[Product Review] Corvette Buildsheet Book: A Study Guide for 1973-82 Build Records

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In the restoration side of the Corvette hobby, “build sheets” or, more properly, “production manifiests” are an important topic of discussion.

A new booklet by NCRS Master Judge and Bloomington Gold Certification Judge, Thomas P. Russo, is the ultimate reference for 1973-1982 Corvette deep geeks wanting to know all there is to know about buildsheets.

Corvette Buildsheet Book: A Study Guide for 1973-82 Build Records explains in great detail Chevrolet’s production manifests and how they originated, their make up, how they were derived and where they were located on the cars.

For this reviewer, reading Russo’s 52-page book was an education. I had no idea there was so much to learn about buildsheets. Up to now, I understood them to be 11×14 computer printouts listing the broadcast codes or RPOs of various parts of the car. I had no idea, for instance, that all tank stickers are not buildsheets but most buildsheets are tank stickers.

As I said earlier, this book is a late C3 deep-geek’s delight. Clearly, the research for this book was an arduous task taking several years. That, in part, is responsible for the book’s lofty price tag, $42.00, an incredible sum for a fifty-two page title.

The other side of that “coin” is Russo’s Corvette Buildsheet Book: A Study Guide for 1973-82 Build Records seems more like a college graduate level science text rather than a typical, softcover Corvette book. For that reason, considering that there is a tremendous amount of information in a small package, the price is not all that unreasonable.

In reading the book I found a few quirks, such as Mr. Russo’s use of the vernacular term “motor” when discussing engines. One can only wonder if that’s an attempt at humor or a legitimate mistake. Also, there are a couple of instances where RPO YK6 is misprinted as “YJ6”. Surely those shortcomings will be corrected in the next printing.

In short, if you are a serious 73-82 Corvette freak who’s main interest is restoration and you’re pursuing the various NCRS awards or Bloomington Gold certification, then Corvette Buildsheet Book: A Study Guide for 1973-82 Build Records is a title you may want to buy. The author sells it direct. for information, click here.