1971 Corvette, Convertible, 454, 4 speed, A/C

1971 Corvette convertible equipped with it's original matching number 454 engine. Also has it's original 4 speed transmission and factory air conditioning. Equipped also with power steering, rakes and tilt-tele wheel. It also has the hole in the side panel in front of the shift console indicating it originally came with rear window defogger a very rare option on the convertible.The car was originally War Bonnet yellow but is now grey so it needs a repaint. The car runs and drives but has a hole in the exhaust so you will want to bring a trailer or have it shipped. The car needs to be restored to be the gem it once was. But it is a very rare and desirable Corvette. The great news is that the frame only has mild surface rust only and won't need repairs. Perhaps more importantly is the bird cage is completely rust free, erhaps the best I've ever seen. I removed the right hand lower dash panel to verify this and can confirm absolutely no hint of rust at all. Those two facts alone will save the restorer a lot of money. Additionally the build sheet appears to be visible on the fuel tank. If this car has ever been hit, can't find any evidence of it. The body lines are arrow straight, verything fits together perfectly. If there ever was such a thing an easy restoration on a C3 Corvette, his is the one. Taken individually none of the options on this car are rare. But it's the total package of the Big Block, speed convertible with air that makes it so, 've done some math based on GM published figures for this car and assuming all the cars originally built survived the numbers, lthough completely unscientific,indicate at best this car is one ofonly a fewever built. Here's how I arrived at this. Happy bidding and I hope this car goes to a new owner who will appreciate it as much as I do.

Total number of Corvette's built in 1971 was: 21,801

Convertibles: 7121or 32% of total

Coupe: 14,680

LS5 big block production: 5097 or 23% of total

If 23% of convertible production had the big block engine then about 1637 cars were made.

Total 4 speed production was 11,741 or 53%. Applying this figure to the previous 1637 cars equals about 867 cars so produced.

The number of 71's with A/C was 11,481 or 52% thus indicating that only 450 or so cars were made like this one.

The tilt/tele option was only installed on 37% of the cars that year further reducing like number of cars to just 166.

Custom interior trim was installed on 2602 Corvettes for 11% bringing the number down to just 18 cars.

War Bonnet yellow was the most popular color that year and 3706 buyers chose it for 16% of the previous 18 cars yields only about 2 or 3 cars so produced.

The source of this info is the NCRS Corvette specifications guide. For 1971 the guide doesn't break down these figures by Coupe or Convertible. But it does for 1972. If you use this guide and extrapolate the data for 1971 assuming they probably aren't much different then the numbers indicate even greater rarity. For example in 1972 the LS5 454 was only installed in 824 convertibles not the 1637 figure that I guessed at. Furthermore A/C cars in convertibles was only 3184 in 1972 not the 11,000 plus figure I had to use. I can't say with certainty how many cars equipped like this were actually produced by GM. Those figures have never been released by Chevrolet. But I think you'll agree it has to be extremely rare. It's possible there aren't more than two or three identical ones still in existence.

On Jul-01-15 at 19:12:51 PDT, eller added the following information:

Per some questions, do have the original A/C compressor and brackets. Car is located 12 miles East of St Louis Missouri in Southern Illinois.