Earliest red 1984's?

[Walter G.]

OK, I'll try this one again...anyone have an idea when the first RED 1984's were built for customer deliveries? The first builds were white & silver, as dealers with allocations initially received one of these colors. I recall Johnny Carson arriving in the studio parking lot driving a white one as an early delivery. I had my red on order for almost a year prior to introduction and my dealer received a low VIN white one for the April '83 introduction and mine arrived a couple of weeks later, on May 11th. My VIN ends in #4935 and I'm wondering where this falls in the build of red '84's? I always look at the VIN when I see another red '84 and so far I haven't found an earlier one-not saying mine is the earliest-but it must be among the first batch. I have previously tried the Corvette Museum for their assistance based on records from Bowling green but have not had any response.
I've owned mine since that May '83 date and have accumulated just 26,000 miles to this bottom-feeder of the Corvette world. (Have a C7 as well, and owned multiple others since the '84)

[Rick G.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

Walter,

Many years ago, circa 1984, a couple of members of our local NCRS Chapter purchased new what they were told was to be the first 1984 corvette released to the public. If I remember correctly, the car was a red coupe and the VIN was around #71. I also recall the car was featured on the cover of Vette Vues Magazine with the story enclosed. I remember the owners telling a story many months after they received their car they had been contacted by the owner of the serial #1 car. Apparently the #1 car had been won in some kind of raffle and when received the new owner stored it on jack stands. After removing it from the jack stands, the doors would not open and close correctly. The owner contacted the owners of #71 to see if they experienced any similar problems. Additionally, the #71 owners told the story that the #1 VIN car was actually not built until well into production to ensure initial quality control issues would be corrected. Apparently GM recognized the significance of this car. I have no idea where either car is today but would be interested to know. Enjoy your car.

Rick

Rick

[Mark H.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

In 1983 I was living in Broomfield, Colo. and I got an invitation from Hajek (pronounced Hi-yak) Chevrolet in Longmont to see the brand new '84 Corvette. Got up there and they had the show room windows covered with brown paper and you had to show the invitation to get in. They had two '84s there and I remember distinctly one of them was red because it was the one I sat in. This would have been I guess in April of 1983. Have no idea what the vin was and since it's been 35 years, Hajek probably doesn't have any records of it either.

[Hugh P.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

To add what Dave stated above.....Back about mid-1983 Vette Vues featured #71 on the front cover with the California owner (I think his name was something like Rick Nagy??) with an article inside the magazine. For those that collect old Vette Vues you can read the complete article showing the white Corvette. I have a list of the first 70 Corvettes with options/colors, etc somewhere packed away. Lots of black Corvettes on that list as Dave McLellan liked black Corvettes. #71 was officially the first 1984 Corvette delivered for retail sale

[Hugh P.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

Walter,
I will try to add a bit to the discussion. First, the red color for the all new 1984 Corvette, gave the Corvette group fits. The EPA came down hard on the red paint and what it did to the environment (and red pigment was $$) so the trade off took time to get it reasonably right but went into early production to get the car into the hands of anxious customers. As you probably were aware the first red for the 1984 Corvette was kind of a dull red (probably what you have), and took a lot of criticism on how it looked. There was a engineering change order during production (don't remember when) that changed the red to a brighter red. Any of the original red cars that get a repaint probably will not match that shade of red. As a matter of fact the original red looks like a faded red, and you can tell the difference easily from the later red.
Also, I seem to remember the serial #1 was a raffle car as previously stated (I think from NCCC) was actually about the 200th car produced. It was built later but received VIN #1. If you are in contact with the BG plant they might have some records at least for the ECA to change from the old red to the new red. Also, I don't believe any or many cars were built with a 4 speed in the original red exterior color. I have no information on the first early red car produced but it probably either went to California, some high volume Corvette dealer, or was resold at a later date (at auction) as a Michigan PEP vehicle driven by someone in the Corvette group. I had an early red car on order but don't recall the VIN. I will check my records to see if I ever captured the VIN.
Good luck in your search for more information.

[Perry M.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

Not to change the course of this thread but did Chevrolet also have trouble with the color of black as well? I ordered a black '84 and it for ever to get it. I was told there was a problem with the black paint.

[Steven B.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

Brings back a bad memory. I was living in Indianapolis and my parents in Brush, Colorado. Indy dealers were asking much over msrp but Brush dealer told me I could have at msrp as he was friend of my dad. I ordered very early, red, manual trans, all options including suspension and got letter verifying the order. Within a couple of weeks of delivery dealer was notified my red/graphite car was redirected to Denver area dealer for more visibility. Dealer and I had call with regional rep who said he couldn't do anything about it.

[Walter G.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

Hugh,

According to the "Black Book" 1984 Corvette red was code 72 with 70 and 33 listed as additional possibilities. Black and white indicate other codes were used for those colors during the model year as well. My build sheet and window sticker show Spectra Red code 33. (My window sticker was shipped separately from the car, so I have an original, unmounted sticker with multiple parts still intact) When only a few years old many '84's had flat surfaces turning kind of pink and clear coat failure from the sun-front & rear fascias particularly. Mine has been garaged most it's life so has not had that degradation. My red would definitely be described as dull when compared to the '85's which had a color change for the model year so I am assuming code 33 was the early color code and the others followed during the model year. I can't say I noticed any color variation in reds during the '84 run, as we had a number of '84's in our club at the time and they all seemed to be the same. Certainly not any difference like the '85 red, which was quite obvious.

The early cars also had a metal trim tag on the right side rear lower hood bracket. This was instead of a Service Parts ID label which came later in the production run. My trim tag is pictured on page 27 of the 'red car on the cover' tech manual and judging guide. My car was questioned for not having a Service Parts sticker when being judged at a Regional but once it was determined that was correct for my car a photo was taken and it appears in the manual today. It shows the 33L and 33U paint codes-lower and upper-as there were 2-tones available as well.

[Rick G.]

Re: Earliest red 1984's?

Hi Dave,
You are correct, the car was white and the owner was Rick Nagy. Shortly after Rick received his car, Noland Adams had a loaner from GM which was red. I obviously confused the two. Not hard to do since it has been almost 34+ years. Seems like yesterday.

Rick

To add what Dave stated above.....Back about mid-1983 Vette Vues featured #71 on the front cover with the California owner (I think his name was something like Rick Nagy??) with an article inside the magazine. For those that collect old Vette Vues you can read the complete article showing the white Corvette. I have a list of the first 70 Corvettes with options/colors, etc somewhere packed away. Lots of black Corvettes on that list as Dave McLellan liked black Corvettes. #71 was officially the first 1984 Corvette delivered for retail sale