[VIDEO] This 1980 Corvette for Sale Has the Rare V54 Factory Roof Panel Carrier Option

By
Mitch Talley
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11
7295

[VIDEO] This 1980 Corvette for Sale Has the Rare V54 Factory Roof Panel Carrier Option


With 40,614 coupes manufactured in St. Louis, the 1980 Corvette isn’t necessarily what you think of as an ultra-rare car.

But today we bring you a video of a somewhat special ’80 Corvette up for sale at a Connecticut dealership with an option you may have read about, but have probably never seen in person. I know I haven’t, and fellow CorvetteBlogger Senior Editor Keith Cornett says he hasn’t either.

My first Corvette of the dozen I’ve owned over the past 38 years was a red-on-red ’80, so these cars have a special place in my heart. One of the drawbacks of the late C3s, however, was the fact that it was awkward to access the storage space behind the seats because the rear hatch didn’t open (until the ’82 Collector Edition solved that problem with a couple of hinges – go figure!).

[VIDEO] This 1980 Corvette for Sale Has the Rare V54 Factory Roof Panel Carrier Option


This white Corvette solved that problem a couple of years before the Collector Edition, just by adding the rare Roof Panel Carrier option that was outfitted to just 3,755 cars that year – at a mere cost of $125.

Basically, the rear deck of the car has four holes strategically placed into which special brackets are placed that, with the aid of some straps, then hold the roof panels in place.

[VIDEO] This 1980 Corvette for Sale Has the Rare V54 Factory Roof Panel Carrier Option


While the idea was likely to provide more storage space behind the seats, the salesman who’s offering this 42,000-original-mile, two-owner Corvette nevertheless didn’t feel comfortable going down the road with the panels on the carrier. We can’t blame him, considering the pristine nature of the glass T-tops on the car, even though he points out the panels are tightly locked in place out back.

He’s probably thinking about those poor souls who have forgotten to latch their C4 to C7 panels and watched them fly off into oblivion.

[VIDEO] This 1980 Corvette for Sale Has the Rare V54 Factory Roof Panel Carrier Option


I have mixed feelings about this option. While I like the extra space it affords inside the car with the open roof, I’m not really that crazy about the way the holes look in the back of the deck, nor do I really care for the way the panels look actually mounted on the back of the car. To us, it messes up the beautiful curves of the C3 as it goes down the road.

Still, I can appreciate the usefulness and inexpensive nature of this option. Sales remained about the same in 1982 (with 3,303 sold for $135 each) but the number declined in the final year of the third generation to 1,992 ($144 cost), perhaps a result of the hinged glass offered on the Collector Editions.

[VIDEO] This 1980 Corvette for Sale Has the Rare V54 Factory Roof Panel Carrier Option


What about you? Would you feel comfortable placing your roof panels on this contraption? I don’t know. I’d probably just leave the panels in a safe place at home and take the car out on a sunny day when there’s no chance of rain if I needed the space.


Source:
tommyautos.com

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11 COMMENTS

  1. I had a 80 w/ the T-top storage option. I never used it and only took the T-tops off one time for @ 30 minutes b4 the S Fla sun cooked my _sssss. I pulled over on the side of 95 and put them back on……..

  4. Ya the more I look at this the more I hate it, my 81’tops got stored the normal way. This just looks like crap.

  5. I don’t like it neither. BUT I do love how the Corvette itself looks in its stance. What a great looking car, notwithstanding the carrier option.

  6. I used to own a 77 that had the roof panel carrier option on the luggage rack. I didn’t use it much. I thought my car looked stupid with the roof panels stored on the rear deck. I always thought that this option on the 80 -82s looked even worse.

  7. The ’80 Corvettes are woefully underpowered, but I wonder if the panels installed on out back would make for greater downforce at higher speeds…

  8. $16,800 worth every penny.
    The C3’s are escalating in value.

    Maybe not so much as the bigger
    engines of the earlier ones.

    But, the body style is timeless,
    and I think the later ones will catch up.
    Especially if your thinking “Restomod”.

  11. Dumbest thing I ever saw from the factory, then I looked up how many dumb people ordered this on their Corvettes; over three years, just over 9000.

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