A friend of mine just bought a used white 1976 corvette and the interior was all firethorn except that the seats were white and the door panels were white with firethorn carpet on the bottoms. The trim number was listed as 712 and the paint was listed as 10L. He is the third owner and had talked to the original owner (before he bought it from the second owner) who says the car came this way from the factory. When the 1976 cars first came out I had a friend who bought a new red 1976 that had all black interior except seats and door panels were white. His car had the aluminum wheels which were on hold for over the counter sales except gm would sell you a replacement set if you provided a serial number that came with these wheels. My question is what dictated the color of the dash and other interior parts when you selected the white interior option. The trim code 712 shows as firethorn leather.

I have a GM Parts Book dated March 1983 and it lists four 1976 white door panels with different color carpet.

368601 is lh white w/black carpet and woodgrain
368607 is lh white w/dark brown carpet and woodgrain
368609 is lh white w/firethorn carpet and woodgrain
379955 is lh white w/gray carpet and woodgrain

 

The carpet color. You could not get a completely white interior package since the white option only included seats and door panels. One of the standard carpet colors had to be included.



Firethorn.

 

Why would it have black carpet trim at the bottom of the white door panel instead of Firethorn...? Doesn't look right.

 

There's nothing about that, that looks right. I'm sort of surprised that the carpet isn't blue.

 

I agree, doesn't look right. My 76 has Buckskin interior w/ dark brown carpet. the door panels, dash and all interior pieces match (well sort of - GM wasn't perfect back then). The seats are Buckskin too. My door panels are the deluxe with a dark brown carpet strip that matched the other carpeted areas.

Maybe GM or the dealer did that, but it just doesn't "flow" (sorry for using that descriptive word but I have been watching a lot of HG TV lately).

 

my 76 is the same codes but my interior is complete firethorn

 

It could have been a screw-up at the factory. Or someone could have changed out the door panels in the past and couldn't find them with the correct color carpet strip. If you want to change the color on the panel carpet strip, you can buy some spare carpet pieces of matching color (from one of the carpet supply companies) or you can use vinyl dye (SEM Color Coat) to re-color it.

 

!!!!!!!!!

 

My Corvette has the exact same coloring except that the door carpet is firethorn red, and looks great!

 

ttt

 

Mine is code 712 as well, but has White and Firethorn. The carpet on the door panels should be Firethorn as well.

 

please call me ; Michael Fuller 727 947 4031 Tarpon Springs Am having questions re/ installation of new carpet in rear of our car .

 

It was a 70's "thing".... The interior matched with your white leisure suit [with bell-bottom pants] and red boots.

 

I think that's what mine is too.

 

2 tone won't show on the corvette trim tags, buit will on the build sheet.

 

Contrasting interiors were not uncommon in the mid 70's. I had a buddy that bought a new 74 Vega GT! that was red and had a black interior with red rugs and red piping on the seats. It looked pretty sharp back then.

When a white interior was ordered in 76, only the seats and door panels were white. The color of the carpet, dash, console, headliners, etc., was determined by the exterior color. Silver cars got white with smoke-gray, dark green had blue-green with the white, mahogany or red had dark firethorn with white and buckskin or dark brown got dark brown with white. The exception to this was when the white exterior was ordered, then you had the choice of either black, blue-green or dark firethorn with white seats and door panels. These were the recommended pairings. Chevrolet was more liberal with ordering back then, so it may be possible to find a car with an interior/exterior combination other than those on this list (say a silver car with white & black interior?). The white interior could not be ordered with a bright blue, yellow or orange exterior.

Cars with the custom interior (leather) got matching carpet installed on the bottom of the door panels and the wood grain inserts on the top of the panels. Vinyl interiors would have plain white door panels

The trim code for the standard white vinyl interior was 15V, the code for the optional white leather was 112. I don't recall how the trim color was coded on the trim tag. It is possible that the 15V or the 112 were used for ordering the white interior, but the contrasting color (such as 712 for firethorn leather) was inticated on the trim tag.

The firethorn and white interior would have had firethorn carpet on the door panels, not black like in the photo. The carpet, or maybe even the complete panel must have been changed by a previous owner.

 

Deja

 

This answers some of my questions as well. My 76 was originally a silver car with firehorn interior. PO replaced the carpet, door panels and dash pads with black. My seats are white leather with cloth centers. I thought the PO just replaced the seats with what ever he found but now looks like these seats could be original. Just wish he would have replaced the Vega steering wheel.

 

My 76 has the Vega wheel too....but I rather like the fact that it's a 1-year only option. Makes it unique! Don't think of it like a "Vega wheel"....think of it as a "76 Corvette wheel"!

Deja

 

We now have a conversion kit to get rid of the "Vega" wheel and install a leather wheel. The conversion kit is $165 + the wheel.
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