Are there any exterior features on '70-'72 corvettes that a person can use to differentiate which year a car is? (For example, a '68 has the side gils, the door opened with the door button, the '69 has "Stingray" above the gils, and the door opened with the handle.) I love going to car shows but would like to be able to know of some feature that is different between these years. Chuck Watson #31154
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Re: 70-72 features *TL*
Chuck,
See my story: "1970-1972 Spotters Guide" in the Corvette Restorer Vol. 12, Number 4, Spring 1986.
Terry
Terry -
Re: 70-72 features
Chuck,
Starting in 1970 through 1972, Corvettes have side vent "grilles", where the earlier sharks had "gills" and the later sharks have like a reverse scoop with a smaller opening. Here are some quick twenty footers I use to sort out '70-'72 Vettes (a preliminary observation will have to be confirmed by other details):
From the front: Parking light lenses on '70 and '71 are clear with amber bulbs. All '72 have amber lenses with clear bulbs.
From the rear: Tail/stop light lenses for '70 and early '71 have a large concical center (now getting hard to find). Late '71 and all '72 tail/stop lights have a smaller hemispherical center surrounded by a flat.
Once you make a preliminary ID, you have to look at smaller details, like the configuration of the vertical fins in the side grilles, whether or not the front grilles have screws on the bottom, whether or not it has headlight washers, etc., etc. yadda, yadda.
Come on, join the NCRS; Impress your wife (if you have one, but don't bet on impressing her if you do), friends, and neighbors with your vast knowledge of Corvette details.
Chuck Sangerhausen
P. S. All 68s did not open with a push button; some late 68s also had the later lifting handle. Imagine my surprise after I had just explained to my wife (at a car show) how 68s used a push button, when we overheard a guy (probably one those NCRS dudes) explaining how some late 68s had the lift handle. Shot my brand new "expert" reputation to heck.Comment
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Re: 70-72 features
My mouth is in the floor Chuck, late 68 with 69 handle... Thanks for the detail, one of my favorite spot details has suffered a big blast. Do you remember serial # aprox? Don't have 68/9 JG (for now).
Roberto, NCRS #30019, RMCComment
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Re: 70-72 features
Roberto,
Yep, that's right. My wife had to help me get my mouth off the floor too.
The car was on "display" at one of those non-denominational Corvette "shows", you know, the kind with the little painted signs on an easel that tells the car's specs and history. I saw more extraordinary Corvettes in my first day at Bloomington than I could have seen in ten years of those shows.
The car was being presented as a '68; well, I looked at my wife with my little bit of knowledge, and knowingly said, "That car is no '68, it doesn't have the push-button door latches". And, you know the rest of the story.
Sorry, I didn't note the serial number, nor do I think I could have. Those shows have those golden or red velvet ropes to keep the commoners off the cars. That was many years ago before my NCRS days. Maybe Reba or Chuck G. will pop up here with some details.
Chuck SangerhausenComment
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P. S. A Tip To "Sort Out" '68s And '69s
Roberto,
The twenty footer on '68s and '69s, in addition to the push button latch, is the optional gill trim available only on '69s.
Virtually every '69 I have ever seen had that gill trim; either came with the car originally, or added later. As with '70-'72 clues, it is NOT CONCLUSIVE, but it is a clue. I remember seeing only one, maybe two, '69 cars that didn't have the optional trim, but my time in this hobby can't compare with many others here, and I don't look at 68s and 69s as close as '70-'72.
Chuck SangerhausenComment
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Re: Late '68 door handles *TL*
Chuck and Roberto,
My mouth is in the floor too.
This is the first time I have heard of this, and while I have learned "never to say never," I am skeptical. I have never seen a late 1968 with '69 style doors. I don't have the exterior updates to the under-revision 1968-69 TIM&JG, but it is not mentioned in the earlier manual.
How about anyone else ever see one and what serial #?
Terry
TerryComment
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Re: Late '68 door handles
Terry,
You know, I could end up with a dozen-egg omelet on my face over this, but I have reported exactly what happened right there in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.
It WAS NOT an NCRS sanctioned event, so a gigantic fraud could have been perpetrated on that public, and no one would have been the wiser. I even thought I had observed this feature at later Bloomington meets.
If this turns out to be false, thanks for stopping the BS here.
Chuck SangerhausenComment
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Re: Late '68 door handles
It would be interesting to remember if the car had a dash ignition switch. I remember to see in Argentina a very strange vette, probably a modification after accident, soft nose and the like. But door handle and ignition switch in the dash, specially, told me it WAS a 68. Roberto, NCRS #30019, RMCComment
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Re: Late '68 door handles
Terry, Dick received a report of this when we began the manual revision. No one else out of 20+ revision team members had ever seen such. I find it hard to believe that as many 1968-up cars as you, Dick, and I have seen and judged that we would not have run across one. The present manual has been in use since 1992; surely someone would have brought it to our attention. The report that we received was that late '68s had '69 doors, not just the handles. But a '68 door is unique; I am not sure a '69 would fit without body work.Comment
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Dash Ignition Switch
Roberto,
Yes, that would be a dead giveaway also.
But, as I remember, the car was elevated off the floor on some kind of platform and the lighting inside the hall was not especially bright. This made looking inside the car difficult from behind the perimeter rope . I have no recollection of the interior color or other details. I do remember that the exterior was black.
I hope that we will get some confirmation one way or the other on this topic.
Chuck SangerhausenComment
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Re: Late '68 door handles
Terry-----
I totally agree; I have NEVER seen a 68 that had 69+ style door handles. In fact, not too long ago I had the occasion to observe a very late build 68, which was built in very late July, 1968. This was a car that had been in the hands of its original owner until about two years ago when it was sold to the fellow that has it now. For better or for worse, it is now being converted into a race car. In any event, it had 68 style doors. I came across it when I purchased the original 3947801 intake manifold (yes, that's what it had and I'm certain that it was original to the car) and big block hood off this car.
Although I am not certain, I believe that 69+ doors will retrofit rather easily to a 68. There may be some body work required, but that would probably occur even if you were fitting 68 doors to a 68 that they didn't originally belong to. 68 doors are much harder to locate than 69+ doors, so if someone with a 68 needed doors and found a good set of 69+ doors after a long, fruitless search for 68 doors, maybe those 69+ doors would find their way onto the 68. This would be particularly true for a convertible, since those doors are even harder to find. So, this may be how a car comes to be "a 68 originally built with 69 doors".In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: Late '68 door handles *TL*
Joe,
I was trying to think of late 1968 cars that I had seen and your post jogged my memory. M08 build date August 8 - L89, blue coupe, and I am sure it had/has 1968 doors.
I think your speculation regarding owner inspired replacement with 1969 doors is a possibility.
And as to Chucks indication that cars at an NCRS meet are any more likely to be "original" than those at any other Corvette meet - want to buy a bridge Chuck, or maybe some land in a southeastern state? Someone once said: "Believe none of what you read and half of what you see." Any car at any meet can have any deviations from TFP (typical factory production). I think that applies to this thread, but there is always the chance, however slim, that they "ran out" of 1968 doors.
Terry
TerryComment
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Re: Late '68 door handles
I have seen Chevrolet publications that show what is identified as a 68 with the 69 doors. A case in point, the Dec.- Jan. issue of Corvette News Magazine in its fearure That Was The Year That Was, shows what they identify as a 68 with 69 doors. This happens a lot with publications which use prototype vehicles in their articles. Take a good look at the 67 sales brochure. Now thats a funky dude. I doubt that any of these vehicles were released to the public, but it could be possible. By the way 69 doors are perfectly compatable with the 68 as long as you change the whole assembly.Comment
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Try the easy way....
(1) I just look at my license plate (71 CVT).
Failing that;
(2) The VIN is on the pillar post visible through the front of the
glass on the driver's side. Read the digit preceeding the 'S'
for St. Louis final assy site and BINGO, the mystery of '70-72
era unravels....Comment
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