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I see an NOS 67 L88 rad cradle listed on eBay and I am curious to know what modifications were made to the rad cradle for the 67 L88. I know that the 67 bb rad cradle was used to house the 65 aluminum radiator. But what were the significant modifications made that has make this part so rare? Thanks in advance. Ron
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Re: 67 L88 Rad Cradle on eBay
Ron,
I went with a 65 396 rad and core support for mine. Had to make mods to the support to close the hood. See my post above.
Lowell -
Re: 67 L88 Rad Cradle on eBay
Ron-----
As far as I can tell, the 1967 L-88 radiator support was never available in SERVICE. I can find no SERVICE part number which GM cataloged specifically for the 1967 L-88 application. So, I wonder where this one came from?
I've got to believe that the "bidders" on this item are somehow "associated" with the seller. Knowing his reserve, they could bid lesser amounts and be sure that they wouldn't meet the reserve. However, the "interest" demonstrated by this might be calculated to induce other bids. Anyone that would bid over $20,000 for this support would have to be completely out of their mind.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: 67 L88 Rad Cradle on eBay
Joe
I don’t get it? You said that anyone that would bid over 20K is out of their mind, I know that they only made 20 L88 corvettes but still I don’t see what all the fuss is about on that part? Maybe I am missing something as I don’t see where that would be over 500 dollars for that part? What is so special about that part that someone could not reproduce?
KellyComment
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Re: 67 L88 Rad Cradle on eBay
Kelly------
I did not mean that $20,000 was ok, but anyone bidding above that was nuts. I don't even know, for sure, if this piece actually is a 1967 L-88 support. The pictures are not too clear or detailed enough to assess it. It might be, though. However, even if it is, it's not worth anything close to $20,000 in my opinion.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: 67 L88 Rad Cradle on eBay
Thanks for the response Joe. I had looked through all my manuals and catalogues and could not find this part and I was wondering if I was missing something here. Hard to conceive bidding a down payment on a house. Still trying to understand the uniqueness of this part. Would you happen to know if it was special made or just modified from an existing rad cradle.Comment
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Re: 67 L88 Rad Cradle on eBay
Ron-----
Some have opined that the 67 L-88 support was exactly the same as 1965 with L-78. I don't think so, though. In fact, the experience that one poster recently reported when installing a 1965 L-78 support into a 1967 further supports that. He reported having to modify the 1965 L-78 support in order to close the hood.
I've never really studied the 1967 L-88 radiator support. Of course, I've seen a few of the cars which I believed were real over the years, but I just didn't really study the radiator support for "nuances of detail".
I feel quite certain that the basic frame of the 1967 L-88 radiator support was the same as other 1967's. There would have been no reason that it needed to be any different and the cost for producing a completely different frame would likely have been out of the question for a low-volume item like this.
My expectation is that the 1967 L-88 support would have been the same as 1967 small block except for the width of the opening as set by the welded-on side panels and the placement of the lower "cup" radiator mount brackets. This is EXACTLY how the 1968-69 L-88 radiator supports differed from the small block, aluminum radiator supports.
The kind of differences that applied to the 68-69 supports I described and as I expect applied to the 1967 supports would have made for VERY easy manufacturing using the same, basic frame and radiator support brackets.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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