Luggage Compartment Size

[Tom Freeman]

As the result of a discussion on another board it was brought to my attention that the luggage compartment on a '73 and a '70 are different sizes. The 73's is aprox 26" deep and the 70 is aprox 30" deep, a 4 inch difference. Anyone know when this change was made and why it was done?

This came out in the discussion of the rear deck vents and astro vent on a convertible. On the 73 the vents are behind the luggage compartment, on the 70 they are over the compartment. The 4" would allow for the differences.

tom...


The '73 Spot

[Tom Freeman]

Anyone???

Anyone have any insite into this?

tom...

[Clem Z.]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

my guess it would have something to do with smog control equiptment for the fuel tank. just a guess.

[Tom Freeman]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

clem,
There is nothing extra in there that I can see. My guess is that it was to give the gas tank an extra 4" before it gets crushed in a rear end hit. Kind of getting ready for the rubber rear bumper in 74.

I know the 70 and 73 are different but wonder if this 26" compartment started in 73 or was it earlier. Anyone have a 71 or 72 who are willing to measure their luggage compartment? The measurement from the bulkhead behind the seats to the rear bulk head was slightly over 30" on Juliet's 70. My 73's, both coupe and conv, measure slightly over 26".

tom...

[Patrick H.]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

Tom,

I believe that you are correct in that it was for crash/crumple reasons. I think it has been mentioned before, and is likely deep down in the archives. For some reason, I think it changed in 1972, but of course you wonder if the whole change had anything to do with the rear window configuration changing. I'll measure my 71 if anyone else wants to measure a 72 coupe.

Patrick

[Reba Whittington]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

My 1972 is 26" and it is very early car. Probably the '71 is going to be the same.

[Tom Freeman]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

Thank you Reba.

So the 72 has the smaller luggage compartment. Now for the 71???

If you want to see what I am talking about, look at this pic: On the left is Juliet's 70, on the right is my 73. Front of car is to the left. This is under the rear deck looking up at the passanger side in the vent/rear bulkhead area. You can easly see the 4" setback.

tom...

[Tom Freeman]

Sorry, bad link, here is a working link

Sorry about the bad link above, try this: http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c5/73vette//bulkhead.htm

tom...

[Mike H.]

Re: Sorry, bad link, here is a working link

My '71 conv. measures 26". Is it possible that there is a difference in A/C vs non A/C cars? The rear vents are part of the Astro ventelation on non A/C cars. Just a thought.

[Tom Freeman]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

Mike,
I think the only difference between the A/C and non-A/C cars is if the vents are functional or non-functional. Juliet's car is a/c, but it has the deep luggage compartment. The vents are over the compartment and have the drains to the rear, but does not have the functional astro vent system. My '73 is A/C and it has the short luggage compartment. You can see where the astro vent system would be mounted if they were operational. So the depth of the luggage compartment doesn't appear to have anything to do with if it is A/C or not.

So we have:
1970 = 30"
1971 - 1973 = 26"

I would assume then that 70 and earlier are all 30" deep luggage compartments and '71 and later are all 26". Interesting, I would have thought that if it was done for crash protection the change would have occured in '73 or '73 with the new bumper standards. But apparently it occured in '71.

tom...

[Reba Whittington]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

My '72 is also an AC car, Tom, if that helps support your theory.

[Terry M.]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size *TL*

Check the archives on this board. Rolf Krueger was the poster. It changed during 1971 or 1972 and has to do with AC or non-AC. We covered it under a question about the functionality of the rear vents.
Sadly, unless you can find it in the archives - the detailed information has passed with Rolf.
Terry

[Tom Freeman]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

Thanks Terry,
I went through the archives and could not find anything. If anyone can find that in the archives, please post the link.

It appears that the luggage compartment was shortened up with the '71 Vette. 70 has a 30" compartment while the 71 has 26". I don't see how A/C or non-A/C would have any effect. There would not be any change for the coupe. For the conv it moved the rear bulkhead ahead of the vents leaving the vents on A/C cares open to the ground (which would save on possable leaks for the conv but not for the coupe).

tom...

[Mike H.]

Re: Luggage Compartment Size

I believe I have found the thread that, Terry referenced, in the second archives.

Re: How do you tell factory A/C on 69 427?
Rolf Krueger -- Sunday, 5 December 1999, at 9:21 a.m.

1. I would like to expand on Terry McManmon's comments regarding the treatment of the rear deck vents on 1968-1973 Corvettes. One set of design facts apply to 1968-1970 cars and another set of design facts apply to 1971-1973 cars. It is a somewhat complicated situation and I apologize if I get too detailed.

2. On all 1968-1973 Coupes, the rear deck vents are over the interior cargo area and there is a hard fiberglass plenum below the vents to catch outside water and dispose of it so it does not get inside the car. When you look down the rear deck vents from the outside, you don't see anything except that plenum and this is true for both cars with C60 AC and for ones without C60 AC. As was previously pointed out, cars with C60 AC do not have the Flow Thru Ventillation flapper doors installed on the plenum, instead, fixed block off plates are permanently bonded in place.

3. On 1968-1970 Convertibles, the rear deck vents are also over the interior cargo area and there is also a hard fiberglass plenum below the vents to carry of water so it does not get inside the car. Again, when you look down the rear deck vents from the outside, all you can see is that plenum. On non C60 AC Convertibles, the Flow Through Ventillation flapper doors were mounted to that plenum from the inside of the car. For Convertibles with C60 AC, block off plates were bonded to the plenum.

4. Starting with all Model Year 1971 cars, a design change was made to shorten the rear cargo area by three inches. Therefore, on 1971-1973 Convertibles, those rear deck vents are now just aft of the rear cargo area bulkhead and keeping water out of the cargo area was no longer an issue. For 1971-1973 Convertibles WITH C60 AC, there was nothing below those rear deck vents and you can see the ground when looking down the vents from the outside. On 1971-1973 Convertibles WITHOUT C60 AC there is a soft rubber boot installed below those vents across the entire rear deck; this boot has a round drain hole on each end to let water drain to the ground. Finally, on 1971-1973 Convertibles, the flapper doors for the Flow Through Ventillation are mounted directly to the vertical aft bulkhead on cars without C60 AC. On cars with C60 AC, fixed block off plates are bonded on the bulkhead.

I can't seem to get the link to work and is why I copied it.
Mike

[Tom Freeman]

Thank you

Mike,
Thank you for the reference. Good explanation of how it worked. Now if we could figure out why they made the change. I really could use that extra 4" of luggage space.

tom...