1984 "Color Show" Corvettes
In the September 1992 issue of Vette Vues Magazine, R.E. Lannen, the National Chevrolet Sales Manager in charge of Service around 1984, wrote a letter to Alan Kaplan regarding twelve 1984 Corvettes that were pulled from production and painted 1986 Corvette colros for evaluation purposes. Below are some notes from that letter with some interesting information on these special 1984 Corvettes:
- It was common practice that each year, General Motors would take a select number of current production Corvettes and paint them future proposed Corvette colors for evaluation purposes. Usually, these colors were chosen from two or three future model years.
- Twelve 1984 production Corvettes were ordered and painted with potential 1986 Corvette colors. These vehicles were not normally sold to the general pulic and were kept within the Engineering fleet and used for durability or reliability testing and then destroyed.
- Since the 1984 Corvette was in such high demand, it was decided that these twelve Corvettes would be sold to the general public via Chevrolet dealers in the Phoenix, Arizona area.
- Since this was not normal practice, Chevrolet Engineering called R.E. Lannan to inquire whether or not this was acceptable.
- As a result, a Technical Service Bulletin was drawn up with instructions to make the paint available and to alert Chevrolet dealers of these twelve Corvettes.
- These twelve 1984 Corvettes were ordered on September 21, 1983 and built around November 14, 1983. They were then shipped to the GM Proving Grounds in Mesa Arizona and were received on December 8, 1983.
- They were assembled in the usual fashion on the Bowling Green Assembly line and painted "off line".
- Build sheets and the option lable reflect the special color designation.
- Each Corvette was delivererd with two gallons of the specific paint for that particular Corvette.
- Eleven Corvettes were then sold to the Phoenix-based Chevrolet dealers on March 6, 1984.
- The other one, serial #E5123845, painted Bright Red, was purchased by Mr. Lannen. It was shipped back to the GM Proving Grounds in Michigan where Mr. Lannen took delivery.
- Mr. Lannen then drove the car to a local Chevrolet dealer where he made the official purchase under the Option II GM Employee Program on March 19, 1984.
- Mr. Lannen attended the color show that year where he first saw the 1984 Corvette he purchased with the Bright Red exterior and red interior. The other eleven Corvettes had either black or saddle interiors.
Below are some images of the official documentation for #E5123845. Click on the images below for a larger view:
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Below is the actual Technical Service Bulletin that was issued to Chevrolet dealers regarding these twelve specially painted 1984 Corvettes:
Source: Chevrolet Dealer Service Bulletin
Subject: 1984 Corvettes Painted with 1986 Colors for General Managers Color Show
Model and Year: 1984 Corvettes
Bulletin Number: 84-64
Section: 10 (I)
Date: Feb., 1984
TO: ALL CHEVROLET DEALERS
This cancels and replaces 84-64 dated February, 1984, which should be destroyed. This bulletin corrects model information on 1986 colors used for General Managers Color Show.
Several 1984 Corvettes will be painted with 1986 proposed colors for demonstration vehicles for the 1986 General Managers Color Show.
These cars will be handled as new cars and will be sold immediately following the Color Show. The vehicles will be sold to dealers in the Phoenix area. All vehicles (approximately 12), will be finished with 1986 solid colors as shown on the following chart.
The paint on these vehicles will be available through the paint sources indicated in the chart.
Should it be necessary to repair the subject vehicles, the normal paint procedures can be used.
| CORVETTE BASE COAT/CLEAR COAT) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Exterior Color | Source | Source ID |
| (Wentsville) Silver Met. | Inmont | WACC 7781 |
| Black Met. | Inmont | CSA 3039 |
| Bright Red | Inmont | CSR 2209 was WACC 8553 |
| White Met. | Inmont | CSA 3032 |
| Med. Gray Met. | Inmont | CSA 1283 |
| Yellow | Inmont | CSY 1109 |
| Flame Red | Inmont | CSR 2208 |
| Russet Met. | Inmont | CSR 2210 |
| Silver Beige | Inmont | WACC 7415 |
| Dk. Beige Met. | Inmont | CSO 2738 |
| Gold | Inmont | GM Code 53 |
| Nassau Blue | Inmont | CSB 26300 |
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