Black 1973 Corvette

[Tim G.]

A local friend just purchased a very low mile 1973 Corvette that was ordered new and delivered by Hory Chevrolet in Larchmont, NY.
The car is an L82 with lots of options and was factory painted black, a color that was a special order. The car has the window sticker noting a special color (no color declared) and a build sheet with hand written "black" on it. The trim tag states "SPEC" by the paint section.
Word is that Hory Chevrolet had to order a batch 50 special paint cars, does anyone have any information on this dealer and if, in fact, they did have to order or did order 50 black 1973 Corvettes?
I know that a Chicago area Olds dealer (Nortell) had to order 100 1971 Cutlass SX cars to receive a special "pink" color. They still had two in stock when our family purchased our 1972 442 in April of '72 and I remember Herb Nortell explaining that he needed to get 100 of them.

[Terry M.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

Tim,
I have had the opportunity, when I was 1970-1972 National Team Leader, to look at perhaps a dozen to fifteen 1972 cars with special paint. I was able to identify two of them as having been painted black at the factory. The rest were painted later and likely left St. Louis in primer. Most of them had a story associated with them.

[Tim G.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

I really feel that this is a car that was black from the factory by the "black with silver wheels" being on the build sheet along with the black paint code being on the build sheet. Of course, I'm open to ideas. The car was purchased from the original owner in Februrary of 2007 with 10,000 miles. Do you feel that these cars would have been ordered with no paint and painted at the dealer? The "special paint" option on the window sticker was a $14.00 option. It would get expensive for the dealer to pay extra for a car with no paint and then paint it upon arrival.

[Terry M.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

My point was that many of the special paint cars were ordered with no paint and then painted at the dealer. Others (a few) were painted at the factory. If the documentation you have is authentic -- I'm not saying it is not, just that we can't see it -- then the car was likely painted black at the factory. A careful examination of the paperwork and the car will settle that issue.

If you ever chose to bring the car for NCRS judging be sure to bring the paperwork with it. It would be nice to see it.

FWIW: While looking at those 1972s I never heard a story about a requirement for a dealer to purchase more than one of the special paint cars, but policies could have changed for 1973. I did run into the original owner of a 1971 triple-black 365hp convertible. Great looking car when I saw it in 1996. He paid $10 extra for the special paint, and had all the paperwork to support his story.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

If you ever "happen" to have the sill plates off (I wouldn't mess with them for sake of idle curiosity. ), and turn the carpet back, a factory painted car will have body color overspray extending about 2"-4" past the sill threshold onto the floor pan. If the overspray is black, it was painted black at the factory; if it's red oxide, it left the factory in primer.

Based on your documentation, it sounds like it was painted black at the factory.

[GL Anderson]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

Our dealership had a number of special paint cars above and beyond the Shrine cars. No requirement to order a quantity for paint only at that time at least that was our experience. We did get primer cars too and painted them at the dealership. As suggested taking the sill plates off may solve the mystery. GL

[Harmon C.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

Tim
I have lots of information on the factory painted black 73's and from the information you stated it is one of the lot of 73's painted black. E-mail me if you would like me to check a few more details as I have seen one and have some paperwork on others.

Lyle

[William N.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

I recall going to Watkins Glen in October of 72 and seeing a black 73 coupe with tan interior in the Corvette Corral. I recall the owner saying he was from the NYC area. He stated the car was special ordered formt he factory in black, as I had mentioned it wasn't available. He had Appliance wheels that at the time looked somewhat like the Chaparral wheels. I may have a photo of it somewhere.

[Drew P.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

Hello Tim,
I had talked to Bruce about his 1973. I need to check the newpaper "Sunday New York Times" ads for the listing of the Hory Chevrolet.
Regards,
Drew Papsun

[Tom R.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

Tim:

If you can scan and post the build sheet, we can further assess the documentation for the car...in the upper left corner are key codes so you may wish to cover those unless the dymo tape has already been copied over them.

[Tim G.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

Thanks to all. Drew, your feedback to Bruce was the reason for my post. I'm sure you're knowledge of the 50 cars is accurate and I'd like to know more about any other black '73's out there. The car will be at the Waco Regional for flight judging along with its paperwork.

Tim

[George C.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

I sold new Corvettes at Palmyra Motors. And have heard about the special run of Black 1973 Corvettes. I also used to order the new Corvettes, the owner every year always asked me to order at least 5-10 Corvettes, coupes and convertibles in Prime (SPEC PAINT). Never did Chevrolet make any request saying we had to order a certain amount. We painted some of the New Corvettes in Rolls Royce colors and charged the Customer. We also painted a few coupes and convertibles old Corvette colors like Riverside Gold and Monaco Orange or waited for the customer to request a color of his or her chosing. We painted one 1975 Corvette Convertible Playboy Pink. That was a sight.

Lots of things came out of St. Louis. Always wanted to see one of those Black 73's. Save the Wave.>George

[Ralph S.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

I worked at the Rail yard in Framingham MASS. in 1973 and saw a few black 73 coupes going to a dealer in Rhode Island. I have a photo of one of them.

[Clem Z.]

$14.00 GM must have lowered the cost because

i paid $25.00 to have my 62 corvette and my 69 Z-28 painted a special color from the factory.

[John H.]

Re: Black 1973 Corvette

When I was at Lordstown in 1969, we built two pink '69 Firebird convertibles with pink leather interiors, pink carpeting, and pink tops and boots for John DeLorean; he was dating Nancy Sinatra at the time, and gave them to her. The seat covers, carpets, tops and boots came from some outfit on the west coast, not from Fisher Body. Perks and connections.