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Can anyone tell me the difference in fractions of an inch or mm for the so-called "thick" vs. "thin" cross-flag side/fender emblems? What years were thin used vs. thick?
Re: 62-66 Cross Flag side/fender emblems; thick/th
I will probably get lots of help on this one, but best I remember. The thin flags ended in 62. Saying that, thin was also used in 63 till the inventory expired.
It's time to put another 63 Corvette myth out of it's misery. There's no such thing as thin side emblems for any 63 Corvette. This one has been causing problems since the first parts books were printed in 1963. The "Thin" 3792000 emblem was used on 62 Corvette and 62-63 passenger cars but there was a mistake in the original 63 parts book that continued on and was never corrected. In one listing, the 3827158 was listed for Corvette and below that, the 3792000 was listed for 62-63 pass and Corvette. If you look in the assembly manual, you will see absolutely no mention of the thin 3792000 emblem, only the thick 3827158 and if I remember correctly, that part number was catalogued and finalized way back in July of 1962. I owned serial #00170 S/W in the early 70's and it had it's original faded 3827158 emblems on it. In the mid 70's, I looked at Steve Costelli's serial #00020 pilot line car and it had one of it's original 3827158 emblems on it. If I'm not mistaken, the thin "000" emblem won't even fit into the original holes in the fender of a 63 because the spacing of the studs is different. The 3827158 emblem was discontinued in the mid 60's and replaced in service with the 3872930. NOS 3827158's are near impossible to find. I've found only two sets in nearly 30 years of searching.
Now, for the difference in 3827158/3872930, it was only the color that changed in the red/orange flag. The 3827158 that was used from 1963 through 1965 was orange but that was changed to dark red on the 3872930 for 66. The orange in the 158 emblem should be the same as the orange in the Fuel Injection emblem and front nose emblem. The 1966 3872930 side flag doesn't even come close to matching. The same is true for 1965 and 1966 front emblems. The color on an orginal 65 nose emblem was orange while the 66 was changed to maroon. There was a different part number for 65 than there was for 66 but all service replacement emblems carry both numbers because the original 65 number was discontinued in late 65 and replaced by the 3872929 66 nose emblem.
I've been studying the details of three Pilot Line Corvettes (#16, 17, and 18) for a couple of years. When new, these were all red/red FI convertibles with power windows and radios.
I still have the original fender fiberglass panels from #17 and 18. They are drilled for both types of fender flags.
My guess is that this particular small run of Corvettes was originally assembled with the thin flags. This would have been just one of many parts that were used on the Pilot Line that were not used in production. However, I think GM went back over the Pilot Line Corvettes in the Fall of '62 and installed production parts to replace some substitute parts used during the summer of 1962. The thin flags may have been replaced at that time with the thick version.
Perhaps the '63 Pilot Line Corvettes that saw domestic show duty went back to GM for refitting before they were sold to the public. I'm basing this on the features of cars #16, #17, and #18 compared to the Richard Sudnick photo series shot during Pilot Line assembly. Some of the weird items (like the '57 style hood pull and huge clutch over-ride spring) are still present, but some (like the black plastic '62 Chevy II parking brake handle and thin fender flags) are gone. Also, a few items on the cars (like the hard top windows) are dated September, 1962, although the cars were probably assembled during the summer.
Bet you're correct on the temporary use of the thin 62 emblem on the pilot cars. The cars were probably assembled slightly ahead of the release of the new fat 158 emblem so a logical move would have been to use a similar existing part until the new one was ready/available. I'll have to look at some factory photos, see if I can spot the thin emblem on a car.
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