Some have the tonneau releases in the console, some in the cover itself.

Some have pull down hatches, some don't.

Some have plastic trunk panels, some have like a rigid carpet.

Some have lights under the speakers, some don't.

Black deluxe interior speaker side panels have the hatch pattern, red doesn't

I don't know the differences but apparently some have different style seat belts too.

A lot of this stuff is mixed in the same model years. I am sure there is much much more but is there any reason for any of it? I can't make sense of it but it makes figuring out originality much harder.

 

There are a lot of possible answers to this. Some could be as simple as since there were not lot of convertibles made, parts are hard to get, so when they break they get swapped from different years and made to work - leading to inconsistency.

Another is that since these cars were all converted and were never truly "factory" made like the mustang convertibles which were actually built and designed as a convertible, it could be when they updated the design of certain features they didn't have enough of the new style and because of this change they had to keep up with demand and to avoid getting backed up on the line so they used the older style on the shelves to push the car through.

I believe I also heard somewhere that some of these updates and upgrades happened mid year production which probably adds to the inconsistency. For example I think the tonnue switch was moved mid 91. The seatbelt risers were mid 92 if I remember right. All of these were probably on the fly design changes to make things work better and eliminate some complaints or problems people may have had with them. As these cars were all "custom" made in a sence its not surprising to me the level of inconsistancy..

 

This is a mid year change, starting at 1991 VIN 177403 and up used the switch in the Tonneau cover. Prior to that had the switch in the center console. All "Factory" Firebird Convertibles had the switch in the tonneau...

Again, year to year changes. Since the Convertibles were basically T-top cars converted, and all T-top cars had the pull down (I think 1987-1991) the later 1991 and 1992 (again) had a different pull down mechanism. They were smaller, the advantage to this design was they could incorporate the earlier non hatch pull-down type mechanism. I ran into this on accident, I had an early 1991 that needed a hatch pulldown, and I went to the junkyard, found a 91 or 92 and got the mechanism, only to realize it was smaller than the one on my 87, 89 and early 1991...


Again change in 1991

The rear compartment plastic panels, and later carpet, there was 3 styles.
1) early thru 1989 VIN 158142 (Design 1)
2) (89) 158143 thru (91) 177402 (Design 2)
3) 177403 and up used the Carpet,

I believe all "factory" Firebirds had the carpet from 1991 & up.

Technically the plastic panels in the early cars I believe were all trimmed coupe panels... so if you like them, find them in a junkyard, cut and install.

Never seen lighting in the rear seat areas, only on the 4th gens have I seen this... not saying it does not exist, but not noticed them.

May be a limit of material availability. Keep in mind 85-92 convertibles were hand made, all of them were, (actually the 4th gens were too) Because these are limitied production runs, they probably did not want to buy a batch of material for a handful of red interior cars.

Early/late, there was a change somewhere along the lines to how the belts mounted to the body.

1991 is probably the most miserable year to figure this out. I might be able to help a little, As an example the Firebird, you might find two production figures. The reason is for 1990 was a partial year, however for dealer production information, the information went from August 1 of Year 1 to September 30 of Year 2 therefore the number may be higher... So if you look at some sources they will site the dealer production information, not the Model year production information.

For example there was 20,532 Firebird's made for the 1990 model year because production stopped on Dec 31, 1989, Production of the 1991 started in Feb 1990, (oddly there was 13 1991 Firebirds and 13 1991 Camaros that were made in October of 1989) however one source shows 46760 because they included 26228 cars that would have been built if the model year was a normal model year. Some of this is available,

 

My 91 Firebird vert has the rear pass compartment lighting so it does exist.

 

mine does too

 

Might have been something introduced in 1991 then... Never noticed, sorry...

I wish mine did, it is a real pain seeing at night, could only imagine if the interior was black.

Could you get a pic? I wonder if it is not the same as the 4th gens...

 

No problem. Here is mine. Overlook the mess please, I am in the process of getting the car ready for the road again (for the first time in almost 6 years) over the winter. I have no idea if it is the same as fourth gens or not.

 

I had a 1995 Formula Vert... All I remember is it was rectangular... It kind of looked like that but I just do not remember the specifics...

Wish mine had that...

The Courtesy Lamp part number is 12511358, includes the Cover and the housing with apparently a wire that goes to the harness.

I did just learn that you could still get the 16163615 speakers for the rear from GM... $31.20 each...

John

 

Yeah, here in these pics you can see two differences mentioned. The black panel in the car now has the light and the patterned fabric up top. The red panel going into the car has no light (It will) and even though it came out of a car with the same pattern interior... solid textured fabric.

 

I also had those lights in my Z28 vert. That car was a 91. I do not have a pic of the light though

 

My 92 TA does as well.

 

My 88 Irocs rear speaker panels were originally solid black even with the rest of the interior having the textured black/gray.

Eventually found a matching black/gray set in a junkyard.

 

Speaker has been discontinued :< Should have bought them when I could have

 

I have one if you are interested. Pulled it from my '92 a couple months ago. Still works fine. PM me if you want it.

Eldon

 

I have 3 pairs of factory rear convertible speakers if your interested

 

Im definitely interested in one of those sets. Are they new or used? Can you send me pics of the best set you have and let me know how much you'd like for the set? Thanks!

 

pics....the other pair I have is still attached to the rear speaker panels so i dont have any pics of those

 

how much for the speaker rear pair

 

Where are you located?

 

washington ,kent

 

How do you change the rear light bulbs under the speaker? Mine are okay but it would be good to know how to get in there just in case.

 

the whole housing clips into the panel. think you just carefully pry it out.

 

The lenses are miunted in the panel with pressure clips. Just gently pull/pry the lens assembly away from the trim panel.

 

Nice, thanks for the heads up guys.


As for the topic at hand.... I always assumed they just ran out of the nice plastic panels as others have speculated.


I wish I had the plastic ones instead of my dumb black carpet.

 

You could always buy some.