C2 Trim Tag Error??

[Ralph E.]

Just had a looong conversation with the original owner of my 1967 Corvette.
My car is presently "resale red" with black leather interior. The tim tag indicates the car should be 984 Sunfire Yellow, with 455 Black/white interior. The original owner from 40 years ago and every subsequent owner, has insisted the car had black leather interior, NOT white. The original owner had the car painted red in 1978 after the paint was damaged, another story.
Is it possible the trim tag is in error? How do I verify either way.
The original owner knew details about the car that know one else would have noticed, so I tend to believe him.

Ralph #37280

[William C.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

What does the tank sticker say, and does the original owner have any paperwork?

[Gary C.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Ralph

I doubt there is any way to verify with absoulte certainty which way the car was assembled in St. Louis.

Trim tag errors have occured.

If the original owner purchased the car out of dealer stock then another possiblility is the dealer changed the seats and door panels/hardware (and the headliner/trim if a coupe)prior to your original owner ever seeing the car. For example a previous customer liked the white seats originally in your car but preferred some other exterior color in the dealers inventory, a good salesman might volunteer to swap out the black for white in order to close the sale on a car.

[Tom H.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

After your long conversation with the original owner, could you determine if he ordered the car, or was it an "in stock" unit that was in dealer inventory? Might be interesting to find out if a possible dealer interior switch could have happened.

[Ralph E.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

My Corvette was an on lot purchase by the original owner. Yellow/black interior/black soft top convertible. When I asked him if he had changed the interior he said it came with black leather, which it now has. I told him the trim tag indicated 455 white/black. He said that would have been a nice combo, but if it had come with that combo he wouldn't have bought it. Said it would have been to trouble to keep clean.

[Ralph E.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Additionaly the car is a very early AOS car.

[Joe L.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Gary-----

...and swapping out complete seat assemblies for a Corvette is just about the easiest thing to do that there is. It's even easier than changing tires or radios to suit a customer. The service department out to be able to do the whole operation in about 30 minutes.

[Ralph E.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

It seems to me that it is more than just changing seats. What about door panels, parking brake console, and seat backs. Would a dealer really go through all that trouble on two cars?

[Loren L.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Why not start with a photo taken by the original owner in 1967? Surely there must be a snapshot somewhere that shows the inside.....

[Joe L.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Ralph-----

The seat backs go with the seat assemblies, so there wouldn't be any extra effort there. The door panels and parking brake console would add some effort to the job. However, for an experienced serviceman it would be a "piece of cake". You'd be surprised what dealers would "switch" in the old days in order to sell an in-stock car.

Dealers have ALWAYS HIGHLY FAVORED selling someone an in-stock car (or, one that they could dealer-trade for quickly) rather than ordering a car for a customer. Why, you might ask especially considering they have no flooring expense at all for ordered vehicles? The answer is when you order a vehicle, it may take several weeks for the car to be delivered. In that period of time, YOU MIGHT CHANGE YOUR MIND and decide that you don't want the car; people often purchase cars in a very impulsive manner. The laws of most states require that if this occurs, the dealer has to return even any deposit you made. Once they get you "in the car and out the door" the sale is DONE. So, they'll do a LOT of things to get you to take the in-stock car. This is not so true, anymore, since component switching is WAY more difficult now than in days of old. But, they still want to get you to purchase an in-stock (or dealer traded) vehicle rather than ordering you one and for exactly the same reason as in days of old.

[Joe L.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Ralph-----

There's nothing to say that the interior was switched for HIM. In every switch, there is a "DONOR" car and a "RECEIVER" car. The "DONOR" car is the in-stock car that supplies the parts that the dealer needs to sell the "RECEIVER" car. So, the parts are removed from the "DONOR" and installed on the "RECEIVER". Obviously, the "DONOR" car is not left a "stripped hulk"; the dealer still needs to sell it, too. So, the parts from the "RECEIVER" car are installed in the "DONOR" car. Then, the "DONOR" car goes on sale in the showroom and no one is the wiser. In this case, it might have worked out perfectly for the dealer. Not only might he have sold the first car because he was able to satisfy the buyers interior choice, but he sold the car you are talking about to the original owner because it DIDN'T HAVE the interior that was originally installed.

Keep in mind that these are all just speculation. It's equally possible that it was just a trim tag error. I'm sure that happened with some regularity considering how the tags were produced.

[Ralph E.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Loren,
You are right on. I asked him to find early pictures of him with the car hoping to verify the interior.

[Donald M.]

Re: C2 Trim Tag Error??

Joe, There's an old saying that sums up what you just said: "Don't see what you can sell, sell what you can see"!
Don