[1969] '69 500 5649 with Cloth Interior: Does anyone know where 5659 is?

Fri Mar 6 10:44:29 EST 2015

The interior has a Nova look about it, but doesn't match with the pictures
from a '69 Nova brochure.
'69 Nova Bench Seat Interior
<http://www.novareference.com/Brochures/1969/69nv-09.jpg>

Dave Keillor

On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 4:49 AM, David Newell <chevrobilia at yahoo.com> wrote:

> All,
> I heard back from Mike & Cathy Lee, the owners of '69 500 #5649 -- the car
> now on Ebay with the pleated, Nova-like cloth interior fabric. They sent
> pictures of the Fisher Body tag and there's absolutely nothing unusual
> about it. Just the 708 Green all vinyl interior trim code. So that should
> rule out any special order or VIP car gone astray. Also, when Mike and
> Cathy bought the car on Ebay it definitely had the fabric seats.
>
> Now the story gets interesting: in our '69 Finger-Tip Facts Corvair roster
> (including the three update sheets that Mark sent out) AND the February
> 2011 1969 Group update to our roster, only ONE 500 later than 5649 shows up
> with a GREEN interior: #5659, painted Frost Green and which first appeared
> on the 2004 update sheet.
>
> There are a number of 500s listed later than 5649 with the other two
> all-vinyl interior choices of Blue & Black, but only the one Green interior
> 500: 5659. There are also several 500s with no Trim color listed. It just
> might be possible that Fisher Body ran out of 500 Green vinyl shortly
> before 5649 & 5659 were to be built and substituted modified green cloth
> Nova seat covers on a few cars. Just a thought, but I think it's a theory
> worth pursuing.
>
> ONLY YOUR HELP WILL TELL....
>
> 1) Does anyone know where '69 500 # 5659 is? Or know where John Wilson,
> the listed owner, is now? The 2004 roster update sheet shows it belonging
> to John in Tool, Texas. The phone number for John in the latest CORSA
> roster I have is very likely not his anymore although I left a message
> anyway. It would be very interesting to see if 5659 has the stock Green
> vinyl interior or not :o)
>
> 2) Does anyone know of any 500s with Green interiors LATER than 5649?
> Perhaps one's been added to the roster since the last update in 2011?
>
> Please let me know if you can help with this little mystery. Thanks!
>
> Dave Newell
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Thu, 3/5/15, David Newell <chevrobilia at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  Subject: Re: '69 500 with Cloth Interior on Ebay, # 321686548673
>  To: "Wade Lanning" <wblanning at comcast.net>
>  Date: Thursday, March 5, 2015, 11:58 AM
>
>  Thanks Wade. I don't know if Fisher
>  would have used them but it's worth a try.
>
>  It occurred to me that Mark may have never seen the body
>  plate for this car and had just put down 708 in the roster
>  update since the car had a green interior. So I asked the
>  seller to tell me what the code on the Fisher plate is or
>  send a pic of the plate. Looks like he was on the '69 Group
>  list!
>  Dave
>
>
>  --------------------------------------------
>  On Thu, 3/5/15, Wade Lanning <wblanning at comcast.net>
>  wrote:
>
>   Subject: Re: '69 500 with Cloth Interior on Ebay, #
>  321686548673
>   To: "Newell, David" <chevrobilia at yahoo.com>
>   Date: Thursday, March 5, 2015, 6:51 AM
>
>   Dave,
>   thanks for your comments.  Your insight is always
>   interesting.
>   I
>   never did call the person that worked in the GM upholstery
>   shop.  I should do that and maybe ask if his shop ever
>  made
>   custom seat covers.  I'll make a point to call him soon
>   and I'll let you know what he has to say.
>
>   Wade
>
>   From: "David
>   Newell" <chevrobilia at yahoo.com>
>   To: "Wade Lanning"
>   <wblanning at comcast.net>
>   Cc:
>   1969 at corvair.org, 1969 at sashimi.org
>   Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2015 11:04:24
>   PM
>   Subject: Re: '69 500 with
>   Cloth Interior on Ebay, # 321686548673
>
>   (Adding the '69
>   Group)
>
>   Hi
>   Wade,
>   Thanks for the heads up on this 500:
>   #5649 on Ebay. This is the first time I've seen anything
>   about it and I don't recall Mark ever mentioning
>   anything about a 500 with a cloth (seating area) interior.
>   The car was first listed on our 1-06 roster update sheet,
>   showing interior code 708 (500 green, all vinyl) and Paint
>   Code 50, Dover White. The notes are "Ebay Auction
>   11/05, Idaho". It'd be interesting to hear if
>   anyone in the '69 Group saved those Ebay pictures from
>   2005 and if the car had a cloth interior then.
>
>   My gut reaction is
>   that the car was reupholstered at some point, perhaps by
>  the
>   selling dealer with a special customer in mind who backed
>   out of the deal.
>
>   But it's interesting that the
>   vertical pleat sewing pattern is very similar to that used
>   in the standard '69 Nova interior. The standard Nova
>   interior came with a similar green fabric though you
>   can't really compare the fabric pattern by looking at
>   the Ebay photos. It shouldn't have been difficult for
>   Fisher Body to adapt a Nova upholstery set to the
>   Corvair.
>
>   If this
>   was originally meant to be a special-ordered interior for
>  a
>   VIP and installed at Willow Run, keep in mind that neither
>   Willow Run or other Fisher plants sewed their own seat
>  cover
>   sets. The sets came to the plants fully sewn from the
>  Fisher
>   Body Grand Rapids Trim Plant. The car assembly plants
>  simply
>   installed the covers. If this car was a VIP order, Fisher
>   would have supplied the custom seat covers to Willow Run
>   from either Grand Rapids or from their experimental shops
>   near the GM Tech Center.
>
>   Most importantly, if the interior was
>   intended to be a VIP job from the start, the interior code
>   on the Fisher Body tag in the engine compartment would
>  very
>   likely be "--", "SPEC" or some variation
>   instead of 708.
>
>   The upholstery looks tastefully done and
>   a bit out of place with the rest of the car.
>
>   Dave
>
>   --------------------------------------------
>   On Wed, 3/4/15, Wade Lanning
>   <wblanning at comcast.net>
>  wrote:
>
>    Subject: '69
>   on ebay
>    To: "Newell, David"
>   <chevrobilia at yahoo.com>
>    Date:
>   Wednesday, March 4, 2015, 6:17 PM
>
>    Hi
>    Dave,
>
>    I don't know if you
>   got to see this low
>    mileage car at the
>   Jacksonville convention, but I talked to
>    the owner about the interior there.  As I
>   recall at the
>    time he speculated it was
>   re-upholstered soon after it was
>    bought
>   since '69 Vairs weren't made with cloth
>    seats.  Now he's saying it is the
>   original
>    interior.
>
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Corvair-Monza-1969-chevrolet-corvair-coupe-/321686548673?forcerrptr=true&hash=item4ae60330c1&item=321686548673&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
>    Wade
>
>
>
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