I'm a new member and this is my first post. Please excuse any errors or miscues I make.

I recently bought my first Corvette, an 2003 50th Anniversary convertible. It looks like one or both of the two previous owners made some additions to the sound system. However, by the time I bought the car from a dealer some of the additions had been removed and what's been left behind doesn't work. So I'm trying to put the car back to a more stock setup.

The radio seems to be fine, but the 12-disc changer that was originally in the car is gone. I have a replacement oem changer but the middle storage well where the changer should be mounted is in bad shape. There is no carpet there at all. Looks like they cut out pieces of both the rear carpet and the tail light piece to fit speakers or a big sub in the well. My first question is about the tail light cover and mounting the changer. The bolts are still there for the changer and the oem unit came with the brackets so I just need some nuts to mount it. But since they cut the carpet that goes down into the well I'll need a new tail light cover. Can anyone tell me if the tail light carpet came from the factory with a cut out for the cd changer, or is it possible to make cuts in the carpet, push it over the bolts, and mount the changer flush up against the carpet?

I'll also be looking for rear carpeting that goes into the well and covers the area not reached by the tail light cover. I hope this will give me a fully carpeted look like I've seen in some photos of cars like this in the for sale ads. My second question is whether anyone can suggest where I might look to find the brackets for the center cargo cover. These are the bottom pieces that are screwed into the fiberglass and that the little bulb or plunger on the cover latch fit into. The brackets for the side storage compartments are there, but the center ones were probably trashed to make room for the speakers/sub.

Thanks for your help. I'm having a ball with this new ride. So glad I finally did it.

 

Do a search on ebay for "50th anniversary corvette", there was a guy there parting out a wrecked AE car, and he had a bunch of interior stuff listed, if you contact him, he'll probably have everything you need.
Good luck!

 

Welcome to the Forum and congrats on a great choice for your first Vette.
Re: cd changer
Mine is mounted on top of the carpet, but it is a dealer install and mounted to the back of the well. Service manual shows them as being mounted to the front of the well. It is very tough to find any shale color replacement item because the color was only used on the '03 AE and '04 Commemorative Edition (18531 cars). Sorry I can't be of more help to your questions, but keep them coming --plenty of great helpful folk on this forum.
Remember to WAVE!

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats on buying a beautiful car. Don't have the answers you are looking for, but best of luck in your search for the parts you need.

 

Congrats on a great car! I have to say that because I too just got one last fall. I understand the desire to stay stock, but I wonder if you would consider just gathering the parts? I rarely if ever use the changer, most of my music is mp3 now. I thought I saw a conversion that would let you plug in an mp3 player where the changer went. As long as you have all the parts when and if you ever sell it, most guys are just fine with it.
Just my $.02 and I know it's a personal thing....

 

Welcome and good luck

 

Thanks for the welcomes and suggestions. It's great to get helpful feedback so quickly. I was able to find the tail light carpet I needed for sale on eBay, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger on that. I'll probably get new replacement carpet for the rear section. It looks like a company called Stock Interiors has decent carpet for a reasonable price.

I considered going the mp3 route instead of putting a 12-disc changer back in, but I think I'll try the cds for a while and see how I like it.

Looks like I'm going to enjoy this forum almost as much as my new ride. Thanks all!

 

Great to hear you have made progress on your concerns. Welcome to the madness!!!