another 81

[ggaagg57]

bought another 81 this weekend, two tone 50/74 car is in great shape .71k on it. bought from 2nd owner 4 speed not near as fast as 81 with 383 in it . but still fun to drive.

[phxraptor]

:confused What does50/74 mean? Sorry to be dumb but never heard that.:beer

[MidShark]

phxraptor-
He's referring to the two-tone body color codes. 50/74 is Biege/Dark Bronze.
Hey, remember, there's no dumb questions, just dumb answers ;)
Dick

[ggaagg57]

is there anyway to tell how many biege and bronze two tones with 4 speeds were made in 81. george

[chockey]

Congrats on your new ride, I see that those who have replied so far are from a warmer climate. My vette is packed away til April so enjoy a ride and think of us northern boys.

Chuck :w :w

[Yoda]

ggaagg57

Congrats and the new addition to your stable. When you have a few minutes I would appreciate you registrering your new L81 on the Registry ;)

I don't know that the L81VetteRegistry will give you the answer to how many with options and color were made, but it can narrow it down a bit.

Maybe in few years the Registry will be able to list the members cars with options and compare it to the documented factory build numbers and come up with a close guesstimate.

[Dave L.]

George - In the 2000 Cars & Parts (volume 3,number 3),there is a nice 5 page article of your car and exact color! I tried scanning to post here but it comes out to large. That 2 tone option was 'D84'.
It was used only on Bowling Green cars. The option was priced at $399 and was used on 5,352 Corvettes in 1981 out of a total 8,955 produced at the BG plant. They don't break down the production totals by color though. I think you would find this article very interesting. I could scan all 5 pages and email to you if you want.

Dave

p.s. I just noticed that your car is a four speed also,I would say the total cars with that paint scheme and a 4 speed would be indeed very rare!

[Dave L.]

George - Here is the best I can do with my digital camera.

Dave

[ggaagg57]

i would real like to read it if it's not to much trouble to send . george ggaaagg57@aol.com

[Glensgages]

According to 'Corvette Black Book 1953-2003' 1981 D84-cars had no known records kept, but were included in colors #33 (Silver Metallic), #50 (Beige), or #80 (Autumn Red), which were the 'upper colors' of the D84's.

[ggaagg57]

got email thanks, have not read all of it but will . would like to get a copy of that mag, thanks again . george

[mike k]

qqaaqq , Congats on your new 81, Hope you have great luck with it. I have it from a pretty reliable source that Bowling Green made on ly 500 of the Beige over Bronze Vettes. I do know for a fact that it was the very first car color off the assembly line in 1981,and you will see VERY few on the street. We bought ours in 1994 and have had a BLAST with it ever since.

P.S It's the same car thats in Corvette and Parts Magazine June 2000

Mike K

[Dave L.]

Mike K - I have that article. Are you the owner of the car in the magazine,or have one just like it? It is a very sharp car !!
Welcome to CAC !

Dave

[ggaagg57]

mike you said, that there were only about 500 two tone in my color, any idea about how many of them were 4 speeds? george

[mike k]

Burgler, Thanks for the Compliment! Yeah, I own the car that was in the article,In 1999 we were at Mid Americas Fun- Fest with several friends,When Mike Mueller picked our car for a celebrity choice award. I thouht that was about as good as it could get as there were 5,300 Vettes there on Sat. and only 25 awards. BUT it got better. It seems Mike is a pretty well known Automobile author and photografer, Asked to do a photo shoot for his up coming book "Corvettes 1968-1982" Needless to say Sharon and I were thrilled. Since the first book was published in 2000 Mike has done another called "Corvette the first thirty years" published last year.Again he chose our car to represent the 1981 model year. We can't believe how luckey wev'e been with the car and how proud we are to be members of the L-81 Vette Registry.As wev'e said many times in the past,Its not the cars, Its the people that keep this hobby fun. If I can help answer any questions on the Two Tones Fire Away!!

Mike K

[ggaagg57]

mike i have 2 b-green cars the 50 74 vin is 000248 have you seen one that low before , the tag on the door is still there it s date is 6/81 it would have to be one of the first weeks of car built there i would think . the other one is silver and blue its like 01324 but the door tag is gone. whats the vin on your? thanks george

[mike k]

George, Our car is in the low 6300 range. it was built sept. 20th. I dont know how many 4-speed cars in Beige over Bronze were built, But I'm SURE they are Very rare. We saw one at Bloomington Gold 's Auction last year, it had (I think) about 12,ooo Miles on it BUT with the 4-speed it brought $17,ooo. Some value guides i've seen list the stick as a $2,ooo add-on! Great find.

Mike K

[ggaagg57]

mike you said that there was about 500 two tone tan and bronze that were built, how did you fine it out? , i looked hi and low and couldn't find anything about the amounts made. thanks george

[mike k]

George,

In 2000 at Mid-America Fun Fest. One of the celebrity judges was retired from the paint shop at Bowling Green. we had a pretty long conversation about the D-84 cars. As I had never found a source for paint counts I was intrested in his comments,(i'm sorry I cant remember his name, nor can I tell what it was off the award sheet) Anyway he was VERY sure there were less than 500 Beige and Bronze Vettes produced. Is he right? Who knows! As i've said before you don't see many at the shows so I guess we'll never know. It's a color that people either love or hate but we've always gotten very positive comments on it. Right now I'll settle for just getting her out of storage and back on the street!!!

Mike

[ggaagg57]

thanks mike , ive got to put a water pump on mine. it looks original, car only has 72 k on it , thanks again george

[tomz81]

Hey guys!
just wanted to jump in. I have the same paint scheme you are talking about. At first the color was odd but as you guys said, you dont see many of them and that is why I have grown to like the paint scheme. If you could I would love an email with the article. My email is prokops2001@yahoo.com

Thanks in advance!

TOM

[1fine81]

Assuming the the number of 4 spd, D84 Vette Beige/Bronze Corvettes is ruffly proportional to the number of 4 spd cars (5757) out of overall production of all 81 corvettes (40606); we are looking at probably 71 or 72 cars (give or take). Now this is only the most basic of estimations, but does indicate the number is small. I happen to have just this car and have often wondered how many twins are around. Mine has cloth seats and only 25K original miles. She is all stock and I've even got her first set of tires in storage. Guess she is kinda rare indeed!

Ari

[Dave L.]

Ari - Welcome to CAC! It's always nice to have another 81 owner around. Do you have any pictures of your Corvette?


Happy Motoring!!...........Dave

[ggaagg57]

hi ,tell about your car on the post that says how many 2tone , i was trying to see how many tan and bronze two tone are around and if its a 4speed or not. thanks george

[1fine81]

Dave,

Thanks for the warm welcome. Yes, you do have a picture of the car (and me). It can be seen on the 3rd member page of the l-81 registry. It's overlooking a beautiful California vista and has a real dorky looking guy in shorts leaning against it........I get a goofy grin every time I'm around her........must be love!

Ari

[Daryllawman]

Congrats on the New Vette.........Can't never have to many....:D

[Tom Bryant]

Congrats on the new L81 and welcome to the new members. My wife once said the she wished she would have ordered her '81 later so she could get the 2 tone but she loves her solid beige. She took delivery in Oct of '80 and only drove it a couple weeks before putting it up for winter. I guess she could have waited and got a spring BG car with good paint instead of a fall St Louis car with thin and dull paint. It has character though. :L

Tom

[81 MAKO]

I was just reading 1FINE81,12 Mar '03 which he had some real good totals, so I research thru what I had here. Total units for 1981 were 40606, @ 31,611=St. Louis and 8,995=Bowling Green. There were 5,757 4-spd produce both locations. Serial Nr's break down to 1G1AY8764BS400001 - 1G1AY8764BS431611 St.Louis.
Then 1G1AY8764B5100001 - 1G1AY8764B5108995 at Bowling Gr.
The ninth digit is a check code and varies from the manuf. Here are four different codes with no Number for correspondence:
ZDA=4-spd ZDC=4-spd/Calif
ZDD= Auto ZDB= Auto/Calif.
My ninth digit on the V.I.N. is a "9" my vette was sold originally Phoenix,Az. which is ZDA 4-spd on purchase invoice.
Last subject is the color solid choices: red-yellow-black-white beige-silver metallic-Dark blue met.-mahogany met.-claret met.-maroon met.-charcoal met.-dark bronze met.-dark claret met.
Two-Tones: Claret Metallic/Dark Claret Met. Silver Metallic/Dark Blue Met. Silver Metallic/Charcoal Met. Beige/Dark Bronze Met.
I found no information about how many 4-spd produced with what color, anybody hearing that I would like a msg back.
Everybody have a great Vette Day....LOBO out.

[Yoda]

81 MAKO,

Click HERE. (http://www.l81vetteregistry.com/) This will take you to the L81 VetteRegistry ;) Once you get there open the SPECS page. You'll find quite-a-bit of information ;)

The 1981's built at Bowling Green probably have the build sheets on file. The St. Louis records were either destroyed or lost :( I do have a contact that has access to about 1,000 St. Louis built 1981's. The only problem I have is that he is trying to make $$$$ off them, when the FACT is they were GIVEN to him from a St. Louis retired plant worker :mad

I have refered several St. Louis built 1981 owners to him, so far the ones that have inquired, he has not had their perticular build sheet.

Look forward to hooking up May 10th... Have you received your 140 mph speedo yet??

Bud

[greydbj]

Bud: I would be interested in contacting this person....I am trying to buildi some documentation, have not yet had time to pull the tank to see what is there, but I suspect the Cdn winters have probably taken care of whatever was put there in the factory.....if he has mine, I would be interested in it......you can send it to my email address, or, I can give you the info......whatever works....

BTW, we thought spring was here, but wouldn't you know it, we had a good dump of snow on Tuesday/Wednesday of this week....all gone though.....geez, I hate winter!!.....regards.....dbj:eek

[poppinlilly]

I have to do a little braggin' too. I also have a beige/dark bronze 81, 4speed, all original, 54,400 miles, camel leather interior, with California emissions, in great shape, that I just picked up about 3 hours ago. Boy, am I stoked!:Twist I agree that the color really grows on you. At first, I didn't really even look at this car & now I think it's awesome. I can't wait to hit the road.

I would also like a copy of that article that's been quoted emailed to me. justaudra@sbcglobal.net Thanks