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I recently acquired an unmolested 1972 C3 and the vinyl seat / loop carpet interior appears to be original and well worn. The trim plate indicates a 404 interior which is supposed to be the deluxe / leather version. The door panels have a 1972 date code and the center console has a worn original style woodgrain insert.
Has anyone heard of a mis-build interior or is it more likely that either the trim plate or complete interior was replaced. Like I mentioned, the car looks to have little modification so I am not sure which is the most likely scenario.
I'm thinking about replacing the seat covers, but not sure what material direction to go.
Thanks for the reply. The trim tag build date is J12 which I believe indicates May 12, 1972 and the ID tag on the drivers door appears to be original and is also dated 5/72.
I recall seeing a large 72 stamped on the inside of the door panel foam but didn't notice a month. I'll pull it again and recheck. I'll also look for the seat cover date codes too.
It is always possible for the assembly line to have installed components that are 'different' from what the build is supposed to be. If a particular station did not have the required item (vendor problem; stock not replaced; etc), the assemblers might use another available item to continue the vehicle build [rather than shut the line down]. This could be recorded for change-out following build; but it could just go out the door that way, also.
It wouldn't be surprising to find a car ordered with black leather interior to get vinyl, instead....especially if it were a 'stock' car [factory order] rather than one built to a customer order. Whether that 'difference' got coded into the trim plate {or not} would be questionable.
Last edited by 7T1vette; Feb 15, 2016 at 10:03 AM.
Thank you for the great pics to help validate the interior's authenticity. I'll let you know what I find once I have a chance to tackle this again next weekend.
Following-up to our earlier conversation, I pulled both door panels and the DS indicates May 1972 (which matches the trim plate), but the PS indicates June which is odd as the drivers door ID decal indicates a May build (just like the trim tag).
I also removed the back panel from the pass seat and removed the hog rings to fold back the seat cover as far as I could without removing the material from the seat frame. I couldn't find any dates. Not sure if I need to completely remove the material or if the date isn't there at all.
So that is as far as I have got for now. I added a pic of the trim plate so you could see the rivets. They look to be original to me; however, I believe most of the standard rivets pretty much look the same anyway.
Going by the trim plate, the deluxe interior is what should be there; albeit strange that this standard interior looks to have been there for a very long time.
Any additional thoughts or comments are welcome from Alan and the greater forum membership.
Mystery Interior
