My 1980 came with this option, roof panel carrier and I am the second owner. Some other members said this came with a storage bag that hung on the back passenger fender wall with clips. I did look for those clips and they are not there and there is no evidence these were ever there. Is it possible that the bag and mounting clips were never installed from the factory. The original owner did ordered this because I have the original build sheet and it is there.

 

I wouldn't even be surprised if the bag and clips were a separate option or dealer installed item but it does look like they should have been there



M

 

Interesting post...just had this conversation with the NCRS National team leader two weeks ago...neither of us have ever seen a factory-installed rack on a 78-82 so you have my curiosity. I would like to see your buildsheet; post an good quality image or send a copy to hunt4cleanair@earthlink.net.

Also...post a couple of photos of it. We had a team work on this for the 77 Corvette with a couple of owners that had factory installed units,.,quite interesting.

 

I believe these racks for 80-82 were dealer installed and interesting enough I had an 81 years ago,while it didn't have the rack it had the fiberglass reinforcement for the rack on the underside of the rear deck. Possibly all 80-82s had the reinforcement from the factory,who knows.

 

I've heard people swear to both factory and dealer installed for the V54 so who knows, (definitely dealer installed for the earlier 77- racks)
M

 

Here's a picture of my 82 with the V54 panel option. I don't have the straps to hold it down and was experimenting with the bungie cords. However, I haven't had the guts to drive it like this! The panels lock into place pretty good so probably be OK.

At least in 82, this was a factory option and that's how mine was built. I have the straps in the collector edition color hanging for the bag in the back but no bag. I had the car for a year before I figured out what those straps were for.

 

In October 81, we decided to replace my wife's 74 Corvette with a new one. At the time it was too late to order an 81, and we weren't interested in an 82 because they were going to be automatics (she'd only ever drive manuals), and came with a considerable price increase. There were lot's of 81's available since the new Bowling Green plant was pushing out as many cars as they could at the time. As a result I looked at a lot of cars before we bought the car we did, and saw at least 3 or 4 cars with the t-top rack. I passed on cars with it as I thought the holes in the rear deck were ugly, and personally I would never chance hanging a pair of glass tops out on the back of the car. We still have the 81 we bought, a Charcoal Gray with Slate Gray interior, original, unrestored, 44000 mile, NCRS Top Flight winner.

There was a couple in my Corvette club who had a red/red 80 that had the top carrier, and it had a matching red carrier bag and supports in the rear of the car. They kept that car for many years, eventually repainting it and filling the holes when they painted it (they didn't like the way they looked and never used the carrier). I bought the carrier, straps and bag from them, and sold it at the Kissimmee NCRS swap meet. This was around 2001 or 2002 (JD Piper who bought it).

The top carriers were a factory installed option, and came with the storage bag. It was not dealer installed, beyond the dealer having unpack the carrier from it's box when prepping the car for delivery. The holes were in the rear deck from the factory. The 80-82 Assembly Manuals show their installation. I have 80 and 81 dealer albums, as well as 81 dealer ordering guides and price books. The top carrier is listed as an RPO in all of them with no mention of the carrier bag as being a separate option. In the 81 owners manual, the first step under the section on installing the top carrier reads "Remove the center carrier assembly, and both outboard brackets and straps from the storage bag snapped to the left rear wheel housing inside the car".I don't have an 80 or 82 manual nearby, but I'm pretty sure they say the same thing.

I was originally part of the team working on the NCRS 80-82 Judging Manuals and I submitted copies of all my original paper work to the Team Leader at that time, Lewis Russell. This included my window sticker, inventory sheet (part 2 of the window sticker) build sheet(s), invoice, interior inspection stickers, glove box material, copies of the 81 dealer album pages, a June 15, 1981 Ordering Guide (this superseded earlier St Louis ordering guides, and introduced the 7 Bowling Green only colors), assorted 79-81 Chevrolet Engineering Department Internal Letters on the 80 and 81 Corvette, plus copies of 1980 and 81 Vette Vues with introduction of the 81 Corvette and the grand opening of Bowling Green.

 

Thanks for sharing this detail. Now-a-days, with the new generation of NCRS manuals (color photos, better research and greater detail), all that would be incorporated into the technical manuals.

 

That's awesome information and it's nice to get the insight into how the information ends up in the NCRS books. Thanks for posting that, always like to read those bits.
But back to the OPs situation of having the option on the build sheet but doesn't have the clips inside the car? (see below, he does have the hooks)
M

 

Well, if I review this previous thread https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...imensions.html which contains the pictures below and study Mooser's post from AIM above, the OP should have had the interior colored storage bag, the two interior colored hangers., and 2 hooks mounted to the inside of the rear fender for his RPO V-54. AIM calls them "hangers", and are not to be confused with the two Y shaped "straps" used to secure the T-Tops to the carrier brackets outside the car.. According to the AIM sheet above, the hangers appear to attach to the rear fender.via 2 hooks. If the OP is missing the hangers and clips/hooks, then a PO removed them.. OP found the mounting hooks under the carpet


RPO V-54 Roof Panel Carrier


Thanks to JiminSTLouis for these great pics of his beautiful '80.

In addition, gbvette62 is spot on with his summary of RPO V-54 Roof Panel Carrier for model years 1980-82.

 

So I did find the mounting hooks inside the rear of the car, they were under the carpet for the V54 storage bag. I am now going to make the bag and straps for the top carry kit. My next question is does anyone have the instruction paper that came with it and if so is there anyway I could make a copy of it?

 

Is that a typo? 440,000 miles and original/unrestored... does that mean the engine & powertrain are untouched also?

 

It's a typo, the car has 44,000 miles on it. I must have had $440,000 on my mind because a friend of mine sold a beautiful 67 restomod he just finished, at Mecum Kissimmee for $440,000! (after commission), and it's been an ongoing topic of discussion between us this week.

 

After get great information from other members I was able to make a storage bag for the V54 carrier kit. Getting the exact match for the vinyl was impossible but

V54 storage bag
close.

 

Nickster, here are scans of my original instruction sheets. If these images don’t work for you, PM your email address to me and I can send you PDF’s. Sorry but the documents I have are wrinkled.

 

Thank you

 

That turned out GREAT!