I saw the following in a Pace Car Ad:

“1978 - 25th Anniversary, Limited Edition Corvette
Pace Car. Original Owner. L-82 Motor (one of 514
made).”

Only 514 of the 6500 Pace cars had an L-82?:eek: :eek: I have an L-82 Pace Car and I find that hard to believe. But I have never been able to find a site that breaks down the number of L-82's in Pace Cars. (Just the number of l-82's for the year). Can anyone verify this?

Dave

 

Well, I can tell you this.. out of 40,274 base corvettes, 32% (or 4890) were L82’s. If you were to extrapolate that for the Pace car, that would be (out of 6502 units) 2,080.. I would say that 514 is not correct



[Modified by SLICKMAN, 4:59 PM 8/25/2002]

 

A lot of people try to make their car look rare by comparing the number produced to the number of optioned cars.

Like 1979 L-82 four-speed Corvette Red with A/C, CB radio, trailer package, da da da, (1 of 7, VERY RARE!! ONLY 7 EXIST!!)

-Steve

 

Listing options like an L82 and a four speed that would be in a pace car or a silver anniversary is rare so depending on what they list it’s accurate.

 

I remember seeing that ad somewhere - E-bay maybe - dont remember - I think its BS too - there had to be more than 514 L-82 pace cars, I fact I dont even believe there were only 514 L-82 4 speed pace cars.

Problem is - Steve is right, there are guys out there that will tell you their car is worth something extra because it was the only puke green car made, the fact that it makes you sick to your stomach on site is just a plus.

My car has the close ratio 4 speed only 3000 or so of those were made, hardly worth getting all bent out of shape over. but hey just imagine if you had the G95 economy real axle ratio - only 382 of those made - now there is a rare and desirable car. :lol:

 

Slickman, where did you get your numbers - all the numbers I have seen indicate that there were approximately 12,739 L-82's produced in 78 .I do not know if includes the Pace car run as well but seems a lot more than the number you quoted.

Whoops nevermind - your math is off 32% of 40274 is 12,887 not 4890 (4890 is just a tad over 12%)


As a sidenote Slickman, by what formula do you derive the 1 of 25 number for your car - It would be kind of neat to apply the same to my car - I know that GM didnt keep those kinds of records for 78 ( i.e. option combinations) but I imagine someone good at statistics could make a good argument for an estimate.....


[Modified by fauxrs, 9:41 PM 8/25/2002]

 

Though this is based on no actual data, but just on my psychological theory- I'd bet that there are more L-82 four-speeds than L-82 automatics. The kind of person who would spend the extra cash for an L-82 is the same kind of person who believes no sports car should have a manual transmission.

This may not be the case as the 3-speed auto was no slouch compared to the four-speed manual, but I do not think an L-82 four speed would be that much rarer than an L-82 automatic.

More desirable now? Yes. More desirable then? More than likely.

-Steve(owner of a rare California edition 78 Pace Car, Gymkhana Suspension, L-48 automatic. VERY RARE CAR, CAME FROM THE FACTORY WITH UNMATCHED CYLINDER HEADS!! ONLY ONE IN EXISTANCE!) :)

 

anyone have a 'black book' can verify numbers. unfortunately i dont have one yet.

 

Opps, my screwup.. I never was good in math :crazy:

 

I see where you're coming from on this one Steve but I'm not sure its true. Corvette has had a long history of selling more automatic cars than 4 speed cars, starting more or less in the mid to late 70's when the Corvette started becoming more of a touring car than a true sports car (thats a whole other argument thugh :lol: )

if there are 46,776 1978 vettes including Pace cars of which 38,614 had automatics, that means there were 8,162 manual cars - of those 3,385 were close ratio cars (only available in the L-82).Leaving 4,777 wide ratio 4-speeds

If we have 12,739 L-82's to reach a 50/50 mix of manual to auto in the L-82 alone 2,984 of the remaining wide ratio transmissions would have had to have been used meaning that in the Base and Pace car non L-82 cars only 1,792 would have been 4 speeds - not really likely.

No unfortunatly the only real extrapolation you could make is in percentages (its weak but gives you different numbers) fully 82% of the 1978 production recieved automatics. but we know that at leat 26% of L-82 equipped cars were 4 speeds (because of the close ratio tranny available only on that car) if we even assume that 82% of the remaining L-82 cars were autos, that means a further 1,682 were wide ratio cars for a total of 5067 4-spd L-82's, which would be a hair under 40%.

Anyway all this flawed logic does is indicate that while the percentage of manual equipped cars was greater in L-82 optioned vehicles than L-48 equipped cars, there was probably not more 4-speed L-82 cars than automatic.

 

What all came with the pace car option? Was it just the paint and decals? I guess I was under the impression that it included the wheels, paint, decals and L-82, and possibly more. I'll admit I've never actually researched the subject or thought too much about it, but I don't think I've seen anyone here that has a pace car and an L-48. So does anyone know what all was included with the option? Maybe a light piece of trivia there.

 

My second paragraph comes to the same conclusion as yours...

The L-82 manual is probably not that much rarer than the automatic.

I would just assume there are a higher percentage of manual L-82s vs automatic L-82s than manual L-48s vs automatic L-48s. (Though this is an unfair comparison, as California only allowed automatic L-48s... and I got screwed 25 years later. ;) )

-Steve

 

4-speaker AM/FM stereo w/ 8-track, vanity mirror, coat rack, fiberglass seats (which were standard 79-82), 25th anniversary badge on center console, A/C, power everything, aluminum wheels, 255-60-15 tires, rear window defogger, cruise control, tilt/tele, sport mirrors, power antenna.

Basically every non-powertrain option, and excluding gymkhana suspension. These are optional.

-Steve

 

All Pace cars are not L-82’s there are a lot of L-48 Pace cars. And all Pace Cars don’t have cruise, and all Pace cars don’t have the 8-track on the stereo option.

However, the question I have is how many Pace Cars had the L-82 option. The ad did not say anything about the tranny. Just that the L-82 made it one of 514 cars. I’m wonder if they are correct, or just pulling a number out of the air to try to sell their car.

Dave

 

Just checked the black book- you were right about CC, but 8-tracks are standard issue on the pace car, with CBs as optional.

As Fauxrs said, there were definitely more than 514 L-82 Pace Cars.

He's just blowing hot air.

-Steve

 

I dont believe that GM kept those records as I have not seen any published numbers of L-82 vs pace car - All GM seems to know is how many L-82s total there were. Therefore unless this guy can produce some fairly authoritative numbers I'm saying he's makin it up because, while he cant prove he's right - no one can prove he's wrong.

 

Black book facts:

The pace car had it's own set of serial numbers: 1Z87L8S900001 through 1Z87L8S906502.
Fifth digit varies as follows: L=350ci, 185hp (L48); 4=350ci, 220hp (L82).
Engine stamp codes (suffix): CHW=L48w/4spd, CLM & CUT=L48w/auto, CMS=L82w/auto, CMR=L82w/4spd. California and high altitude had CLR & CLS suffix's.
6502 Pace cars were produced.
A total of 38,614 automatic transmissions were produced (pace car included in this) and 3,385 4 speeds were produced (pace car included).
I read a while back that the most rare pace car is indeed the L82 4 speed. The article stated that only 256 pace cars had the L82 4 speed. This was in an article produced by Auto Trader talking about the corvette pace cars and their values. I kept a copy of it and will try to hunt down to verify.
Pace cars had a color code of black (19). You won't find a 2 tone color code.

Hope this helps.

 

Everybody here keeps talking about "the Black Book" numbers. There was a VetteVues book or magazine sometime after the '78 model year where they had virtually every possible breakdown of options with Pace Cars. They were evidently able to get this info from GM as it was "fresh" from them at the time. I was shown the article in this book(or magazine)some years ago and don't remember the exact issue-for some reason Vette Vues sticks in my mind. Maybe someone has a "back issue" from '79??? This is "possibly" where this "512" number came from. One other oddity I do recall in the article was the extremely low # of L-48 FOUR SPEED Pace Cars-something like a total of "77" cars made. I knew of a person who owned 3 of the "77" made. Guess he liked the "rarer" ones

 

 

I just saw a Pace car on ebay that said it's one of 194 made with the L82/M21 four speed. Don't k now where he got his figures but if it's stated on ebay it must be true LOL!