1978 Corvette Fender Emblem

[Chip Dufala]

Hello everyone. I have a 1978 Corvette, that was built in 10/77. I was just reading in a corvette resotoration book that my Vette should have the side emblems that have a white square in the right top corner as opposed to a black one. The one on the passenger side looks this way, but the one on the drivers side has a black square on the flag. Any thoughts? Also, since my car was built in 10/77 would it have been possible for a 77 front fender to be put on? My car, has a patched alarm key hole in the fender. As we know, 1978's were all moved to the driver's side door. When I bought the car, the original owner from 1977, indicated the car has never been wrecked and I do not bleive this fender has been changed, but I could be wrong. However, the show through on the front and the back looks very consistent. What do you think?

Chip

[Joe L.]

Re: 1978 Corvette Fender Emblem

Chip-----

Except for 1978's with Pace Car and/or 255 tires, the front fenders for 1977 and 1978 were exactly the same. So, whether the front fenders are 1977 or 1978 is a moot point.

As far as the emblem goes, it's very possible that the factory had "mixed stock". If so, an emblem of one configuration could have been emplaced on one side and one of another configuration on the other side. There was only one emblem ever used for 1978 Corvettes and that emblem was GM #466652. Any differences in this emblem with respect to flag configurations was a "supplier variation" and not related to a change of parts. Something like this could easily have been missed by GM parts inspectors.

It's also possible, of course, that the emblem changed over time due to "supplier variation" or a parts specification change by GM. In that case, it could be that one of the emblems on the car was replaced at some point for whatever reason. This could have occurred for many reasons besides collision damage.

[Chip Dufala]

Re: 1978 Corvette Fender Emblem

Joe-

Thanks for the response. You are the best. What are your thoughts then to the alarm hole? Do you know if for 78 they patched all of them because in 77 they were in the fender and in 78 they were in the door?

Thanks again,

Chip

[Joe L.]

Re: 1978 Corvette Fender Emblem

Chip-----

Late 1977's also had the alarm switch as part of the door lock.

All I can figure is that the holes for the alarm switch were part of the fender panels as-delivered to St. Louis. Consequently, St. Louis had to patch the holes after the switch was deleted from the front fender. I don't have any idea how long that this would have continued. I would think that GM would have tried to get it stopped as soon as possible to avoid the extra operation at St. Louis. But, with GM, sometimes things move slowly.

[Tom R.]

Re: 1978 Corvette Fender Emblem

Chip:

You've raised an interesting question regarding the alarm hole. The problem with this thinking though is that the assumption that the factory sat on an inventory of front fenders for some eight months...highly unlikely. They did not have the space but they could have stored that volume outside I suppose. By mid-77 production the lock had been moved to the door which places that about March 77. And as Joe indicates, the change order would have been initiated well before March if the plant knew the change was coming.

I'll do a little more checking on this but would encourage you to look more closely at the fender. Do the bolts look at though they have been tampered with? what about overspray? It seems more likely that the fender was changed tho you indicated the original owner stated no wrecks. What's mileage?

[Chip Dufala]

Re: 1978 Corvette Fender Emblem

Tom, thanks for your insight. The car has 18,136 miles. Still has the original Goodyear Radial GTs, and the paint does appear to be orginal. The interior is like new.

Chip