How do you feel about restoring a car simply because it wears a rare color? Corvettes are a dime a dozen, especially those made in the late 70s to early 80s, but finding one with a shade of paint few others got may make it a compelling buy. This 1981 example is said to be a real-deal “Code 52” yellow car, of which some sources claim fewer than 100 were made. The Corvette does have rust issues in the frame, which begs the question as to whether it’s worth saving. Find it here on eBay with bidding around $1K and the reserve unmet.
The car has been repainted, so bear that in mind when forming your opinion. The production figure I’ve cited comes from this Corvette Forum post, which references The Corvette Black Book that says of the two shades of yellow offered, only 71 were made in “Code 52” yellow. If any of our Corvette experts are reading, I’d love to hear your opinions about this particular paint code and whether this car – wearing non-original (albeit yellow) paint and having rust in the frame – is worthy of saving.
The Corvette is also well-optioned, with T-Tops and a decent-looking interior. An automatic car, the seats show well, the carpets aren’t too tatty and the instrument binnacle isn’t cracked. The center console hasn’t been hacked up with aftermarket stereo equipment, nor have the door panels. I’d love to know if the paint in the door jambs is original, as this either proves out the original paint code or shows a previous owner went to decent lengths to get the whole car repainted correctly.
The 350 currently doesn’t run, but we all know these are easy motors to rebuild and find parts for. The rust issues mentioned by the seller include “…frame has rust issues on left and right side rails in front of rear tires, very common on these cars. Left side about 15 inches, right side is just starting.” The title is clear and the bidding is cheap at the moment, but it’s disappointing to not see photos of the one factor that could sway your bidding. Would you take a chance on a car just because of its color?
The add says it runs , but isn’t road worthy, and it does have a photo of the rust underneath. Over $4500.00 now.
The main problem here is that after you restore it, you still have an ’81 Corvette.
Correct. What are late C3s bringing in mint condition on eBay? 12 grand? You can get a C4 for 6 grand in very good condition. 9 grand get you low mileage and mint.
So I just don’t understand why you would put any real money into this. I really don’t. But apparently some people want to because it’s bidding is getting close to a very drivable example. Are people really willing to pay that much just for a color?
Each to his/her own. I would rather have a 1981 Corvette as opposed to some of the other choices that show up here. 1981 Camaros and Firebirds come to mind.
Vettefacts.com shows 1031 rpo 52 yellow produced in 81.
Correct! There were 1031 81 Corvettes painted code 52 Yellow. It was the lowest production 81 color, but that’s hardly a reason to get excited about this car, or to pay a premium for it.
To Jeff, who posted this car, you need to reread the Corvette Forum post you linked. It’s referring to 1977 paint code 52, NOT 1981! Chevrolet switched from code 56 yellow, to code 52 at the end of 77. The code 52 yellow was used from late 77 through the end of production at St Louis, in Sept 81.
Jeff, you also need to take another look at the interior pictures. You’re statement that “The center console hasn’t been hacked up with aftermarket stereo equipment,” is incorrect. The center gauge bezel has been cut up, to install an aftermarket DIN radio.
81 Corvette production was split between St. Louis and a new Bowling Green KY plant. St. Louis built Corvettes from Aug 80 through Aug 81, Bowling Green built them from June 81 through Nov 81. The biggest difference between the plants was the paint used. St. Louis offered 11 acrylic lacquer colors, Bowling Green offered 7 colors, all in base coat/clear coat enamel. Yellow was not painted at Bowling Green.
I have an 81 that we bought new in 81. It’s a charcoal gray Bowling Green car with 44,000 miles on it. It’s all original and unrestored, and has received an NCRS Top Flight award.
Yellow wasn’t even the lowest production run colour. There was only 1 code 24 brght metallic blue, though I wouldn’t call that a production run. There were only 432 painted in code 74 dark bronze, 496 painted in code 38 dark metallic blue n 1981.
Excellent post!
R Soul, you’re right, there was only 1 Bright Blue Metallic 81 built, but I really didn’t see any reason to mention it, because the Bright Blue 81 was a pre-production pilot line car. The color was never released for production, and unlike the single Chartreuse 77 built, which did end up being sold, the Bright Blue 81 was likely destroyed. Bright Blue Metallic was replaced with Mahogany Metallic, before 81 production began.
If you’re interested in seeing what the Bright Blue Metallic 81 looked like, it was shown on the cover of the December/January 1981 issue of Corvette News magazine.
As far as the production numbers for Dark Bronze and Dark Blue, they were two of the seven base coat/clear coat colors, only offered at Bowling Green. There were only 8,995 Bowling Green 81’s, and the majority of them were painted one of the four available Two-Tone combinations
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Only 3,643 Bowling Green 81’s were painted in one of the seven available solid colors, so any solid colored Bowling Green 81, is rarer than a yellow St. Louis car. My post was too long already, and I chose not to get any further into the Bowling Green colors, than I did. To me, they are different plants, different paint and different colors.
A yellow vette and a pink Cadillac. I think I’m gonna be sick.
Sorry it’s an automatic…
I have put one C3 together this shape in past but was a convert with lower miles and a four speed!
To those that can’t drive a real car , this can be fixed as patches are sold for frame offs. I would just brace the frame before the rust and behind and cut the bad out , clean out with a shop vacuum inside the frame and weld heavy guage steel and grind and smooth and then repaired .
But alas I can weld too …
This will be too expensive and f you can’t weld or repair cars .
I believe these were split buit between St. Lou and Bowling Green. I agree with R Soul, those being squirted in St. Louis. Nice looking rig minus the frame rust. I had the use of my buddys back when new in 81. That hood was better than a waterbed.
There is only 71 left. One of my friends totaled his fathers yellow 81 when we were seniors. His dad was a big wig at GM.
My dad is a TV repairman, he can fix it, he has the ultimate set of tools
I know a LOT of you dont, but Im a big yellow car guy. Ferrari, Porsche, for me yellow is it. That said I for the most part dont like Vettes. I however do have a a soft spot for a few and the late model C3s are one of them, IMHO by 1980 they finally got the plastic bumper cars right, too bad the performance was not there. They were all show and no go………This car is very cool to me, I hate the people who scream LS swap at every car, but this one could use it, along with forced induction and a 6 speed. This would be a cool restomod.
I believe they destroyed one of these in the movie “The Junkman” towards the end of the movie. As soon as I saw this yellow one I remembered that one.
Corvette DNA. Says the car is worth $8379 when put together right. Of course I had to put in the catagory of high mileage and project status. Could be a nice find at $1000….
shiny on the outside but the frame is a deal breaker, One wonders if the rust is up into the birdcage. Someone on a budget who wants to get his hands dirty might want it.
Good luck to the new owner.
There are more C3 frames available then you can shake a stick at.
Not worth doing a frame off restoration.
Rot in that area of the frame cannot be repaired without pulling the body up and off the frame.
There are plenty of ’81s around with no frame rot.
I would personally look for an ’80 L82 in any color.
My first car was yellow, A 1957 Chevy Bel-Air with a white top. Still love yellow cars.
Who repaints a non running Corvette sitting on a unsafe and rotted frame?
A shop loaded with Vettes and the rails couldn’t be done? Wonder how much more rot or other issues is really there.
The shop knows that it isn’t worth the money to do it.