My '68 is mostly original, built in Dec. 1967. I've owned it for 25 years. My front grills had a silver flashing on the outer edges, but time and the elements wore it off so several yars ago I painted them all black. During a recent "refreshment" of the car I repainted them with what I assumed was the original silver flashing. But, at the recent NCRS Regionalat Kissimmee, FL, I leafed through an NCRS book which indicated that '68 grills were all black. Yet a '68 at the show that looked original and unrestored had the silver edges, I have an original dealer's sales brochure on the car, which coincidently has a picture of my exact car, clearly shows silver edges and I'm pretty sure my car's grills were original before I painted them. Can anybody help with this issue?
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Silver edges are correct. I'm not sure what you read, maybe about a 69. -
Re: 1968 Front Grills
I agree with Wayne but in addition, early 69 Corvettes also had the silver edges up around s/n 18000 or so I think. Mine has the silver edges and it is a Jan 31/69 built car.
Mike if you are refering to the red 68 L-36 convert, I took some good close up pics of those grills so that I can duplicate it on mine because like you I also painted mine black years ago. If you like I can send you those grill pics.Comment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Aaaaaaa.....you need to send me your old grilles so that I can send you some new one's.
Just joking.
I have collected enough 68 grilles to say they were painted more than one way. Some had all the grille bars silvered. On some grilles, all the bars were silvered except the very top bar. The process of silvering the edges of the grilles was totally inconsistant. You can achieve the same process by putting an inch wide piece of tape between the grille bars being carefull to cover the top face of each grille bar only. You can disregard the underside of the bar. It appears they srayed straight down on the bars. Usually, there will be a lot of over spray on the underside of each bar. To say they were all painted the same would be wrong. Some Later 69 cars had the center grill silver and the side grilles black. That was interesting??? The circle that is formed by the turn signal light also had the edges silvered. To verious degrees the inside of the circle also had silver on it. None of the vertical supports had silver on them. That is about it in a nut shell. PS, I still need a passenger side 68 grille. Also, if you are real carefull you can make your own 68 grills out of reproduction or 69 style grilles. A little long winded, TerryComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Terry,
How do you make 68 grills from repos or 69s. I understand how you can simulate the silver paint but how would you raise the horizontal bars off both ends?
BryanComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
I am not sure what "NCRS" book that you are refering to, but the TIM & JG calls for silver edges until January '69Dick WhittingtonComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Run a piece of tape down the side edge of the plastic. Then take a dremel tool and painstakingly and very carefully remove the plastic untill it looks like a 68. The bars will be raised after that. I use a razor blade to clean the corners out and make them look sharp. But, there are other features also that need to be done. The repro's need to be thinned out in several other areas but it is pretty apparent when you look at them because you can see where they added plastic to make them stronger. 68's were very fragile. That is part of the reason for the changes in 69. It suspect the changes were to make them stronger and also give them more suport. TerryComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Some 68s had varying degrees of the Silver edges.
Silver is Correct for 68s and early 69s.
I bought a new set of GM Grills and painted the Silver on the Edges.
68s actually had slightly different grills also, but that's a whole other story....
Good Luck,
Cheers,
SteveComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
I want to sincerely thank everyone who responded and set me straight on the issue of silver edges on 1968 front grills. As I suspected, the grills do have the outer edges painted silver and mine are now correct. I must have read the NCRS book incorrectly. Glad I joined NCRS... CocchComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Thanks, Terry. It probably was the same red vert. Don't need the pics as I'm now convinced that my memory is accurate and the grills are painted silver. Must have mis-read the NCRS book. Thanks for your quick response... MikeComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Thanks for the info, Steve... MikeComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Thanks, Dick. Must have mis-read the book... MikeComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Dick... I'm not familiar with "TIM" and "JG". What are they?... MikeComment
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Re: 1968 Front Grills
Technical Information and Judging Guide. They are available at the NCRS online storeDick WhittingtonComment
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Thanks! *NM*
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