[1969] '69 500 5649 with Cloth Interior: Does anyone know where 5659 is?
David Newell
chevrobilia at yahoo.com
Fri Mar 6 15:53:47 EST 2015
Dave,
Thanks for your input. I have that brochure, of course, and think that 5649's interior resembles the bottom photo (standard Nova interior) very much except that the vertical pleats are sewn in 5649 rather than defined only by dark vertical stripes in the Nova fabric. Since substitute Fisher seat covers would have been sewn up in Grand Rapids rather than at Willow Run, any available GM fabric or pleat pattern could have been used.
I've asked Mike & Cathy for a closeup photo of the cloth material so I can compare it to the fabric samples in the '69 dealer album. Cloth matching the 500 Green interior color was used in the Nova, Chevelle, and full-size Chevy car lines.
Meanwhile, do you know of any '69 500s with the Green interior built after 5649 and 5659? Or have a more current location for 5659? If we can turn one up with the stock Green vinyl interior it would definitely point to 5649 having been reupholstered by the selling dealer...which was my original take on the car and I still lean in that direction.
Dave
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 3/6/15, Dave Keillor <dkeillor at tconcepts.com> wrote:
Subject: Re: [1969] '69 500 5649 with Cloth Interior: Does anyone know where 5659 is?
To: "David Newell" <chevrobilia at yahoo.com>
Cc: "1969 at corvair.org" <1969 at corvair.org>, "1969 at sashimi.org" <1969 at sashimi.org>, "Ed Thompson" <ed.thompson at quarles.com>
Date: Friday, March 6, 2015, 7:44 AM
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
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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