One of the first uses of computers in automotive manufacturing was to reject inappropriate color choices such as a blue car with a green interior, in case such an order escaped the review of the ordering dealership or other human error. In the case of this 1965 Chevrolet Corvette in Bedford, Pennsylvania, the combination of Nassau Blue paint over a red interior required a special order, and that’s exactly how this one came to life! This classic ‘Vette has much more to offer including the 350 HP L79 327 cid (5.4L) V8 and four-speed manual transmission, and it’s looking fine after a complete restoration. Interestingly the listing here on eBay includes no mention of the car’s running or driving condition. If you’d pay $89,500 for this interesting Chevy, click Buy It Now and it’s all yours!
The supple red sport buckets call invitingly from a sea of red. Any flaws are of the sort you could tidy up before the next show. Anyone entering this drop-top wearing muddy work boots will definitely have the owner seeing red.
There’s no ignoring the red interior with the top down, even from a distance. The origin of the special order is not known. The colors of a local sports team, perhaps, or simply the personal choice of a willful buyer. Undercarriage pictures look just as clean as the topside. This Sting Ray looks ready to go.
The well-revered L79 327 made a stout 350 HP without the idiosyncrasies of the solid lifter L76 and L84 motors, the latter making 365 and 375 HP, respectively. Mated with this car’s 3.70:1 rear axle gears, tire smoke should be available in two if not three gears, assuming the car runs, which could be confirmed with a phone call or eBay message.
While unexpected, the red interior doesn’t clash against the blue as it might against gold for instance. With the white top in place, it’s downright patriotic! And what’s more American than what during many generations has been the only car of it’s kind, America’s Sports Car? What’s the most interesting color combination you’ve seen on a vehicle?
Actually red and gold would be a better combo; IIRC my science, and my art training, the color receptors in the eye have trouble focusing on red and blue at the same time, which is why red lettering on a blue background is hard to read. Black, white, or blue, yes = more common, but this red does stand out! GLWTA!! :-)
I love it! I’m in the process of changing over the interior color of my 65 Corvair Corsa to red. Exterior color is mist blue which is a light metallic blue. Not going all red as I will leave the dash and pillar trims black. I have been debating a exterior color change but I want to keep the original color.
The ’50s Porsches offered a blue and red combination with a slightly lighter blue than this car. Personally, I like it. Nice car.
I LOVE THAT BLUE AND I AM SO PAINTING SOMETHING THAT COLOR, tbh i love chevy paint colors, my dad has a 1951 panhead, he built around a frame and finally found a 51 motor last year, and he painted it 1969 rally green i love that color, GM always did have some pretty paint colors
in the first pic there is a C3 vette the same blue, i bet they look amazing together
And a white top too. How patriotic.
Beautiful car regardless of the color combo, but certainly one that would sit in a garage or collection rarely if ever seeing the light of day.
Take some time to look at the eBay listing. Amazing images with a terrific write-up. 2nd place I would visit after winning the Powerball lottery.
Exceptional looking car with a pricetag to match. If I had the money to blow, I’d be talking to the seller. Interesting picture of the various Vettes in the shed, from C2 to C7 from what I can see.
I have a similar spec’d (but mine has rare A/C), 65 L79 4sp roadster, in Black over tan leather,which I considered to be the top dog combination until now.I love this ,but then I’m a red interior guy.My Rangerover daily is Black on red,and I’d drive a blue on red one all day.Spectacular car !
Check out the dark Blue on Red Jag E Type over at BaT ,equally, if not even more gorgeous !
Enzo wasn’t too far off, on his oft repeated quote, on the E Type ; “The most Beautiful car ever built” (and I have a couple), but I submit that a Mid -year Vette is in the discussion !
This is a COPO (Central Office Production Order) special order Corvette. This was not a standard color combination.
Did you own a 1966 427/425 silver pearl convertible? I may have your old car?
I guess I’m in the minority here, because this combo does nothing for me. In 56, a handful of 56 Corvettes were built in Arctic Blue (a pretty silver/blue) with red interiors, and in 63, Daytona Blue (a very dark blue) was available with a bright red interior. Both of these combos were quite striking and pretty, but the Marina Blue and red combo just doesn’t work for me.
I’d say it’s a safe assumption that it is 1 of 1, but it’s only an assumption, since GM has no records to verify this claim.
It is a nice car though, and well equipped with PS, PB PW, knock off’s, tele column and teak steering wheel.
I’m with you gbvette62 on the color combo. I’m trying real hard to like it and I suppose if the car were mine I would learn to live with it. Other than the red interior it checks all my boxes for what I’da ordered back then. Very nice Corvette !
Todd, you asked; What’s the most interesting color combination you’ve seen on a vehicle?
In September or October 1968, I was at the local Chrysler Plymouth dealer, looking in the back lot for the new 1969 cars, as they had not been officially announced yet.
I found a 1969 Plymouth Fury III 4-door hardtop, BLUE exterior, with a 100% GREEN Dodge Monaco interior; seats, carpets, door panels, dashboard, headliner, all medium to dark green. As I recall, it also had a blue paisley vinyl top.
It’s clear that someone in the scheduling department, keyed in the wrong interior code, for the wrong car. Both the Plymouth Fury and the Dodge Monaco were built on the same assembly line. So what are the chances there was/is a green Dodge Monaco out there with a blue Plymouth Fury III interior?
And of course most of us oldtimer gearheads are already familiar with the lack of overall build quality with MoPaR vehicles that began in 1969. This car demonstrates the total lack of accountability for the assembly line workers, as this mistake meant dozens of workers simply installed what was ordered, instead of notifying management.
I went to work for a Ford dealer in 1971running the New car prep department. I remember many cases of a box in the trunk, containing the wheel covers or hub caps, not matching what the window sticker listed.
One case that I remember well, was a LTD 4-door, white with a tan interior [correct combination], this car had stereo speakers in the doors, and an antenna on the fender, but there was a radio delete panel in the dash! What the window sticker listed was an AM/stereo tape radio. We had to set the car aside and call the factory rep, who upon seeing the car, ordered the correct radio, and I installed the radio upon it’s arrival.
We had several cases where Pintos came thru with a radio, but no fender antenna. We had to drill a large center hole and 4 small holes in the fender, then using a small brush, paint primer on the exposed bare edges of the big center hole, mount the antenna & thread the antenna cable thru the firewall, and plug it into the radio. Ford only paid 2 tenths of an hour [12 minutes] for the job.
Thanks for those stories, Bill McCoskey! I believe blue/green is the example given in the story I heard that would be blocked by early manufacturing computers, and I thought it was at Chrysler. Maybe the car you witnessed factored into that! The Monaco interior in a Fury, though… that sounds like straight-up human error. Good stuff. One of my friends once ordered a Pontiac with power steering. It came in… no PS. The crapstorm that followed haunted the car the rest of its days as retrofitting Power Steering became the undoing of more things than you can imagine. I’m sure there are a ton of “interesting” stories out there. Thanks again!
Todd Fitch,
Your reply made me remember the biggest mistake in vehicle orders that I know of, and it involved the first vehicle I ordered new.
I had started a vintage car parts company and needed a parts hauler, my 1966 Plymouth Fury convertible didn’t make a very good parts hauler. I ordered a 1973 Dodge B-200 long wheelbase cargo van, and it had an unusual option list.
I wanted the 318 V8, Torqueflite, P/S & P/D/B. I also wanted the hi-output factory A/C, a very unusual option for a cargo van. I ordered cruise control, Heavy duty towing package, opening rear door windows, low-mount chrome outside mirrors, chrome bumpers & bright grill, and black paint with black interior.
After a long 3-month wait, what came in to the dealer was exactly as described above, except for 3 changes: 3-speed stick shift on the column, tan external paint, and green interior.
I told the dealer that this wasn’t what I ordered, and they confirmed it was a factory mistake. Problem was, by this time it was past the cut-off date for new 1973 orders, and I would have to wait until the 1974 model year vehicles were made available.
The dealership owner & manager both knew the vehicle would prove difficult to sell. No one wanted a cargo van with all the chrome goodies and options like the hi-output factory A/C [that cost almost $500, a very expensive option!]. The negotiated agreed-upon price of this van was well over $5,000, when a typical no-option base B-200 van was just slightly over $2,500.
I told them that I could live with the stick shift and green interior, if they would discount the van by $500 and do a total color change to the van, inside & out. Of course they balked. They came back with an offer of $4,000 if I took it as is. That was an over 20% discount on what I already had negotiated for a final price, and my dad looked at me and whispered 5 words; “You BETTER f**cking take it!”.
I quickly got used to the stick shift, and the dual national gas shortages of the later 1970s made me realize how much gas I saved with the stick shift.
The cruise control was not working when it was delivered. It was because there was no fuse in the fuse box. There was a hand written note attached to the dashboard explaining the fuse was in the glovebox, but not to put it in until another brake light switch was added to the bracket holding the clutch pedal in place, and a very crude drawing of how to add a wire from the cruise circuit to the switch, and a wire to ground, so the cruise would disconnect if either the clutch or brake pedals were depressed.
Well I kept that van for the next 35 years, putting over 200,000 miles on it. The only major repairs were an upper timing gear in 1980, and a clutch in 1982. In 1978, with a friend from Germany visiting for a few weeks, we drove it on a 9,000 mile trip across the USA, Canada & Alaska & return thru the south, in a great big circle route [I did do a minor repair in a parking lot in Amarillo, Texas — a rear u-joint, only took a few hours & we were back on the road.]
That A/C was the best I’ve ever had in a vehicle. During our big 1978 great circle trip, we left the California coast near San Simeon, and headed up into the hills of southern California. It was about 72f when we left the west coast that morning.
When we stopped for lunch, the A/C still working great, I got out of the van. As I dropped down to the pavement I took a big breath, only to discover it was 114f! That A/C worked so well we didn’t even know it! [I had fully insulated the interior of the van with foam on the sides & ceiling, all covered in paneling.]
2 hours later, in a junkyard in Barstow, CA, I found and bought a 100% complete, rust free, 1948 Packard Super Eight Convertible*, and I learned a valuable lesson on how to protect steel tools from direct sunlite, burning my hand badly when I picked up a wrench that had been sitting on the front fender of that car!
There are times I wish I still had that van.
*Still have the Packard Convertible.
Back in ’65 we called that Polock Blue. The red interior makes it even more Polish. Just ugly.
What a dumb-a$$ comment. Typical BF redneck
1 of 1. Further proof that rarity at times is simply the result of poor taste.
What color is your $90,000 car?
Great story’s Bill. What amazes me more than anything is your memory. I wish I had it.
John R,
Thanks for the compliments! I’ve led a very interesting life, plenty of highs and a few really tough lows, but I’ve been lucky in being able to remember most of it as I grow old. Problem is, as I do grow older, in the last 10 years I have lost the ability to remember things like cell phone numbers or where I put important things.
I would like to see a picture of the trim tag “FF” is for Nassau blue and trim code 407 is for red vinyl. The had to be a special order COPO (central office production order)
I have no dog in this fight but if you look at the ebay listing , photo #24 you will see the picture you’re talking aboot.
Thanks
I have a 73 Mercedes 280. Exterior color is maple yellow with avocado interior. Certainly not something I would call pretty but I like the fact that it’s odd.
Good for you! It’s your car and your money!!
My ‘54 Studebaker Starliner coupe had a yellow body, a blue roof and a brown interior. From a time when styling was fun, imaginative and daring, and quite the opposite of the funeral dirge of black and gray vehicles one sees in excess of today. Is this really the future of automotive creativity?
Billy,
Today’s automotive styling is limited to little things like a different exterior door handle [that still conforms to the world’s governmental requirements], and location of cup holders.
Due to the above mentioned governmental requirements that result in exterior designs created to achieve the highest fuel mileage possible along with crash survivability, designers are limited to very small changes. Gone are the days when a car like the ’53 Studebaker could be put into production as a family car.
Yep. And you could get impaled on the 1953 steering wheel while your passenger gets ejected through the windshield. Good times before that mean old government took all the fun out of driving.
Ike,
In the late 70s I briefly dated a beautiful young lady, but her father objected to my everyday car — a 1948 Packard Super 8 sedan, claiming that the seat belts I had put in were not enough safety measures to keep his daughter safe.
My next girlfriend’s father really liked my old cars. Not only was she cuter, but she liked to attend old car shows with me. [Her dad was also cool about her sleeping over.]
Thanks for the info. A bit awkward, but thanks for the update on how weird dads were in the 1970’s.