Anyone have a clue why sidepipes were only an option in 69? They look cool on any C3, especially the other bumper cars, and I was wondering if any you historians know why they were only offered that year.

 

I can't say with certainty, but I'll guess that Chevy eliminated the option because they weren't making a lot of money from it. It looked really cool, but it was an expensive option. Also, the sidepipes are loud for passengers. I'll guess that the option was not a strong seller.

Rest assured that if money was to be made they would have kept offering the option.

The only other reason I can imagine is some sort of environmental law causing the discontinuance.

My thoughts are purely speculation.

 

They were the nicest looking sidepipes on any car I have seen and wish they would of kept them as a option in 1970 and later.

 

Greg,

The N-14 side exhaust available in 1969 was cancelled for several reasons...

Deproliferation - Actually a fancy way of saying the elimination of low volume options or those options with low/no profit margin - This was a GM mandate beginning with the 1970 model year and had a dramatic effect in lowering the number of available options over the coming years. Side exhaust for 1969 fell into both catagories... Low volume and low profit margin.

Regulation - There were several states that took issue with side mounted exhaust systems and did not allow them on new cars delivered there. Off the top of my head, I want to say that either Massachusetts or Connecticut was the major problem state.

Supply - There was a major supply issue with parts for the side exhaust system around the middle of the 1969 calendar year. Somewhere in my references I have a photo of a couple hundred Corvettes sitting in the shipping lot, waiting on parts for their side exhaust systems... Cars that GM wasn't making money on. According to the original owner of my old 1969 L-89, it was delayed for three months waiting for side exhaust parts (he was told that he could get his car within weeks if was willing to go with the standard exhaust; he decided to wait). I would imagine that GM didn't want to deal with this problem again and it played into their thinking as well.

Side exhaust (RPO N-14) was actually scheduled for 1970 and is documented in the AIM, but was cancelled prior to production start up for the model year.

Regards,

 

http://www.rowleycorvette.com/stats69.html

I don't think it was a low selling option. 4300 were sold and leather seat were less. seats were about half the price too.