Ralph Montileone’s New Cowboy Boots Saved The Lone 1983 Corvette

Ralphs '83With the paint still wet on 2015s, we’re already feeling a tad nostalgic, but with good cause. Turn back a few pages to November 7th of last year, to a story we published regarding the curious circumstances surrounding the 1983 Corvette that never saw production. The story also reports on the one and only remaining example of the 1983 Corvette, which narrowly survived destruction by a sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum early in 2014.

One reader’s comment about that story, left by Ralph Montileone, caught our attention straight away. “I know there are numerous stories out there about the only 1983 Corvette left in the world,” Montileone wrote, “I probably am the only one that actually knows why it was left.”

Cowboys Don’t Like Rain

After contacting him, Montileone said he remembers that day in June of 1982 like it was yesterday. That was the day Chief Engineer Dave McLellan declared, “We do not keep these early build validation vehicles sitting around.” By that statement, McLellan was referring to the entire 30th Anniversary 1983 model lineup.

Montileone was a Quality Manager at GM at the time and it was his job to “get them disposed of,” as he put it. The simple reason why one 1983 endured the disposal procedure comes down to a brand new pair of cowboy boots and Montileone’s decision to keep his new kicks dry, as it was pouring rain that day.

We followed up on Montileone’s invitation to set a piece of Corvette folklore straight and to get an exclusive firsthand peek into Corvette history. During his tenure at the Corvette plant, Montileone had the thrill of meeting Corvette icon, Zora Arkus-Duntov.

“Of course he was just a GM Chief Engineer at the time, so we didn’t think much of it,” said Montileone. “Even when John DeLorean visited from Pontiac, and I got to show him the process, it was not thought much of. [He seemed to be] just another GM big shot.”

The Bowling Green Quality Control Department headed by Ralph Montileone (far right).

The Bowling Green Quality Control Department headed by Ralph Montileone (far right).

Indeed, history only reveals itself in the rear-view, when we have the luxury of reducing time to its elemental pieces of interest. In real-time, doing his daily job, Montileone couldn’t possibly have been aware of the implications of everything happening around him. In fact, Montileone’s recollections didn’t fully begin to flow until we dug a little deeper below the surface, and by putting into context the significance of his experiences.

Over the years Montileone has been approached numerous times to speak about his unique insights regarding his time at the Corvette plant(s), however this is the first time he’s decided to detail some of those experiences publicly, and we are barely scratching the surface here according to Montileone.

1984-corvetteMontileone was hired into the Corvette plant in St Louis, Missouri in 1968, as an end-of-line inspector. It was a part-time summer job while he was making plans to attend the University of Missouri in the fall. “My very first job was to drive the Corvettes off the line onto a machine that tested vehicle performance, align the suspension, and water test,” recalls Montileone.

“From there, the vehicles were driven outside onto a test track to complete the end-of-line drivability prior to shipping. Being an 18-year-old who loved cars and finding myself driving new Corvettes, it did not really get any better than that.”

“At the time, only five Corvettes were built an hour, so there was a lot of time to work on them,” he continued. “There were only two of us that had that job, me and a guy by the name of Eddie Stevens. So for the next several years each and every Corvette was driven for the first time by either me or Eddie.”

“When you work in these assembly plants and the engineering centers as I have for 46 years now, sometimes you take the job for granted,” said Montileone before our last round of questions. “You do not think they are interesting, but then when you step back, one sees that there are people that do find interest in these stories. I guess they should be told.”

red 83

Spare The Crusher, Spoil The Corvette

Corvette Online: Earlier you mentioned the 1983 “validation vehicles.” What does that term mean exactly and how many of these vehicles did you destroy?

Ralph Montileone: “Validation vehicles refer to one of numerous steps in the annual new model build process. Typically, this is the last step before releasing the vehicles to commerce or for sale. When the validation vehicles were run down the assembly line, they would have been built with production intent parts. That is why there were actual VIN plates on the 1983 Corvettes built.”

“These vehicles could have been possibly sold at some time, most likely through auctions or to employees. Never as new vehicles, because they could have significant miles due to possible test ‘validation drives’ around the country, or they were just not perfect vehicles for some reason, with small scratches and that sort of thing. Therefore, they would not be sold as new.”

CFI 84“These particular 1983 vehicles had so many issues that they just could not have been released. There were government emission issues to body fit problems to instrumentation. Remember, this was a major model change. The old body style had run from 1968 to 1982. Some of the public was not really excited for the change to the new body. And a lot of that public were Corvette drivers.”

“The engines were de-powered, the Cross Fire Injection really did not perform on the small blocks, and there were just many overall problems. Some of the vehicles were taken to Detroit for other testing and disposal. To the best of my knowledge, there were 44 produced. I do know we kept the majority at the plant. It was always a practice that engineers would fly down to the plant from Detroit and drive a group of vehicles back.”

CO: Since there was no protocol for missing the yearly Corvette debut up until that time, why was the decision made to destroy all the validation vehicles?

RM: “The general public probably does not realize the amount of vehicles that General Motors manufactures each and every year that never get sold; thousands, in many cases. At the time, all the divisions in General Motors were still out there: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC trucks. Plus, all the global GM products, marketing, corrosion testing, and government tests for safety like barrier crashes and emissions.”

Montileone, his wife Phyllis and their two sons Joe and Anthony, with the first convertible manufactured at the Bowling Green Plant. It was a validation vehicle and the first public viewing. Montileone drove it in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, representing GM and his Corvette Club, Corvettes Limited.

Montileone, his wife Phyllis, and their two sons Joe and Anthony, with the first convertible manufactured at the Bowling Green Plant. It was a validation vehicle and the first public viewing. Montileone drove it in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, representing GM and his Corvette Club, Corvettes Limited.

The list can go on and on. They all built engineering validation vehicles. Where would you stop? Why would you save them? What would you do with them? They did save many of the concept show vehicles, but most of those went to the shredder. Not one single person said, ‘Hey, these are 1983 vehicles, we better keep one. Someone might want to see it!”

“The truth is we did not want people to see the poor quality. The instructions given to me were, make them all go away. There is a formal General Motors procedure to make that happen.”

“Now, to throw a wrench into that last paragraph, General Motors does save certain vehicles. I do not know if you have ever had the opportunity to visit the GM Heritage Center in Michigan. They have hundreds of vehicles stored from the first products GM made. Many of the first VINs of many models or possibly the last vehicle.”

“But those were special for some reason, like a new engineering introduction or a special purpose, like the GM Sunracer, or race vehicles. Why would they keep a problem-plagued vehicle to look back too?”

CO: The one question we’re still not any clearer on is what was the reason(s) for ultimately skipping the highly anticipated 1983 model year? Being in the middle of things you must have heard something regarding that decision?

RM: “At the time all the automotive magazines were printing stories about the new 1983 Corvette. This was big. General Motors knew that for this vehicle to be accepted, the launch had to be perfect. First impressions are everything on a new vehicle, no matter who the manufacturer is.”

Wearing the red sweater Montileone was a spokesman for Saturn Corporation at the Chicago Auto Show in 1990.

Wearing the red sweater Montileone was a spokesman for Saturn Corporation at the Chicago Auto Show in 1990.

“Think about how many vehicles there were over the years where the public killed a vehicle because of the first impression. From the Edsel to the Aztec, there were so many issues that if any vehicles did get released to the public and they had all the problems that were known, the press could kill the vehicle before it ever hit the road.”

“In the automotive manufacturing world, as you know, model year changes have been pretty standard. The July/August time is pretty much a written rule, or it was in those days, for when the next model year is released. Actually, some Corvette owners think they have a 1983 model year vehicle versus the 1984 that they actually have title to. In some cases they do not understand that timing. They see manufacture date 1983 on the certification labels on the door face and think they have a 1983, but it was a 1984.”

“After sitting through many meetings filled with very high daily doses of stress from reading product reviews, and realizing how many issues that the vehicle had, this unpopular decision was made. If that major model change failed, it could have been the death of the Corvette.”

CO: When the news finally did go public that one 1983 did indeed still exist, and with you being responsible, what was your explanation and how did your supervisors react?

RM: “Funny you should ask. That is part of the reason I am somewhat reluctant to talk about it. It was not a popular topic at the time. I knew the rules, being the Quality Department Supervisor. Even though I had a group of people reporting to me, it was still my job to follow through, and to get the vehicles disposed of. It is really a big issue in GM that each and every vehicle is tracked and accounted for. When deemed not salable, the vehicles have to be disposed and documented.”

“Remember, no one sat around and said, ‘That is a 1983 Corvette, let’s keep at least one.’ This was not the old days, back before government regulations and lawsuits meant something. Yes, there is no doubt that some earlier vehicles ended up in some executive garage before that, but those days were long gone. GM took no chances for a vehicle to get into the public that was not safe.”

“This is where my story about the rain and my new cowboy boots fit into the picture. There is actually a lot to this part, but suffice it to say, I was lucky to keep my job.”

GM Heritage Center

GM Heritage Center

“I had all intentions to follow up and make certain that all vehicles were gone. I had already made sure that the paperwork was complete on all the others and pulled from the vehicles that we had on site. We brought in all the other 1983s and used a die grinder to cut the windshield and remove the VIN plates, and then turned them into the finance department.”

“Next, we took them to the car crusher on site at the time. But the darn rain hit so hard and that last white ‘83 Vette was sitting out in about three inches of water. The parking lot held a lot of water during rain, so I figured as soon as it stopped and the water went down, I could go out.”

“I did get it moved to another location, which made some think they were all destroyed. Thing is, I had on this pair of brand new, out-of-the-box cowboy boots, which cost $200, and that was a lot of money in 1983, at least for me. Somewhere along the way, word spread that all vehicles were gone. Finance, I guess, did not count the VIN plates and figured they had them all in the manila folder they were in, and the car crusher had wrapped up their equipment. You would have thought they would have asked about vehicle plates, but I can’t answer why they didn’t.”

“So there it sat out back of the plant. And sat, and sat. There were a lot more things going on than people worrying about that vehicle. Remember, we missed a model year. We also had to figure out how to keep selling 1982 Corvettes. Would people stop buying with the anticipation of buying a 1983? I seem to recall that is why GM introduced the Collector’s Edition, hoping to pick up additional sales–all the decals and special color and wheels and interior. We had to build a better 1984 Corvette the next time around. I remember there was a lot of emotion about missing the 1983 launch and missing the 30 year anniversary.”

“But I knew the ‘83 was there and glad the heat died down about it. Again, there were more closed door office discussions about me not getting my job done, I would never let that happen again. Fortunately, upper management changed, plant managers came and went, and I transferred to Cadillac in Detroit. The new incoming plant manager didn’t know why this old engineering vehicle was sitting out back. He was not there during the 1983 heat.”

“At that point the plant did decide to keep it and parked it inside at the plant tour entrance. The paint had been altered somewhat. Then the National Corvette Museum came along, and GM donated the vehicle to be displayed at the museum.”

After moments of reflection Montileone added, “It has been an exciting General Motors career, and I had the opportunity t0 meet many very cool people, so I feel blessed.” It’s worth noting that Montileone is technically still on the GM payroll, and he’s currently supporting the start-up of the GM Spring Hill Assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

The lone ’83.

 

About the author

Olaf Wolff

Olaf Wolff discovered the joys and passion of off-roading at age 11 and since then has made it a point to enjoy motorcycles, go-carts, buggies, and anything with a motor. He has been writing about off-roading and travel adventures for more than 30 years, and has published four DIY books. Olaf previously served as associate editor for Modern Cycle and Mini-Bike BMX Action, both national publications, and as a contributing writer with Rider magazine where he tested and reported on motorcycle products, and wrote travel features that took him through the U.S. and to Canada, Morocco, Turkey, and South America. Since 2009, he has written hundreds of online motorsports profiles and racer interviews, covering nearly every aspect of the motorsports racing industry.
Read My Articles

Late Model LS Power in your inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from LSX Magazine, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

Free WordPress Themes
LSX Magazine NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

lsxmag

We'll send you the most interesting LSX Magazine articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

LSX Magazine NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

lsxmag

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...


chevyhardcore
Classic Chevy Magazine
dragzine
Drag Racing
enginelabs
Engine Tech

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...

  • chevyhardcore Classic Chevy Magazine
  • dragzine Drag Racing
  • enginelabs Engine Tech

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

lsxmag

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Loading