1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

[Daniel S.]

Hi Gents,

Saw a real odd ball today at a local car show with supporting paperwork. 1973 Coupe, L82/M21, in gray primer. Trim tag stated "special" for paint and build sheet did as well. The jambs, headlight buckets, and recess areas (wipers, 1/4s, nose, etc) showed no signed of color, just gray primer.

Apparently the owner had a memo from an NCRS judge stating this was factory - I didn't ask to see it.

Rare does not always mean desirable, especially being a '73 Vette, but I sure did get a kick out of it.

Is this true?

Dan

[George C.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Ordered a few "Special Paint" Corvettes while working at Palmyra Motors. That's how they came in from St Louis back in the day. Bumper came thur with no primer, just a silver plastic unpainted look. That's the only thing I see not correct. Did you see the dealer code on the build sheet ? Palmyra Motors was 12 500. Very cool, thanks for the pictures. Save the Wave.

[Daniel S.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

From Hory Chevrolet in Larchmont, NY

[George C.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Hey Dan, Thanks for the pictures and info on the Corvette in primer.
Usually we ordered Corvettes in primer after 1969 to paint Black. From 70-76 Black was not available as a color option for Corvette. ( I have heard rumors to some 1973 Corvettes being painted Black at St Louis) We also painted Corvettes ordered in primer, some different colors using Rolls Royce colors and also painted a 1975 Corvette Convertible in Playboy Pink. I wish I would have taken pictures of some of those Corvettes. Nice to see these pictures of Corvette history that now everyone knows about.

Where was the local show ?

[George C.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Here's a post back from 2007 about a 1973 Corvette from Hory Chevrolet.
https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...53071&uid=6970

I'd like to see that Primer Corvette some day.
Another "incorrect" item is the seams look too good in the picture. The Corvettes I saw in primer back in the day all the seams looked very bad.


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[Brian G.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

I was searching for pictures of Corvettes in primer just yesterday.

Thanks for the pictures.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Back in 1985 or 1986, when the Florida Winter Meet was still at Cypress Gardens, a 1973 showed up in an unusual shade of yellow. We didn't judge 1973s at that time, but it was put on display on the lawn anyway. I had a long talk with the owner. Seems the car was ordered in primer and painted the color the dealership owner's wife wanted. It had the SPEC on the trim tag.

[Daniel S.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Great info Gents. Thank you.

Dan

[Michael H.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Some time in the mid/late 70's, there was a 63 conv advertised in Vette Vues magazine that had a trim tag with the word "PRIME" for the paint code. I've heard of several more C2's with this also.

[Wayne W.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

73s still had red primer with a light coat of medium gray sealer. This one looks a little too well done. I wouldn`t expect that this is the original primer.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Great info Gents. Thank you.

Dan

Dan,

If you like these sorts of "rare" (I can not tell you how much I hate that word) Corvettes you would have enjoyed one of the Bowtie cars at the last National Convention.

1972 triple-black convertible with SPEC trim tag and a yard of paperwork to show the black factory paint. Small block, M40 with C60, and the story to go with it. We had a boat load of fun with that car.

Back in 1993 when I was NTL we covered the SPEC trim tag issue for that class, and subsequently those standards were accepted in the Judging Reference Manual. Basically it is the responsibility of the car owner to show what the original finish was on cars with SPEC, SPECIAL trim tags. If the owner has no documentation to support the original finish it will be assumed that the original finish was primer.

I generally stay away from C2s, but I would think a trim tag that says PRIME is pretty obvious how the car was delivered from the factory.

[Tim G.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Hory Chevrolet ordered 50 black Corvettes in 1973, the minimum amount that Chevrolet would paint in a special color. About five years ago a friend bought a black 1973 Corvette that was delivered to Hory Chevrolet and it had a tad bit over 10,000 miles on it. The paperwork was great with “black paint” hand written on the build sheet. The window sticker noted “special paint” and the trim tag had the same notation as this one on it. I’m afraid that this car is one of the black 50 Hory Chevrolet cars. I’d bet a large amount of money that this car was painted black at St. Louis and delivered that way.

Another note on the black '73 car is that it was quite a controversy when we brought it for NCRS judging, the judges felt that it was a car delivered in primer and wanted to do a full deduction on the paint. The saving grace was that the hand written note in the build sheet said to paint the car black and paint the wheels silver.

In 1971, Nortel Oldsmobile in Chicago ordered 100 pink Cutlass cars that was the minimum allowed.

[Rich C.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

QUOTE:
Rare does not always mean desirable, especially being a '73 Vette, but I sure did get a kick out of it.

Should '73 owners take insult?

'73 LS-4 454, Found it desirable for 22 years now!

[Daniel S.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Another note on the black '73 car is that it was quite a controversy when we brought it for NCRS judging, the judges felt that it was a car delivered in primer and wanted to do a full deduction on the paint. The saving grace was that the hand written note in the build sheet said to paint the car black and paint the wheels silver.

In 1971, Nortel Oldsmobile in Chicago ordered 100 pink Cutlass cars that was the minimum allowed.

Thanks for the lesson, Tim. Will I be seeing you in Chicago for MCACN again?

QUOTE:
Rare does not always mean desirable, especially being a '73 Vette, but I sure did get a kick out of it.

Should '73 owners take insult?

'73 LS-4 454, Found it desirable for 22 years now!

Hardly and insult! I was teasing... I bet you have a fine Vette!

[Gerard R.]

Re: 1973 Factory Primer Corvette?

Terry,does anyone have any pics of the triple Black 72 ? Would sure love to see pics...Thanks Jerry