dealerships they traded with is interesting. There biggest trading partner seemed to be Clippinger out in Covina because of the #1 Salesman in the Country- Bob Wingate. I have also heard of trades with Jack Walls, Champion, Baher, Glenhill, etc.

Here is an example of one of the red frames pre 1960's



These are the types of photos I love to find. Shows the muscle on that lot!





And just a few laying around my garage! To include one of the Mann Originals, but not from my 1967 Z, but one of the 1960's ones from a Corvette!

bmarsh451

Really Cool Thanks

TCracingCA

I had more but they are in a backup drive that I haven't recovered yet

The earliest frame were the super ornate ones, and I will have to locate a picture. These were not the traditional square ones like I will show below!

But this frame started in the 50's not sure of the actual date and then was used up to around 1966/67 with the ears. It I believe was used on the initial Corvette 1954- ??? and also on the mid 50's Chevrolets and then remained on the other Chevrolets till 66/67. I will talk a little about other dealerships more, below-- but this was a style that was common especially in the very late 50's possibly at other dealerships and then definitely by others in the early 60's.



This frame with the ears corvette at top Harry Mann started on the C1 (year unsure at the moment) and was installed up to 1967. This was when they were getting all pretty, but the ears tended to be fragile so they returned to the sturdier designs. I know like DANA used these on there High Performance special cars and then the block style on their regular dealership lot, but then in 1968 all went back to the block style without the pretty fragile ears!



Then the Manufacturer Brown got rid of the ears and the earliest of those may have been out on the other Chevrolets as early as late 66/67 and then continued on to the 70's



Also the Corvette plate was changed in about 1968 by Mann and looked like this.



And then these were the last frames starting in the later 70's and possibly to the end of the dealership and I believe at a certain point Mann went back to these on the later 70's Corvettes also



Then the repro in the 90's (I think Mann closed in 1986)



Therefore if anyone has a different one, post it up! And I am looking still to see if there was a red one that had Corvette and then the earliest ornate ones, I have to get up a picture of one of those!

Also other Socal Dealerships didn't have per se a Corvette special frame, but their frames followed these styles in the same rough time periods. It basically was dependent as to when they ran out of them and had to place an order, and what the manufacturer was doing at that moment when the order was received. Also based on the length of name or whether a Dealership wanted their name at the top or bottom, the Manufacturer could need to make variations and/or use another one of their older designs. And then there were some dealerships wanting Custom unique designs all along.