trulytex

When I first started looking for a Corvette last year, I came upon this 1986 Competition Yellow Corvette Convertible. The owner told me that it was a Rare California Custom Convertible. As you can see in the photos, the Convertible Deck Lid is quite different than the factory deck lid and it has some sort of body kit on it. It was in terrible shape, so I RAN as fast as I could. He wanted $8K for the car and it had sat open to the rain for a year. I was just curious if anyone had ever seen this type of car before or had any knowledge of this conversion. Because Chevy made a Vert in '86, I can't figure out why someone would make one. The VIN starts with 1G1YY86......

87 rag

I feel bad for the car.
No idea why someone would do that to a car that had a factory vert option.

Just a tarp to keep the rain off.

86VX1

that is not an original convertable, it's a coupe with the roof bar cut off and a fiberglass lid put on where the rear hatch use to be. never heard of a california edition.

Mr. Magoo

If the guy considers a Hack Job Corvette rare then he's right, it's rare.

JohnyH

And if the interior is shot you should get a REAL good price on it!

rws.1

I agree an aftermarket converted coupe

JrRifleCoach

Just curious, did it also have a hard top?

Wonder if they remembered to X-brace the frame?

BigDR

I like the way the rear deck has a contour that follows the area between the seats - not as nice as a waterfall. Obviously a hacked coupe. It's ashame the car sat open in the weather. Does that rear deck open enough to have storage behind the area where the convertible top stows?

-=Jeff=-

I think Greenwood or someone did a few 84 covertible conversions to the vettes. not sure how many years that was for.

I also thought I just read an article about one somewhere in Corvette fever or Corvette Enthusiast.

All2kool

Looks like a High School Shop Class made that one.

TA

I think even a high school shop class would do higher quality work

ZRWON

That's got to be the worst fiberglass hack job I've ever seen and pictures usually look good vs when you really get to eyeball it and see how bad it really is...
Rare California Custom Convertible
Might have some scrap value should you want to strip it and sell parts.

c4cruiser

The curved line formed by the decklid is a match to the rear window of a coupe. There were companies in CA that did coupe to vert conversions but this one looks homemade.

The body kit is similar to a Greenwood kit; I think you can make out the word 'Corvette' on the end of the wing and that is what the Greenwood wing had on it.

Sat open in the rain??? I'l bet the car doesn't have a top.

The VIN number you mentioned is not correct. 86 Verts will have VIN's of 1G1YY67 and coupe VIN's start with 1G1YY07

The last 6 digits of the convertible VIN will start with 900001 and end at 901735.

The last 6 digits of the coupe VIN's will start at 100001 and end with 127794

Cadder

I was going to say the same thing.

You can see the mounting brackets where the roof bar was mounted. Sad that someone would do this and then try to pass is of as a specail edition just to make a few more bucks.

k0rupt_ed

That poor corvette.. it was abused.

C4Robert

this seems like a bad idea all around but if the top looks like a coupe but cloth idk i guess i could see sombody wanting it. that way u have the lines of a coupe with the fun of a vert. but this one looks like a hack job as said before. and with out any extra bracing i can imagine the body twisting would be enough to brake it in half if u drove it to hard. so its rare thank God if it isnt i would be scared but not rare in a good way

lite blue

Blatant car abuse.

serge

ya that looks like a back yard project at best, im not sure that the car is even sterdy enough to be safe to drive, unless they beefed up the body, i would stay away from that poor thing

C4Robert

this seems like a bad idea all around but if the top looks like a coupe but cloth idk i guess i could see sombody wanting it. that way u have the lines of a coupe with the fun of a vert. but this one looks like a hack job as said before. and with out any extra bracing i can imagine the body twisting would be enough to brake it in half if u drove it to hard. so its rare thank God if it isnt i would be scared but not rare in a good way

trulytex

I was typing the VIN by memory, I'll check it tonight and post the true VIN from my picture of it. This car was certainly neglected. I offered him $2K (a year ago) and then prayed that he wouldn't take it! I have to say that was when 2 fools met - Me for offering and him for saying no! The interior was totally shot and the top was out of it. He bought a top at some swap meet and it wouldn't fit. I just can't for the life of me figure out why someone would go to the trouble to convert a coupe when GM offered a Vert that year.

And there was no hardtop. The dash lights were all out and he had just painted it himself. I think he used a bucket of Rustoleum & a Turkey Feather!