I bought our car a few years ago from a now known Bubba. I really like the car but a few things have me wondering if I have an 80 or an 81? Or maybe a combination of both? Everything works fine, except the Cruise control and A/C. My questions start by the "L82" on the hood, and Black leather interior. I stumbled accross a listing which stated the 81's did not have Black as an option??? I do not have any computer hardware, but that can be easily removed. The car is a 4 speed, has a Hurst shifter, but I guess that can be added easily also. My real question is, did any 81's come with black interior?? I can not believe the original owner would have changed the complete interior including all of the dash and all trim, ect. I really don't care but when I tell people what year the car is, I would like to be correct. Thanks for the input. Al

 

I think you are correct that 81s did not have black as a option for interior. But that doesnt mean a past owner didnt change it. Is the sticker still on the drivers door jam? That would tell you what year the car was made. There are other ways of id ing the year but who knows what previous owners have done to the car.

 

Check the VIN: the 10th digit is B it is a 1981. 6th digit is A 1980

 

1981 Corvettes built at the St. Louis assembly plant, were available with a black interior. When production was switched to Bowling Green in June 1981, the black interior was replaced by charcoal gray.

Check the forward driver's side door jam, in the area above the door hinges. There should be a plate riveted there, listing code numbers for the original interior and exterior colors. They will be listed as Paint and Trim, with numbers to indicate the original colors.

Post the numbers you find, here on the Forum, and someone will be able to give you the car's original colors.

As far as your "L-82" emblem on the hood. Of the 80 and 81 Corvettes, only the 80 Corvette was available with the L-82. 80 L-82 cars had their L-82 emblems installed on the front fender sides though, not on the hood. Many owners have installed L-82 emblems on their hoods, and often on cars that didn't have an L-82 in them! I wouldn't read much into the car having L-82 emblems installed on it.

No Corvette was ever factory delivered with a Hurst shifter in it. That has been added by a previous owner.

Check the VIN number, to confirm what year the car is. 1980 Corvettes have a 13 digit VIN, while 81's use a 17 digit one. As Spikebot 81 said, the 6th digit in the 80 (13 digit) VIN, has an "A" for the 1980 model year. 81 (17 digit) VIN's have a "B" in the 10th position, to indicate the 81 model year.

The VIN number will also tell you which engine was factory installed in the car. The 5th digit of the 80 VIN, designates the engine. An "8" is an L-48, a "6" is an L-82, and an "H" is a California LG4 305.

On 81 Corvette VIN's, the engine indicator is the 8th position. For 81, there was only one engine offered, the L-81, so all 81 VIN's show a "6" in the 8th position.

 

my 82 has black interior but it is listed as charcoal.

 

Bingo.

 

I also bought a a silver 81/automatic with black interior in 1981.

 

My 1981 St. Louis car has black on black.

 

My St Louis 81 is Charcoal paint and Black leather interior.

I did find contradicting descriptions of my interior code when doing Googles but did find a source, that I felt comfortable with, that confirmed that l92 is black leather.

 

There has always been confusion over the interior and exterior colors, offered in 81. The main reason for this, was the switch of production from St. Louis to Bowling Green.

Trim code 19 was offered on St. Louis cars as Black, and was available in both cloth and leather. When production moved to Bowling Green, code 19 was still available, but it was now Charcoal, and only available in leather. When seen side by side, the 2 code 19's, do look different. The BG Charcoal, is dark gray, and not black. For 82, the trim code for the charcoal interior was changed to 18. A black interior was not offered in 82 either.

Only Charcoal, Silver and Beige exterior colors; were carried over from St. Louis to Bowling Green. These three colors were the same, but the paint codes on them were different. This was because the St. Louis cars were painted in lacquer, while the Bowling Green ones were painted in base coat/clear coat enamel. The change in paint, necessitated the change in paint codes.

While your St. Louis Charcoal 81, is paint code 84, my Bowling Green Charcoal 81 is paint code 39.