Tom73

Reading the latest issue of Vette Vues and ran across the term "Body in White". Had never seen this before. The article was about a 73 race car and stated that it was built from a Body in White that came from the St Louis plant. Went on to say that a "Body in White" was a car with no running gear (engine, trans, etc) and no VIN.

Anyone familiar with these? Would seem to me that it would be a base car that went down the line for all the parts to be assembled but just no engine trans. If so, should not they count in the production totals even though the car does not have a VIN. Or were they special hand built cars?

tom...

Shane64

I am familiar with the term, but have never seen it used for corvettes before. The context I have seen it in involved 60s to early 70s Dodge/Chrysler?Plymouth vehicles. It was possible at that time to special order a "body in white" through the Direct Connection factory racing program. It was easier if you already had racing credentials, but I believe anybody with the cash and a flat bed truck could get one if you knew where to ask. I believe you had to pick up the "body shell" at the loading dock bay, where it was forklifted onto your flat bed. I cant Imagine any car company doing something like that today. Then again, the Hemi Darts and L88/ZL1 cars don't seem all that probable today given the fact that the "Bean Counters" seem to be running the show.
I bet John Hinckley could tell you more.

Shane

Easy Mike

Noland Adams explains "body in white" in his Restoration Guide, Volume I. "Body In White" originated with the Classic Corvettes and the time when GRP body panels had a white color. The term meant all the body assembly was complete and the Corvette was ready to enter the paint shop. The term remained in use after body panels became tan then gray.

clem zahrobsky

GM also sold camaro bodies this way for race cars back in the late 60s and they were called "body in white" :chevy

Tom73

So were these just bodies? No frame, suspension, interior, etc. Or body and frame and nothing else? The Vette Vues article made it sound like they were complete cars less the engine and transmission.

It would be interesting to know how many of these were produced.

tom...

JohnZ

A "body-in-white" is an assembled raw body shell, just as it leaves the Body Shop (no primer, paint, sealers, etc.); for a conventional full-frame or sub-framed steel car, it was just the body from the firewall rearward - front sheet metal was ordered separately. For a full unit body, it included the front sheet metal; for a Corvette, it was the full body, as all the body panels were bonded together as one unit in the Body Shop. They had no VIN, and were invoiced and shipped as "parts", and were not counted in production totals. There are lots of "urban legend" stories about people buying "bodies-in-white", but the truth is that VERY few were sold - generally only to well-known factory-supported racers.

Tom73

John

So it was just the body, no frame?

tom...

JohnZ

Correct - just the body, no frame. Plant carpenters made a wooden pallet for it and tied it down with steel straps like they use on crates. For an all-out race car, it was cheaper to buy a new raw body shell than to try and repair a badly-damaged one, as they didn't need any factory paint, trim, or electrical parts, and many racers had them acid-dipped before they built them anyway.

joe58

Mark Donohue mentions in his book "The Unfair Advantage" that they were getting body shells from GM when they were building the Z/28s for TransAm. He writes that once GM built them a lightweight Camaro using thinner gage sheetmetal. Someone at GM said the body cost $15,000.00 to build. Mark crashed the car in its first race (Bryar) and said the panels were too thin to repair.

bjm

The race car in question was built by my father in 73 and ran in SCCA AP, BP, and TA events, it was to replace his previous 68 corvette race car. The "body in white" was correctly explained as just the complete body w/o VIN#. They were some what hard to get but my father was friends Tony Delorenzo who was able to use his connections w/GM to get him one. I do beleive he did have to pay for shipment of the body, not sure, but not a bad deal. The car has a Greenwood body on it now and is raced in several vintage events around the country, but the body originally was a 73 roadster and was red and yellow. The car was fairly successful. :chevy

GregP

During the drag wars in the 70's there was a part number for lots of parts that "didn't exist". If you had the right number, a fresh acid dipped "body in white" would show up at the loading dock for you. On a much smaller scale my GM dealer swore there was no such part, but when he ordered it some nice thin high compression head gaskets just happened to show up in his next parts order.

-Greg