steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

[Ray G.]

I was looking at the Tech info and judging guide and noticed I should have a warning sticker on the left side of the steering wheel. I have the tilt-tele wheel and wonder where they were placed on mine and were they a decal that might come off easily?

[Alan S.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

Hi Ray,
There was a thread of some length back in 2006 about the use of the sticker.
It seems to me in reading through it that the consensus was that if the column has a 'rotating bowl' it had a sticker or visor sleeve. Otherwise no.
You might want try to find that thread.
I Googled '1969 Corvette interlock sticker' and was led to it.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

[Ray G.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

Thanks Alan. Could be they were just removed by the owner or wore off quickly. I will look at the thread.

[Alan S.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

Hi Ray,
Certainly either of those things may have taken place.
It would be interesting to learn enough about the sticker's usage to determine if you should have one on your column or not.
Regards,
Alan

[Edward B.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

I have a late (October 21st, 1969) build, also with the N37 Tilt/telescopic column, and I don't have the sticker. Doesn't look like there was ever one on there either.

Ed

[Shannon U.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

A late October 69 car would not likely have any sticker. There were two designs of stickers. The early label from 10/68 ran until July of 69 and was on white paper. My mid March car is missing any such sticker. There was a second label design from only August and September in 69 which is like this picture on this survivor column. This sticker is firmly affixed and would be hard to have "just fallen off". My October 15 car has no sticker. Hope that helps.tilt sticker.jpg

[Ray G.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

All interesting information. Mine is an early March build and a survivor also. It does not look like it ever had a sticker. With such a high volume of cars in 1969, it is easy to understand many things might have been installed from time to time. It's hard to believe that with such an old factory in St Louis building Corvettes and I believe trucks on the same line, working 2 shifts to keep up with production that things were as smooth as they were.

[Terry M.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

All interesting information. Mine is an early March build and a survivor also. It does not look like it ever had a sticker. With such a high volume of cars in 1969, it is easy to understand many things might have been installed from time to time. It's hard to believe that with such an old factory in St Louis building Corvettes and I believe trucks on the same line, working 2 shifts to keep up with production that things were as smooth as they were.

Just a SWAG on my part, but I would expect those stickers were installed on the columns by Saginaw. The folks at St Louis just installed what was shipped to them. Of course the answer is in the AIM. If those stickers show a part number in the AIM -- then they are St Louis installed. I don't have any of my 1969 AIMs handy, but if my SWAG is wrong we will all have learned something. No don't y'all run for your AIMs at once.

[John H.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

All interesting information. Mine is an early March build and a survivor also. It does not look like it ever had a sticker. With such a high volume of cars in 1969, it is easy to understand many things might have been installed from time to time. It's hard to believe that with such an old factory in St Louis building Corvettes and I believe trucks on the same line, working 2 shifts to keep up with production that things were as smooth as they were.

Ray -

The main St. Louis plant had a passenger line that built Impala/Caprice at 65 per hour and a separate truck line that built everything from pickups to school bus chassis at 35 per hour, plus all forward-control Corvair-based trucks (Corvan, Rampside, etc.) were built only at St. Louis. The old Mill Building housing the seven-per-hour Corvette plant was about 100 yards behind the main plant, near the powerhouse and the coal pile. In the 60's-70's, the St. Louis complex was the largest assembly plant in North America.

[Jim S.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

I have two 1969 T&T steering column drawings. The first is 7804347 and my notes indicate 1969 T&T Column (Early). The Released for Production date on the drawing is 5-20-68. This drawing has the shift bowl exposed so the driver would see it rotate when shifting into REVERSE (manual trans) or into PARK (auto trans). I cannot find any indication that a decal or label was ever placed on the steering column at Saginaw. Nothing in the Revision Notes that would indicate that it was added or removed while the column was in production.

The second 1969 T&T steering column drawing is 7807826 (or 7807828, I just can't make it out). This drawing was Engineering Released on 10-17-68. This steering column has a stationary plastic shroud that covers the bowl and masks its movement.

Note that the Released for Production and the Engineering Release date has nothing to do with exact production dates. I don't know why one drawing says Released for Production and the other just has an Engineeirng Release date.

Jim

[Terry M.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

Thanks Jim. Now I will have to check my 1969 AIMs when I get home from work.

[Edward B.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

For N37, the AIM shows "Prod Sticker" (View A), and if you go to UPC 9, Sheet A1, item number 1, it states "3966618 Sticker" with three notes (2, 4 and 5).

Note 2 states "10-4-68 Item 1 added"
Note 4 states "11-20-68 Was 3960380 Sticker"
Note 5 states (same date as note 4) "Sticker DWG Revised"

Ed

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

My October '68 T/T has a white paper label. Attached is a photo of an original which is what mine looked like before removal and the one that resides on the column now which is a reprint I had made of the original. I don't believe that if there was a label here that there was a sun visor sleeve. I have an original sun visor sleeve part number 3964573 which is dated 10-2-68 which, in my opinion, could not have made it to the assembly line by the date of my car (10-22-68). This part number does not appear in the Bizzoko book or in the AIM- the last design of this sleeve shown in the BIzzoko book is 3964572. The numbers in the AIM are 3961386 on sheet 0 B1 and 9432022 on sheet 0 C2 so maybe this is from other than Corvette although it appears to be identical to the picture of the 3964572 as shown in the Bizzoko book.
Jeff

[Alan S.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

Hi,
I came upon this picture on the CF this morning.
It's on a 69 that a poster here, Roger D., is buying.
The car's trim tag is D05.
I thought I'd add it to this thread from a few weeks ago for the record.
Regards,
Alan

[Terry M.]

Re: steering column interlock warning on 69 cars

Clearly, with Jim Shea's remarks and the above information, this sticker was placed on the column at St Louis. My earlier SWAG was wrong.