C3 1969 Headrests

[Michael B.]

I have an October 03 1968 build date. When I originally purchased the car the standard interior had been recovered with leather seat covers, no headrests or hardware, and no seatbelt clip in the front. The seat frame had provisions for these items so I acquired some used parts and installed them.

I have since found that the seatbelts clips were not installed on this early 69 car and that the headrests were a mandatory option unless specifically requested to delete until Jan 01 1969 when they were added as standard equipment. My build sheet does not show a headrest option number (A82) or the description.

Should this mandatory option appear on the build sheet? Or could this vehicle have been ordered deleting the headrests? Otherwise it is a well optioned car L68, P/S, P/W, Posi, TI, Louvers, Speed Warning, etc

[Joe L.]

Re: C3 1969 Headrests

Mike-----

I have a friend who has an original owner 1969 coupe which was built just a week, or so, after yours. His car has headrests. Also, the 1969 Corvette order form that dealers used to order the cars had no provision on it for deleting headrests unless one considers the "other options and special instructions" block. I doubt very seriously that any "special instructions" to delete headrests would have been complied with. As far as I know, ALL 1969 Corvettes were built with seats with headrests. The seat belt clip is another matter. They were not on early cars and my friend's early 1969 does not have them, while my late 1969 does have them.

By the way, my friend's early 1969 with black interior was built with 1968 style basket-weave vinyl seat insert material. If your car's interior was black, I strongly suspect that it would have been also originally built with the 68 style seat covers, too.

[Michael B.]

Re: C3 1969 Headrests

Joe,

So you believe that the RPO A82 Headrest option would not show on any 1969 model year build sheet because it was either mandatory until 01/01/69 or standard there after.

I'm curious if anyone has a 1969 build sheet with that option listed.

[Chuck S.]

Re: C3 1969 Headrests

This may be of no value, but the A82 headrest option definately DID NOT SHOW on build sheets after they were made standard.

Dobbins' book (fourth edition) has photos of the window sticker and shipper for 194679S714464, a very late January car, and no headrest option is itemized. The photos are on pages 261, 262 if you are interested.

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: C3 1969 Headrests

Mike:
My October 25 '68 came with headrest and no provisions for a clip for the seatbelts. I replaced my seatcovers in the early '90's and when I purchased them, I took my originals with me to be sure the new ones were identical to the replacements. I asked for a set of standard '69 seat covers and compared the originals to the new ones and they were exact indcating that mine were not '68 but '69 comfortweave. Hope this helps.
Jeff

[Michael B.]

Re: C3 1969 Headrests

Now that I'm thinking about it, I just had a repo window sticker made. I am thinking that the window sticker for this car should include the A82 Head Restraints listed as optional equipment for $17.75.

Opinions?

Is the window sticker information taken from the build sheet or are they independent documents?

[Joe L.]

Re: C3 1969 Headrests

Mike-----

I don't know if it was shown on the build sheets to 1/1/69, or not. It was shown on the window stickers of early cars, but that does not necessarily mean that it was on the build sheets. As a more-or-less "standard" item, it would not have needed to appear on the build sheets, but would need to appear on the window sticker since a charge was made for it. Build sheets and window stickers are not "carbon copies" of one-another.

In your case, if the seats still had their original covering and there were no headrests present, you could make a very strong case that the car was originally built that way. However, given the fact that the seats have been re-done at some point, that evidence is pretty much gone.

[Mark #28455]

same for my Oct 68 car

No clip for the seatbelts on the front of the seat bottom, but the holes were there and never had any bolts in them - paint was perfect in the holes. Headrests were there but NOT listed on the build sheet.

Mark

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: same for my Oct 68 car

Mark:
Your post says the holes were there. Were the holes in the seat frame and the seat cover or just the frame? My Oct '68 car had no holes in the seat frame to accommodate screws. It is interesting to note that you did have holes.
Jeff