I just purchase a 1982 Corvette and am having trouble decoding the trim tag. Tags for this year does not have the works paint or trim on the tag so I'm confused by the numbers since they don't exactly match up with the codes in my Corvette Black book. I do understand the build date codes at the top of the tag but the lower numbers and letters which I assume are the paint and interior codes are confusing me. below is how the read on my tag.

13I 13L 13U 39N E

I think the 13L and 13U may mean Silver lower and Silver upper because 13 in the book stands for Silver. But what does the 13I and 39N and E stand for. My interior is silver and the code for that in the book is 132.

Not much info on the Net regarding 82. Anybody know?

Thanks,

Shawn

 

Hi Shawn:

Is your car tu tone ?? The 39 would be charcoal.

 

13/39 = Silver / Charcoal....the I = Leather. No clue on the E.


Stay in tune....

 

Silver gray leather interior. Code could also be 132.

 

The car has had 2 obvious repaints. The color now is an inexpensive repaint which is charcoal. Just under that is a bright blue. It looks to me like this blue is a repaint as well. In the doorwell on the driver side there used to be a sticker and when pulled off shows silver paint. This looks like the original paint color. 13 stands for silver and since #13 is on my tag I'm pretty sure silver is the color but am still unsure if maybe it was a two tone car with a charcoal lower section. The sticker is above the midline of the body so if the car was two tone the the upper area would have been silver. Don't know about the lower. I know from some research that 13L should mean Silver lower. And since the tags shows 13U directly after the 13L that leads me to believe that the 13U means Silver upper. Maybe because this year came in two tone as well they always put the color code on the trim plate for upper and lower even if it was the same color. If anybody else out there has an 82 corvette and knows there original color maybe they can look at there tag and see if there's has the color code with the L and U after it. I'm sure the interior is the original interior and it is silver so I'm not too concerned about the other codes. I want to paint this car back to it's original factory color. I just have to figure out if it is a solid color or two tune.

Thanks everyone for all your help

 

Your car is a two tone car 13 Silver (upper) / 39 Charcoal (lower).

Now, somewhere along the line (not sure of the exact year of start) GM started using the L & U codes on the trim tag. If your car was a one color car it still would reflect the 13L & 13U codes even though it had no lower color, or it might have just stated 13L.

Most people believe the L stands for lower...but in other threads and research this has now come into question. However, the U is for Upper.........

Your tag states 13L 13U 39N E....so, with the addition of the 39N this is clearly a two tone car. I am told the E signifies ENAMEL (BC/CC....base coat /clear coat). Had the 39N not been present it would have just been a Silver single color car.

The interior code can state a lower case L (l) or a 2 for Leather. In your case... Silver / Gray.

Since you have poked around a little... maybe you are also aware of the fact that only 1,239... (13/39) two tone cars were made.

It gets a little confusing...and I hope I have been clear.

If, you want to know more...send me your VIN code....

Stay in tune....

 

Thanks for your help all of that makes sense. Any idea what the N is for after the 39. Was there a pinstripe between the body colors and if so how do you determine what that might have been?

 

Thanks for your help all of that makes sense. Any idea what the N is for after the 39. Was there a pinstripe between the body colors and if so how do you determine what that might have been?

 

Nope, and nope again....



Stay in tune...