'68 Coupe with A/C question

[Pete G.]

I was having a discussion the other day at the shop I'm having my drivetrain restored. One member of the conversation indicated he thought the '68 C60 supplied coupes came out very late in the production year (~ Feb), and possibly that overall the '68 coupes were delayed due to production or engineering issues. Does anyone know if either of these beliefs is true?

Thanks!

[Dennis O.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

I had a friend who ordered a '68 big block coupe early in the year. He never got the car delivered to him because of "quality control problems". He finally ended up with a '69 390 HP car, and as well as I can remember, it was about a year after he placed the initial order. This is from my recollections of things that went down over 40 years ago, but I do remember that he was super pissed for a loooooong time.

[Terry M.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

I was having a discussion the other day at the shop I'm having my drivetrain restored. One member of the conversation indicated he thought the '68 C60 supplied coupes came out very late in the production year (~ Feb), and possibly that overall the '68 coupes were delayed due to production or engineering issues. Does anyone know if either of these beliefs is true?

Thanks!

The first 5 or six -- I have the numbers at home -- months of 1968 production produced ALL convertibles. John Hinckley, who was there and remembers those days with no fondness, has posted here in the past that the issues were leaks and structural engineering issues with the removable top panels.

I suspect there were a handful of coupes in an early build -- how else would they know it wouldn't work? -- and what about the coupe pictures for the advertising materials? They couldn't have all been air brushed convertibles turned into coupes could they? Aside from potentially those few coupes (which we have yet to find) all convertibles. If you want to know the first coupe we know about I can look it up tonight, but there is no assurance that would be the first production coupe. It might be close though, and we would welcome earlier entries.

There are lots of anecdotal stories about early production coupe owners, and their issues.

Edit add: I can't tell you how C60 fits into that mix. I know there were early issues with MarkIV and cooling, but that had to be with convertibles -- and I would have to review those Service Bulletins to see how AC might, or might not, have factored into that.

[John H.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

The first 5 or six -- I have the numbers at home -- months of 1968 production produced ALL convertibles. John Hinckley, who was there and remembers those days with no fondness, has posted here in the past that the issues were leaks and structural engineering issues with the removable top panels.

Here's the VERY short version, in a column I wrote in the Summer, 2009 issue of our Michigan Chapter newsletter, the "Vette Signal":


THE MYSTERIOUS 1968 CORVETTE LAUNCH

-or-

WHY SO MANY CONVERTIBLES?

John Hinckley

Although the 1968 Corvette program was already a year late (it was supposed to launch for the 1967 model year), only half of the program appeared at launch in August, 1967, for the 1968 model year. Why?

[Terry M.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

First coupe I found s/n 7352 built E20 (December 20). Sadly we don't go out of our way to track C60, so I can't shed any light on how that might play into the issue. Anyone who finds an earlier 1968 coupe, I would love to hear about it.

[John C.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

Terry

ProTeam has in their private collection what they call the first known 68 coupe made. It is serial number 15. It was a pilot line car.

I've never seen what might be called a production coupe with a lower serial number you give.

John

[Jack C.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

Would I be safe to say that Jan 22 built #9643 would be considerd as an early coupe but not an early overall production run?

[Robert S.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

Hello Pete
I ordered my BB in November, 1967. (I was president of the Car Committee, thus the dealer wanted me to be most happy. We ordered 65 Vettes that year.) The salesmen were adamant that the 68 BB coupe did not have a/c. I was shortly to leave for flight training in the deep south and highly desired it. After much thought, I went with the L36 over the L79 with AC. FROM MEMORY: no classmate had a BB a/c car except one who ordered a '67 BB. NO, HE NO LONGER OWNS IT. (If you bring it up to him, he gets teary eyed.)
As both Terry and John have already informed you, the delay was seemingly forever. "Beast" finally arrived at the dealer on 31 March '68. 'IL' has about 50k on the clock.
rob
PS Brand new at this penning threads- hope it helped.

[Michael D.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

Would I be safe to say that Jan 22 built #9643 would be considerd as an early coupe but not an early overall production run?

Yes. You would be safe in saying that. Your car would be early as far as coupe production is concerned, but not necessarily early when compared to total 68 model year production.

[Reba W.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

I know of one BB coupe (no A/C) that was ordered around August 15,1967, and finally made it to the dealer in late March 1968. The person who placed the order gave up and found a used 1967.

[Chuck S.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

...ProTeam has in their private collection what they call the first known 68 coupe made. It is serial number 15. It was a pilot line car...

Sorry, John, but the question has been begged ...Does it have the one-piece targa roof panel John described, or was it fitted with the two piece T-bar configuration? With that low serial number, I would expect the one-piece roof (the source of their consternation), but I bet it has the two panel roof or we would have heard about it.

[John C.]

Re: '68 Coupe with A/C question

Chuck

It has a normal T-top roof. I don't know if it went through any major changes during testing.

ProTeam once had the car for sale as just a normal coupe for several years. I think they wanted as low as $38K for it during one of their sales. After a while they must have thought they had something special as it became part of the special reserve collection. Last I heard they wanted over a $100k for it. Go figure.

John