I recently purchased a very low mileage 1982 c3 corvette. The vin number is 1g1ay8784. The car is an unmolested survivor with matching numbers,all original equipment such as the Jack and owners manual.I have been checking all the codes and they all match with the correct numbers according to my restoration guide. The problem is my trim tag.The tag has an unusual character which looks like an upside-down "T" followed by the number 31. The next set of numbers is 39L and finally 39U. The interior code does not match any listed for a C3 let alone a 1982. My car is charcoal grey metallic, with a light grey interior. The seats are cloth. Can anyone decipher the code?
Thanks
Art

 

A pic might help...

Bill

 

The VIN doesn't look right for an '82 to me..............

131 would be the correct code for a silver/grey leather, but yours is cloth...???

 

 

VINS are 17 characters, the one you supplied is not, check your title and your windshield vin tag for vin and confirm it matches, a pic would help. hard to answer your question with the info provided, pics would help

 

Bowling Green trim codes can be screwy. For 82, 132 indicates silver gray leather; 13C is supposed to be silver gray cloth. It's possible 131 could also be silver gray cloth.

1G1AY8784 is only a partial 82 VIN; look again. It should be 1G1AY8784C51xxxxx
C indicates the 1982 model year
5 indicates Bowling Green
1 is the car line series code
xxxxx would be the conssecutive unit number for your 82. The consecutive unti number will also be on the trim tag.

 

Sorry about that the vin is
1G1AY8784C5125025
The car is charcoal metalic but has silver gray interior. The seats are definitely cloth which I understand was a rarely ordered option in 1982. The trim tag still doesn"t make sense especially the first character. It does not look like the other number "1" in the code but rather an upside-down "T". I will try to take a picture later in the week
Art

 

The Corvette Black Book lists 992 82s with silver gray cloth.

 

Interesting.... looking forward to seeing the pics...

 

My Bowling Green 81 has the exact same trim code configuration, a "1", that appears to be an upside down "T". To my knowledge, this is the common style of "1" used on 81-82 Bowling Green tags. Bowling Green trim tags also include the last 6 digits of your VIN number. The VIN derivative on the trim tag on my 81 has 2 more upside down "T" appearing "1"s, in it too. The VIN derivative on your trim tag probably has the same "1" for the first digit ("1"25025), take a look at it. All it is is a "1" without the left facing serif(?) at the top.

With Silver Gray Cloth the "official" trim code is 13C, but generally, Bowling Green trim codes all use an "I" for the third digit. So a car with silver gray leather would have a trim code of 132 and a car with silver gray cloth would be trim code 13C, but either could show 13I as the trim code on the trim tag.

On a solid Charcoal Gray Bowling Green car, the paint code is indicated as 39L 39U. If your car had been painted in a two-tone, such as silver over charcoal, the paint code would be something like this: 39L 39U 13 E (or 13A possibly?), 13 being the upper color.

I have a Bowling Green 81 that I bought new. It is Charcoal with silver gray leather. My trim tag shows the 13I 39L 39U. I just took a couple pictures of the trim tag on my 81, that show the "1" in the VIN and the interior trim code. I'll post them here a little later this evening. The computor at the shop doesn't have an SD slot, so I need to use my lap top at home, to post them.

By the way, technically, cloth wasn't an actual option. Leather or cloth were both standard, at no extra cost, on all 77-82 Corvettes. Leather was much more popular and more common, and in fact, not all interior colors were even offered in cloth.

 

Ok, here's the pic of the trim tag on my 81 Bowling Green car. You can clearly see (I hope) the "1" that appears as an upside down "T" in both the trim code, and the VIN.

 

Care to share which ones "were not"? And your source? Thanks

 

Very interesting stuff. I wasn't aware of the 1 being used instead of C in the interior trim code for cloth. Cool. Thanks for posting.

 

For 1980, black, red and green were only available in leather, while beige, blue, claret and oyster were available in cloth or leather. This information is from the Corvette section of the 1980 Chevrolet Showroom album.

Silver and red were not available in cloth in 1981 St. Louis Corvettes, only leather. Black, camel, rust and dark blue could be had in either material. This is from the 1981 Chevrolet Showroom Album.

Bowling Green 81s could be had with a cloth or leather interior in dark blue, camel, dark red or silver gray, but charcoal was only available in leather. This is from the "revised" 1981 Dealer Order Guide dated 6-15-81. Bowling Green cars had some different exterior colors and all new paint codes because Bowling Greens were painted with enamel, instead of laquer. Starting in June, all new Corvette orders were going to Bowling Green and this Order Guide was provided to dealers so that they could properly order cars from Bowling Green.

For 82, charcoal, silver green and Collector Edition silver beige were only offered in leather. Silver gray, dark red, beige and dark blue could be ordered in leather or cloth. This is from the 82 Sales Brochure.

 

Actually it was an "I" that was substituted for the "2" or the "C", not a "1".

 

OK, got it.

 

Tell them where to find the time/build date and how to decypher it, GB.

 

The time and date code on the Bowling Green trim tags is the 4 digits on the upper left of the tag, B 09 D. The first digit, "B" indicates the model year, in this case 1981, 82s will have a "C" here. The second and third digits are the month, 09 is September. The last digit, is the week of the month, on my car "D" is the forth week of the month. The following 6 digits across the top of the trim tag are the VIN derivative, and better match the last 6 digits of the VIN number.

B 09 D is a Bowling Green 81 with a body build date of the 4th week of September. My Build Sheets show a scheduled date of 9-28, and my Certification Label on the drivers door shows a manufactured date of 10/81. From my VIN number, 7471, I know that my 81 was built on October 7, 1981 (a Wednesday), and it appears that the body was built the previous week.

All Bowling Green 81s will have a "B" for the model year and 05 through 10 (May-October) for the month. 82s will all have the "C" for 82 and 10 through 10 (October 81-October 82) for the month. C 10 C could have been an 82 built the third week of October in 1981 or 82., you'd have to check the VIN to be sure of when it was built. Chevrolet was having trouble with passing the Federal emission tests and many 82s were delayed. Because of this, it's not uncommon to find an 82 with an Oct or Nov body build, and a December VIN.

Ok, I'm out of here, the trailer is on the truck and I'm leaving for Carlisle!

 

hmm? My 81 trim tag has no vin derivative on it. I guess because it is a St Louis build. My trim tag also shows 67C for the trim but I have the original seat cushions I pulled out to replace with new and they were Cinnobar Leather...

 

Yep. St. Louis trim tags do not contain VIN info. 67C was dark red cloth at St. Louis.



Nicely done, GB.