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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 01:26 AM
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Default how to verify correct paint code

There's a car on ebay which is painted war bonnet yellow and has the corect paint code on the data plate, but this picture shows some blue paint near the data plate. Surely these data plates can be replaced with whatever you like, right? Is the tank sticker the only way to be certain?
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 03:29 AM
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Originally Posted by gccch
There's a car on ebay which is painted war bonnet yellow and has the corect paint code on the data plate, but this picture shows some blue paint near the data plate. Surely these data plates can be replaced with whatever you like, right? Is the tank sticker the only way to be certain?
War Bonnet Yellow was offered in 1971 and 1972.

The body paint & trim tag indicates the interior was black vinyl "400".

The "989" indicates War Bonnet Yellow paint.

The "C17" indicates the car was produced on Oct 17th. ("C" the third month of production, and "17" the seventeenth day of the month.)

If the car is a 1971, then 17 October 1970 was a SATURDAY.

If the car is a 1972, then 17 October 1971 was a SUNDAY.

Always nice to be able to examine a car in person.

Tank stickers can be reproduced as needed, so they are not the final documentation source either. NCRS is a good source of information.

Last edited by mapman; Jun 23, 2007 at 03:33 AM.
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 04:02 AM
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Just an idea. I did the weather stripping today on the Vette. 8 hours to get it to work. Unless the painter pulled off all the weather stripping, Which is unlikely, have them pull the bottom door weather stripping piece, just the runner down the bottom of the door, it will come off eiasly, and leave glue behind, a brownish glue. Have the guy peal it back, and have him take some high res pictures all the way down the bottom of the door. You should be able to see remants of the adhesive over the original paint, If you see clean paint in the pic with no glue residue, then you know he just painted over the original paint for the pic, and is faking the color. It's hard to fake the residue, but not impossible. most crooks don't think that in debth. My Car had been repainted, but is the same Elkhart Green under the stripping and else where. BTW. DON'T BUY A CAR, UNLESS EITHER YOU OR A TRUSTED FORUM MEMBER GIVES IT A THOROUGH ONCE OVER FIRST. I am about 6K into my Great deal,, and while the work has allowed me to get to know the car really well, it would of been nice to have known what I was getting into before hand, and then have made an appropriate offer, saving me thousands of dollars. peroid.

Last edited by RunningMan373; Jun 23, 2007 at 04:19 AM.
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 08:39 AM
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What do you need to do to get data from NCRS for a car you are looking over?
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 08:47 AM
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Originally Posted by mapman
War Bonnet Yellow was offered in 1971 and 1972.

The body paint & trim tag indicates the interior was black vinyl "400".

The "989" indicates War Bonnet Yellow paint.

The "C17" indicates the car was produced on Oct 17th. ("C" the third month of production, and "17" the seventeenth day of the month.)

If the car is a 1971, then 17 October 1970 was a SATURDAY.

If the car is a 1972, then 17 October 1971 was a SUNDAY.

Always nice to be able to examine a car in person.

Tank stickers can be reproduced as needed, so they are not the final documentation source either. NCRS is a good source of information.

So were the lines running over the weekend or did someone create this data plate and picked the wrong date?
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 09:04 AM
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That data plate and rivets look brand new. You can buy them and have any codes you like put on them.

I agree that it looks like blue (Bridgehampton?) paint underneath.

I hate it when people misrepresent what they're selling.

Just tell me the car came blue and was repainted.

Good Luck with it either way.
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 09:55 AM
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Just a thought guys but Yellow back in the day wasn't all that popular of a color.

This may have been painted blue years ago to please whoever owned it at the time and recently brought back to it's stock color.

AS far as the tag looking new, I've got a 68 that's been sitting outside with no doors on it for the last 17 years and the tag looks just as new as this one.

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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by gccch
So were the lines running over the weekend or did someone create this data plate and picked the wrong date?
Is the car a 1970 or a 1971?

Seems unlikely that GM would pay UAW rates to work on SATURDAY, let alone on SUNDAY.

Not having access to the actual plant work schedule, I would say the plate was produced with the wrong date. However, anything is possible, and there is no way to give you a definitive answer without more information. An inspection of the actual car would settle the issue.

How much money are they asking? Is there other documentation offered? Does ALL the information about the car make sense as a WHOLE? e.g. do they say the car has the ORIGINAL PAINT when you can detect other colors? e.g. significant time and money spent to fake a LOW DOLLAR car doesn't make sense. e.g. is the mileage reflected in the wear and tear on the car? Does the car have a good title? (stolen, salvage, etc).

If you are seriously interested in the car, get someone, who KNOWS what they are doing, to inspect the car.


NCRS's publications and web site are great sources of information about these cars. Their "1968-1982 Corvette Specifications Guide" has (as they say) " a wealth of information" about trim tags, VIN information, casting numbers, etc.
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 12:18 PM
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Originally Posted by mapman
Is the car a 1970 or a 1971?

Seems unlikely that GM would pay UAW rates to work on SATURDAY, let alone on SUNDAY.

Not having access to the actual plant work schedule, I would say the plate was produced with the wrong date. However, anything is possible, and there is no way to give you a definitive answer without more information. An inspection of the actual car would settle the issue.

How much money are they asking? Is there other documentation offered? Does ALL the information about the car make sense as a WHOLE? e.g. do they say the car has the ORIGINAL PAINT when you can detect other colors? e.g. significant time and money spent to fake a LOW DOLLAR car doesn't make sense. e.g. is the mileage reflected in the wear and tear on the car? Does the car have a good title? (stolen, salvage, etc).

If you are seriously interested in the car, get someone, who KNOWS what they are doing, to inspect the car.


NCRS's publications and web site are great sources of information about these cars. Their "1968-1982 Corvette Specifications Guide" has (as they say) " a wealth of information" about trim tags, VIN information, casting numbers, etc.
The car is a '71. I thought Chevy was working overtime back in those days to catch up from the strike in 1970.
After looking at the car on fleabay, I thought the interior on this car looks pretty rough, the engine compartment is so-so, and where is the ignition shielding?
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 12:25 PM
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Originally Posted by slk230red
The car is a '71. I thought Chevy was working overtime back in those days to catch up from the strike in 1970.
After looking at the car on fleabay, I thought the interior on this car looks pretty rough, the engine compartment is so-so, and where is the ignition shielding?

The trim tag indicates the car was built around 17 October 1970. The NCRS data book indicates NO UNITS BUILT in October 1970.
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by mapman
Is the car a 1970 or a 1971?

Seems unlikely that GM would pay UAW rates to work on SATURDAY, let alone on SUNDAY.

Not having access to the actual plant work schedule, I would say the plate was produced with the wrong date. However, anything is possible, and there is no way to give you a definitive answer without more information. An inspection of the actual car would settle the issue.

How much money are they asking? Is there other documentation offered? Does ALL the information about the car make sense as a WHOLE? e.g. do they say the car has the ORIGINAL PAINT when you can detect other colors? e.g. significant time and money spent to fake a LOW DOLLAR car doesn't make sense. e.g. is the mileage reflected in the wear and tear on the car? Does the car have a good title? (stolen, salvage, etc).

If you are seriously interested in the car, get someone, who KNOWS what they are doing, to inspect the car.


NCRS's publications and web site are great sources of information about these cars. Their "1968-1982 Corvette Specifications Guide" has (as they say) " a wealth of information" about trim tags, VIN information, casting numbers, etc.


They are claiming it is the original color, and that it was repainted to the original color. I pointed out to the guy that there was blue showing and he admitted the car was blue but did not elaborate. He also "lost" the tank sticker, which I suspect is convenient if the color has been changed and he does not want to admit it. It's too bad because I really like the car and the color and would not have been turned off by the color being changed. Now I don't know what to beleive. I hope he's reading this forum.
Here's the listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=020
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 01:26 PM
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Originally Posted by gccch
They are claiming it is the original color, and that it was repainted to the original color. I pointed out to the guy that there was blue showing and he admitted the car was blue but did not elaborate. He also "lost" the tank sticker, which I suspect is convenient if the color has been changed and he does not want to admit it. It's too bad because I really like the car and the color and would not have been turned off by the color being changed. Now I don't know what to beleive. I hope he's reading this forum.
Here's the listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=020

The ebay link you provided shows the VIN which indicates the car was built in Feb 1971. The trim tag looks to me like a "C17" indicating an October 1970 build. However, if the tag is a "G17" that would indicate a February 1971 build which would be correct for the VIN.

Difficult to tell from the picture but this seems more reasonable - still does not explain the blue paint, but these cars get repainted. Certainly, a repaint is not in itself a reason to dismiss the car.
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 02:44 PM
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-Looks like G17 to me... the bottom of the cursive is longer than the top (I would expect a C to be the same on top as on bottom). You can research the trim tag font easily enough.

-I just bought a '69 after months of looking. One thing I did discover is the fact that some of those trim tags look absolutely brand new that I know were original. I almost walked away from the car I bought for that reason. After purchase, I ended up talking to the previous owner to the seller who had the car since 1979 and he convinced me it was original. I found other instances of this as well.

-The only thing I see in your case is that the car was blue once. Whatever. I share your concern about matching the tag, but I'm not convinced it's a problem here. Yet.

-At any rate, don't buy until you see it in person.

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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 05:51 PM
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Feb 17, 1971 was a wednesday the same day as hottie Denise Richardson was born.
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Old Jun 23, 2007 | 08:55 PM
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So basically this tag is all that is available to confirm the correct paintand trim?
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Old Jun 24, 2007 | 01:13 AM
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Originally Posted by gccch
So basically this tag is all that is available to confirm the correct paintand trim?
Depending on the quality and purpose of any restoration, examination of the car would reveal original paint color and paint over spray. e.g. if the door seals were original, removal of the door seal(s) would reveal the original paint color.


The fact that the seller told you the tank sticker was "lost" indicates they had it at one time. Does the fuel tank straps look like they have been removed or has a body off restoration been performed. (Most tank stickers are difficult to remove in one piece. you have to have access.
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Old Jun 24, 2007 | 10:07 AM
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Well, I will have to decide if I want to travel to see this car and examine it further. Not comfortable at this time. Thanks for all your replies.
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Old Jun 24, 2007 | 11:00 AM
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I asked the guy on ebay about the color, and here's his reply.

DATA PLATE IS ORIGINAL WITH ORIGINAL RIVITS, I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE USED ANOTHER CODE IF I WAS GOING TO CHANGE THE PLATE. WHEN I PURCHASED THE CAR IT HAD BEEN PAINTED BLUE OVER THE ORIGINAL WAR BONNET YELLOW AND I AM PRETTY SURE WITH A LITTLE SANDPAPER THERE IS WAR BONNET YELLOW UNDER THE BLUE I MISSED. THANKS, KEN CALL IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS 770-490-0340
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