Chevrolet Camaro 1967-2002 The forum for diehard Camaro fans

White painted hardtop?

Old 07-19-2009, 06:58 PM
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Default White painted hardtop?

I've got an '02 z/28 with a white painted hardtop... I'll post up pictures of the vin and RPO codes this evening.

Does anyone know if this is a factory production? Should this car has had the roof painted some other color?

Any insight would be appreciated. Also, any thoughts on the rarity of the car, etc.

-Tanner
Old 07-20-2009, 08:23 PM
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Default Factory 2002 Hardtop, white, z/28?

Here's the door tag...

Any ideas?

I'm checkin codes where i find them.
Attached Thumbnails White painted hardtop?-rpo-codes.jpg   White painted hardtop?-100_1608.jpg  

Last edited by TJPowell; 07-20-2009 at 09:03 PM.
Old 07-21-2009, 12:39 AM
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you can do your vin and RPO codes here http://www.camarosource.ca/php/camar...year=2001&tm=1
Old 07-21-2009, 04:10 PM
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Great link there... just what i was lookin for.

The other website i had found was not as complete.

Thanks!
Old 07-22-2009, 03:25 PM
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TJ emailed me and I answered some of the stuff for him and then I just now found this topic. Here is most of my email back to him in case it might help some other people:

It's Arctic White, so it's one of 3,805 Camaros made in that color in 2002. While that sounds fairly rare, just remember that most people would just consider it one of a great many 98-02 Camaros that came in Arctic White, so that doesn't make it very rare. Arctic white was the third highest production color overall.

The RPO code 1SD means it was (as your said) an option group 1 Z28. 16,998 out of the 19,472 Z28s for 2002 were 1SD.

The "stripper" ones were 1SC which were basically Z28s without any of the power stuff (I would hate to own one of those) similar to a V6 coupe ordered without any options. You might hear about 1LE cars being the "stripper" cars, which is true, but GM stopped making those after 1999 to my knowledge, and 1LE just started being a suspension package available from SLP from then on.

The lack of t-tops is a little unusual, and I actually prefer the cars without them. It makes the roof look nicer in my opinion. 24,071 of 41,776 Camaros for 2002 came WITH t-tops. It's impossible to break that number down into how many Z28s came with/without them, as GM didn't keep that record.

GM stopped painting the roof black on Z28s a few years earlier. I'd have to go through a ton of stuff to figure what year that was, so let's just leave that alone lol. You could get a black C-pillar if you had t-tops in 2002, and in fact, I think it was mandatory... I'm not sure right now. But it doesn't matter in this case anyway. Some people might tell you it's rare that your roof isn't black, but that is only true of much older Camaros.

You have the hurst shifter according to the code BBS, which is a nice option. 8,274 Z28s/SSes came with that. That's perhaps your best option on your car, as it was actually something that caused your car to cost more by $325.

You lack NW9 which is acceleration slip regulation (traction control), so you likely have a black non-button on your dash above your radio. Only 4,940 of the 2002 Z28s/SSes lacked that, so that's kind of unusual, but I wouldn't consider it something to brag about, though it likely makes driving the car more fun (except in the rain and ice).

UK3 says you have the steering wheel radio controls, but that's really, really common. 28,567 Camaros had that.

So it seems to me that you have a relatively common Z28 that is just missing the traction control and t-tops to make it a highly optioned one.The hurst shifter is the nicest option to me, as it's one of the few add-ons.
I don't want to make a habit of doing this research for a lot of people because it does take a while, but I wanted to help him out since he was really nice in his email to me.

If anybody else wants this done for their car, we're going to have to talk $$ though. It takes some time out of my work day.
Old 07-23-2009, 07:11 PM
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I disagree with this portion:

GM stopped painting the roof black on Z28s a few years earlier. I'd have to go through a ton of stuff to figure what year that was, so let's just leave that alone lol. You could get a black C-pillar if you had t-tops in 2002, and in fact, I think it was mandatory... I'm not sure right now. But it doesn't matter in this case anyway. Some people might tell you it's rare that your roof isn't black, but that is only true of much older Camaros.
Hardtop Z28's normally had a black roof and sail panel all the way through end of production in 2002. Your body color roof and sail panel are rare (except for black Z28's ). B4C's and V6 Camaros came standard with body colored roofs and sail panels, but not Z28's

Also, yes, the sail panel on T-top cars was gloss black... also through the end of 4th gen production.
Old 07-23-2009, 08:13 PM
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lol I'm not going to argue about it too much, but the monochromatic option started in '96 and in '02 it was no longer listed as an RPO code, so I don't know the details off the top of my head or without spending an hour or so researching it.
Old 07-23-2009, 10:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Brangeta
lol I'm not going to argue about it too much, but the monochromatic option started in '96 and in '02 it was no longer listed as an RPO code, so I don't know the details off the top of my head or without spending an hour or so researching it.
Don't sweat it. The monochromatic option seemed to exist. It was just rare on Z28's and Camaro SS's.

I've seen a LS1 Silver SS that had body colored roof and sail panel, but the vast majority have been gloss black.
Old 07-23-2009, 11:47 PM
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D82 was the RPO code for monochromatic paint started in 1996. I just checked, and it was an RPO for 1997, but after that, it disappears.

Looking into how 98+ Z28s were ordered with mono-colored paint OR black roofs would be kind of difficult. I'll eventually get around to it for my site, but... I'm not looking forward to it LOL.

Perhaps someone else will find this topic who knows for certain.
Old 07-24-2009, 12:04 AM
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I just looked at all of my pics I've saved over the years and sorted by the year and color of the car and... only one other Z28 had a body colored roof... and it's possible that it was a fake Z28, because the engine was missing from the car...

This doesn't prove or disprove anything yet, because I only have 115 different cars for factory (for example non-Berger, non-ZL1, etc.) 1998-2002 Camaros, and several dozen of those are pace cars, 35th Anniversary cars, V6 cars, festival cars, and a few are custom painted and such. For that matter, probably 10 are black, and of course they have black roofs. I wouldn't consider that very many cars honestly...

Black was definitely the norm, but the majority of the cars I saved pics of have t-tops, and t-tops always (there may be some exceptions) made the Z28 or SS come with a black C-pillar. The only exception that comes to mind is the 35th Anniversary SS, which had a red C-pillar.

I don't know why his car has a white roof... but his RPO codes say it's a Z28... so it's a Z28 no matter what. Could it be an accidental B4C? Who knows LOL.
Old 07-24-2009, 09:42 AM
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Hey there Brandon

Thanks to everyone for chiming in here.

There's a paint matched '02 hardtop 'stripper' in the forsale section on here.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/vehicles-...iles-mint.html

Considering the low milage and condition, I wouldn't think it's a repaint, but I don't really know.

I'm gonna take a closer look at the roof and sail panels on mine to look for any signs of repainting. I'll let you know what I find.

Thanks again!
Old 07-24-2009, 11:08 AM
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You know how the roof on Camaros is somewhat like a cap on top of a head? If you look at the place where it comes down to the body (near the triangular piece) you might be able to see if it is black or white underneath the "cap". I believe it's painted under there, and I doubt it would be a common practice to remove the roof and repaint the area under it another color.

You might be able to see under it with a small mirror. Not sure...

Cool that you found another monochromatic Z28.
Old 07-24-2009, 11:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Brangeta
you might be able to see if it is black or white underneath the "cap". I believe it's painted under there, and I doubt it would be a common practice to remove the roof and repaint the area under it another color.
FWIW, it's not painted on my '94 Hardtop Z28. The pretty much the entire underside of that "cap" was exposed when we restored the headliner. I think there may have been some overspray around the edges IIRC, but they did not deliberately paint the cap on my '94.

If the OP wants to drop his headliner, he'll expose the underside of the hardtop cap for a good look.
Old 07-24-2009, 11:40 AM
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Hmm... sounds like that idea won't work then. Given the issues headliners can have with sagging and such, I wouldn't recommend dropping it, but maybe I'm wrong about that. I dunno.

Since this red Z28 has a red roof, it must be some sort of option... Hmm... I have a 2002 brochure in front of me, and it says absolutely nothing about that being an exterior option, but that doesn't mean it wasn't.

I don't have access to any of the ordering guides (wish I did), but if it was something you could order, it'd be on that.

I'll check the RPO codes thoroughly one by one on his tag and see if anything is weird...
Old 07-24-2009, 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Brangeta
Hmm... sounds like that idea won't work then. Given the issues headliners can have with sagging and such, I wouldn't recommend dropping it, but maybe I'm wrong about that. I dunno.
I'm talking about taking down the whole thing. The headliner is a piece of something.. like fiberboard IIRC... and it is a stiff piece. When you talk about sagging you are referring to the cloth that is glued to it coming unglued and drooping. If someone is careful, they can remove the headliner without causing it harm.

Depends on how bad you and the OP want to research this.
Old 07-24-2009, 12:29 PM
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R9Z : CONTROL SALES ITEM NO.100
R9Z : POMS AUTO SEQUENCE
R9Z : POMS EXPEDITE

Those are the three meanings of the only unusual RPO code, and I went through all of them. Wonder what the hell that means? I checked my mom's 35th SS, and it doesn't have the code, and I can't find any more information about it.

This is more research than I'm willing to do, but Tanner, check this topic I found, because some of the cars have R9Z and if you stalk the usernames who have it, I bet you can find pics of their cars and find out if they have body colored roofs easily. Might take a couple hours of digging to find their pics. http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82854
Old 07-24-2009, 12:37 PM
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Nevermind, skip that last suggestion. I dug a bit more, and found some black roofed SSes with that code.
Old 07-25-2009, 07:25 PM
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Default Busted.

I took a close look at it, and the roof was almost assuredly re-painted to white.

They seem to have gone to some detail to do so. The white paint covers all the way under and around the window frame (under the weatherstripping), but it was so thin that the vibrations wore through the white paint where the endge of the rubber touches it, and there is a defined black stripe (I'll post a picture). Also, some black is visible under the rear edge at the hatch in a spot they didn't touch up.

Now it makes me wonder if the red one was painted afterwards. I also just noticed that his drip rail is painted red, instead of black.

What a bummer. I was startin to get my hopes up.

Thanks to all for helpin here.
Old 07-26-2009, 01:58 PM
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Interesting. It's still unique though on the bright side.
Old 07-27-2009, 10:37 AM
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Was gonna suggest that maybe the roof panel was replaced per the the TSB for bubbling/blistering in the paint and was just repainted to white...but it looks someone else has thought the same thing already.

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