atikovi

I was at a dealer auction a few days ago and they had an unusual copper color '81 being sold. They said it was a spec car and explained that the original owner or selling dealer ordered the car unpainted, in primer, so the purchaser could paint it as they wanted. Was that possible?

xCCTer

Yes.



http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...onception.html

atikovi

OK, first I've heard of that. Dang, maybe I should have bid higher than the $5,600 it sold for.

gbvette62

Did the trim tag actually say "SPEC" on it, or was this something that the seller was claiming? Primer cars were usually marked as "PRIMER" or "PRIM", on the trim tag. Cars marked SPEC, normally left the plant painted in a special, non production color, not primered.

There were possibly 21 St. Louis 81's, that were either primer, or a painted a special.

Bowling Green built 81's, were available in a very unique copper color. It was actually the lower accent color, used on the very popular beige over copper two-tone combination. The Bowling Green solid copper is very rare. There are no actual production numbers for the solid colored Bowling Green cars, but there were only 3,643 BG solid colored cars built in 81. Those 3,643 cars were spread over 7 colors, so any solid colored Bowling Green car is pretty rare. I have only ever seen 2 solid copper BG cars, and if I had to guess, I'd bet less than 500 were built.

atikovi

I didn't look at the tag, seller just said it was a spec car.

Easy Mike

I agree with GB: SPEC on the trim tag indicated the car was painted at the factory with a non-stock color. PRIME indicated it left the factory in primer and without an exterior color.

If the auction was delivered in primer, the tag should have read PRIME. Either way, the auction has interest.

atikovi

So was there a price reduction on the window sticker because the car wasn't painted?

lvmyvt76

CQRT

On an `81 with that claim, I don't think you missed out on any kind of diamond in the rough- regardless of what the trim tag was labeled.

An interesting story for the next buyer maybe, but not a real value-add.