Originally Posted by Easy Mike

Birthplace of Legends by Peter LiCastro. Buy a copy and read about the last one.

At Bloomington a few years back, David Burroughs conducted the workshop on production at St. Louis which I attended and discussed this car. As a handout, he provided what is essentially an hour by hour account of how the car was assembled, including the CBS News crew TV coverage, the fact that the car was not complete when the crew did their filiming, and that the car went back on the line to be finished after the TV folks and GM big wigs had left the building.

Look carefully in wnmechs pic and you can see there are no seats in the car.

Originally Posted by MCMLXXX

wnmech,

Thanks for posting that link, I am almost sure that is the picture that was on the StL Post Dispatch front page that day. Thank you very much.


Mike.

Originally Posted by Kwis68

I'm trying to find a copy of the picture and article from this day. Any idea where I can find it? Tried the paper...no luck. My dad was in the picture and wanted to surprise him with a copy of it.

Originally Posted by Kwis68

No...It was a picture of a man dropping the body onto the last Vette made.

Originally Posted by I_Want_one

Man, I ran across this and had to join and say it must have been awesome yet heartbreaking to be a part of that. I work in the auto industry for a different manufacturer, but I love Vettes. My mom used to work in the factory that made the wiring harnesses and she went to Bowling Green a few times. I'm actually looking at buying a Vette myself.

Originally Posted by The Punisher

good luck with your search

Originally Posted by shannonmurphy65

I was looking through a Vette magazine and saw a picture of the last Vette built in the St. Louis plant. This was in 1981. I remember seeing this on the CBS evening news when I was young.

This made me wonder about who has the car now, and what is this car worth?

Originally Posted by courtneykaufmann

I would love to know and I'd really love to find it .... my grandpa dropped the body on the last vette in St. Louis...

Originally Posted by marshal135

...just ordered a copy off Amazon.
Marshal...

Originally Posted by Critter1

Someone emailed a link to this old thread and asked if I could fill in some of the blanks in the story about the "Last St Louis Corvette".

I followed that car down the entire St Louis assembly line, taking pictures all through it's entire two day build, from a bare frame to a completed vehicle. Workers at just about every station on the line signed or marked the chassis or body in one way or another. My name is on the underbody side of two panels with a black magic marker. (1/4 panel and floor pan as I remember) Burroughs and I both signed/marked something on the frame but I don't remember where. I still have the original build sheet for the car. I also remember the VIN# after all these years, 31,611. (the last six digits)
The story of the Last St Louis Corvette" contains a few secrets. Maybe one day, I'll tell. (I also have the VIN # of the last Corvette to leave that building. It wasn't 31,611. Dark blue that went to Canada))


To my/our surprise, the car was not sent to a GM museum, or anyone in particular within GM. It was actually shipped to a dealer in Detroit, for sale to the general public. We learned that the car was for dealer inventory and was for sale to anyone that wanted it. A group of us (Burroughs, Dale Smith and I, and three others that I can't remember now, went together and purchased the car the next morning.
The car sat in climate controlled storage for years. Somewhere around 1983 or 84?, the car was shown at the Bowling Green event. Burroughs and I gently wiped it down but did no other cleaning. It still looked exactly the same as it did the day it was pulled from stock at the Michigan dealer. (I think it was Ed Rinke Chev?)
I don't know who owns the car today but I've heard it's still somewhere around Bloomington IL.

Originally Posted by Stinger15

To bad they don't loan it out to the NCM once in awhile.