I've been researching this with little success. I bought a 1979 that is "Hilton Brown Metalic" and has the Fabric Inset on the seats and door panels. In 1979 of the 53,807 only around 165 had that interior. Only 4053 were Brown and I was trying to find out how many of the Brown ones had that interior. The car was all original,89,000 miles, and very well maintained.
I looked for a C3 for 4 years, I bought it on a Monday and 3 weeks later to the day a lady ran a stop sign and T-Boned me. I've been telling the insurance company how rare the car is and I don't care how much it costs they are going to fix my car.

Do any of you have a more exact number than the 165 (I doubt all 165 were Brown) I would appreciate the info.

I’m trying to keep the insurance from totaling the car because they have no idea how to put a value on the parts needed

Beautiful Car

Interior

Then this happened

 

I like it. The door can be replaced,paint ?

 

No way that amount of damage should result in a total loss. A replacement door, a bit of fiberglass repair, and some paint and it’ll be as good as when you bought it.

 

I remember that interior from BITD on a “beige” ‘79. Just wondering what type of insurance you have? If you have collector car insurance it shouldn’t be an issue on getting it repaired or taking the ‘agreed value’ if it’s totaled. If you have non collector car insurance then you are probably at their mercy.

 

If you are thinking you have a rare valuable brown 79 Corvette due to tan fabric interior........., NO!
Very nice 79. But not extra special rare big bucks $$ car.

 

True, unfortunately a brown car may be rare. But there's a reason for that. It's not popular.

 

What is the trim code & curious where did you obtain that number of 165? Not aware of any resource to get the exact combination number you are looking for except for getting copies of all the 79 invoices and doing your own math.

or try contacting the GM Heritage site, https://www.gm.com/heritage/archive and see if they can assist.

 

Nothing special about a brown 79 Corvette, from an insurance perspective it's a 44 year old used Chevy. Unless you have an insurance adjuster that can look beyond the math you're screwed, it's a total.

 

I once owned a Black 77 with cloth insert seats. It was sharp. The car was sharp.
it was a Black car with a black interior.
Very desirable.
I also once knew a guy who bought a Brown C3. He said he got a good deal on it. Very nice car in everyway. But it was brown......

 

Do you know what their target number is for fix vs. total?

You could try to buy back the car and fix it on your own (with a salvage title), but that could be $10 or $15K worth of damage to repair "correctly".

Sorry for your loss. Unless you were to buy every single dealer invoice from 1979, at $50- each from the GM Heritage Center, no one will ever know how rare your car is. The one of one trend in later Corvettes does not apply to C3s as there is no record of any combinations, only percentages.

 

Her insurance should be taking care of it since she ran the stop sign. I hope you have a police report and she got a ticket? Since you just purchased it, they will have a pretty close dial on market value...hopefully you can get your insurance company to lean on her insurance company.

 

Not totaled by any means regardless of rarity, get better insurance and this stuff will simplify

 

I'm sorry about what happened to your car, but as others have said, that's not a rare interior color, or a rare combination.

First off, Light Doeskin, what that interior is called, was the only interior recommended by Chevrolet for the brown exterior. According to the 79 ordering guide, black and oyster interiors were listed as available with the brown exterior, but Doeskin was the only interior GM recommended with brown. I can't say I've ever seen a brown 79 with any other interior but Doeskin.

I'd like to know where you got that 165 number from, because I don't know of any GM list of 79 Corvette interior color production, but I have to believe there were far more then 165 made. Doeskin was a very popular interior, it was the recommended interior for 7 of the 10 79 exterior colors, and listed as available with yellow. I'm sorry to say that I don't think Brown was even that rare of an exterior color, it was the sixth most popular color and out sold Yellow, Light Beige, Dark Green and Light Blue. While the cloth interior's were less common then leather, there were still plenty of Corvettes built with cloth interiors. If I had to make a guess, I'd say it was in the 30+ percent range?

Do yourself a favor and stop worrying about numbers and rarity, and concentrate on getting your car repaired. Looking at the damage, I can't believe the car is totaled, but there may be damage we can't see in the lone photo you posted. Personally I'd be going after the other party's insurance, and demanding they make you whole, since apparently their insured was at fault. This usually takes more time and work on your part, but in the end you should come out ahead, if for no other reason then you won't have to pay a deductible.

While damage to a 79 Corvette can't show up on a Carfax report, I would also go after the other party's insurance for "diminished value". Diminished value is becoming a very common claim now, mainly because of the effect it has a car's resale value when it pops up on a Carfax. Whether or not it can show up on a Carfax shouldn't have anything to do with whether you should be able to collect for diminished value. The other party damaged your car and in the long run it can effect the car's future value.

Good luck with everything.

 

My daughter just had her car "totaled" by the insurance company and they can still drive it.

In fact, they paid off the car and they got to keep the car. So they get to drive it, get the money, and don't fix it.

Maybe you can do the same. Ask them.

For the insurance, it is cheaper to total it than pay for a door. For you, however, you can fix the door easily, and cheaper.

 

I have been looking for 4 years for a C3 and so far this is the only brown one I have found with the fabric inset on the seats and doors. You are right, that interior color is the only color I have seen in the brown cars but I have yet to find another with the fabric. I bought the car for my wife and she loves the brown, and with us being in the Houston area the fabric doesn’t burn your biscuits as bad in the summer time. We do a lot of car shows and you see White, Black, and Gold a lot but rarely do you see Brown.

The numbers I got from vettefacts.com. Dark Brown 4053 produced, Light Beige Fabric 4.1% (166.173 of 4053) that is more like 2224 of the 53,807 cars in 1979 but apparently not many went into the Brown (at least from what I have found)

My whole number strategy is just to try to get the insurance to not total the car because they can’t figure out how to come up with an estimated repair cost. Their client was at fault and they just want done with it as cheap as they can. I owned the car for 3 weeks after 4 years of searching and want my car repaired not totaled.

I love my wife and am trying to keep her dream from being shattered. It took paramedics an hour to get her out of the car then rushed her to the hospital with 3 compressed disc in her neck. I can’t fix her but I can get her car fixed, I hope.

 

Sorry about the accident.

 

I have about worked everything out with their insurance. My problem now is finding a door at a reasonable price. I found one in Florida but I think it is from an early C3 because it has the other type of door panel on it. Does anyone know if that would be a problem using it on a 79?
I know you generally want 78-82 when you look for parts but I’m not sure with the door.


I don’t care about the door panel if the door will work

 

Door won't work. There is a difference.
Lots of C3 salvage yards out there. Find the correct one.

 

I’ve been looking for 2 weeks. So far the best I’ve found will cost me $1400 with no mirror and no glass. I thought that kind of high but I may have to bite the bullet. At least it’s in good condition and I think I can fix my mirror.

If anyone has a lead on a good door I would appreciate it. So far I’ve come up with a quarter panel and my body guy thinks he can fix the front fender (he is great with fiberglass and paint). He is going to pull the door today, we’re hoping the seat is not damaged.

 

You should be able to find a complete parts car for that much. Take the door, sell the rest.

Glad it worked out. Did insurance give you a stack of cash, and leave the repair up to you? No salvage title or other ding?