They also special ordered leather to match.  According to the surviving brother, they were shown the doeskin cloth seats in another available vette, but they decided it was not close enough to the the same color as the car, he said the leather seemed to match better.  I guess the dealer was NOT HAPPY with the special order!  I guess the dealer wanted to sell something on the lot that day.  They picked up the car at the dealership, but he said they were so excited to get the car they almost camped out in the lot, he can't even imagine when they would have switched the seats, he remembered that they were there the same day the car arrived...but admits it wouldn't have taken long. 

9 years ago they paid a professional service to score and value the car, to check it out mechanically, and to clean the areas in front of both seats, which he said was looking worn even though the mileage was less then 1,000 per year.  I discovered that the original floor mats were replaced, but he had the originals in his garage and let me have them.  From what I have learned, by 2007 the brothers were not really sharing the car anymore as they were both commercial pilots and had families and were just not able to be in the same place very often.  The older brother bought his brother's half based on the repairs and work done on the carpet.  He swears the seats were always leather and doesn't disagree that doeskin could have been on the build, but if it was changed, it was changed before it got to the dealer... they were "bugging the shit out of the dealership owner... and he called them to be there so they would get off his ass!".  I was told that when they "scored" the car they were told to fix the lights, to replace the light in the glove compartment, and to replace the center console "arm rest" with the original, which they did.

By the way, he is looking for the receipts for the repair and overall audit of the car, he said they actually called Chevrolet and scheduled the service through the main office.  He just always assumed it was people from Chevy.  I don't think it matters, but that was an interesting twist, I hadn't ever heard of that kind of service.

Regardless of what brought it to this point, it was a nice afternoon with the original owner and he got to take his wife out for a drive in the car again...he promised me that no children would be conceived "this time"!  I love the whole, we are one big family, philosophy and have had a good time trying to figure out the car's story.  Thanks everyone for your help!  I will let you know if we find the build sheet or his score sheet or receipt from the inspection.