68 Corvette Hose Clamps-Dated??

[Kurt B.]

Gentlemen,
I finally got the radiator and shroud in place. Time to install hoses and clamps.
I know the Assembly Manual shows Tower style hose clamps for bothe ends of the Upper and Lower radiator hoses, but are the clamps date coded?
I read somewhere, (can't remember where) that some tower clamps are available with 2nd and 4th quarter date codes ( but not 1st and 3rd quarters)
If my car was assembled in May 68, which would be more correct: 4th quarter 67 or 2nd quarter 68?
Or where the clamps never date coded to begin with?
Car is a 68 327 with 350 HP and A/C.
Thank you for any input.
Kurt Bunting # 26406

[Gene M.]

Re: 68 Corvette Hose Clamps-Dated??

Kurt,
The 68 clamps were dated. My Nov '67 built '68 has 4th quarter '67 dates. And yes I do believe that dates were in 2nd and 4th quarters. So I would expect your car to have 2nd quarter '68 but 4th quarter '67 is also possible. Remember these clamps were not just used on Corvettes. You could even have a mix of dates.

[John H.]

Re: 68 Corvette Hose Clamps-Dated??

I don't know who actually makes the "dated reproduction tower clamps" (Wittek went out of business many years ago), but I had three out of four of them fail within days of installing them a month ago. I'm going to find some "real" Wittek clamps and not worry about the dates.

[Geoff C.]

Re: 68 Corvette Hose Clamps-Dated??

The originals were dated. I never paid much attention to the actual dates so I cannot tell you about which quarter was represented.

Geoffrey Coenen

PS Interestingly I have a Corvette customer in Lebanon with a 67 390 (he bought at Bloomington) and a 75 which he ordered overseas and he stated that often Arabs would sit in the shade of the fig trees and eat their dates.

[Kurt B.]

Thanks all for input *NM*

[Chuck R.]

Re: That's bad Geof! *NM*