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I am sure you all know how much new grills for the front of a 72 cost, so needless to say, I have been trying to restore the original ones that were on mine. I noticed that the driver side grill does not have the two holes on the bottom like the passenger side one has. Is this normal? I looked up 72 vettes online and it looks like they all have holes on both sides. Why would mine not have them on one side?? Is this normal?? Please help me solve this grill mystery.
Here is a photo of mine, one restored and one not.
IIRC, the one without holes was the "first design" used in 1970. Later and aftermarket went with the additional holes. Original first designs are rare and valuable.
Mine is a 1972 model, why would it have a 1970 grill on it? Is there any way to tell which one originally came on the car? Would the factory put a 1970 grill on a 1972? I would like for them both to be the same, but which one do I need to get?
Originally Posted by Easy Mike
I agree with toddalin; you have a replacement grille.
They would not put a '70 grill on a '72 car at the factory. I wonder if the other one ( on the left in your pic) is original. I question that because it looks like there is a hole for fiber optics in it. As you know they did away with fiber optics beginning with the 1972 model year.
At some point in its life the front grilles on your 72 must have been changed. The one on the right is for a 1970 and is potentially more valuable as it was a one year only item.
Finding an original 71-72 grille shouldn't be a problem. There are a couple variations with these as well, but externally should look the same.
I did not know about the fiber optics. Is that what this little light thing is? I was wondering what that was for. Here is a picture of it before I painted the inside silver. It is only on the grill with the holes. The grill without the holes has a hole in it, but it does not have the little thing in it.
I was going to look it up to see what it was to put back on the other one.
I have reason to believe that this car was possibly once wrecked on the front passenger side because it has a lot of extra fiberglass build up under the fender and the little black spoiler thing on the bottom did not fit perfect on that side, it looks like the fiberglass was just not formed correct. So it would make sense that if it was wrecked then the grill was damaged and had to be replaced with a reproduction that had the holes, but that still does not solve the mystery as to why the driver side is from 1970.
Originally Posted by AkrHack
They would not put a '70 grill on a '72 car at the factory. I wonder if the other one ( on the left in your pic) is original. I question that because it looks like there is a hole for fiber optics in it. As you know they did away with fiber optics beginning with the 1972 model year.
Finding one one is one thing. Affording the one you might find could be a different matter.
I just happened to be pricing them for my '71 yesterday and found that re-pops are not made. My only option was to find used originals. I have learned that nice ones fetch between $600 and $900 each. Ouch!
There were 3 different grills used for 70, 71 and 72.
The 70 grill is the one on the right in your picture, the one without the holes. 70 grills had 3 studs on the back, that get thread cutting nuts (speed nuts), on them. Often one or more of the studs, are broken off. All 70 grills have the hole in the parking light housing for the fiber optics. I sold a very nice left hand 70 grill at Corvette Carlisle this year, for $750.
The grill on the left in your photo, is a 71 grill. The 71 grill has three screw holes in the front, in place of the three studs used in 70. The 71 grill also had the hole for the fiber optics. Some late production 70's, supposedly came with the 71 style grill.
The 72 grill is exactly the same as the 71, except it did not have the fiber optic hole, in the parking lamp housing.
GM service replacement grills, sold since the early 70's, were the 71 style grill with the 3 lower mounting holes and the fiber optic hole. GM sold the 71 grill, as a 70-72, as it was a perfectly acceptable replacement, for all three years.
As to why does your 72 have one 70 grill, and one 71, well anything is possible after 40+ years. The grills may have been damaged in some sort of accident. Also those grills are pot metal, so they're often cracked and/or have bad chrome and corrosion. If the grills were bad, a previous owner may have replaced them with a nicer set of used ones, and not worried about what year they were from?
I used to own a 71 that had a 70 grill put on the passenger side after front end damage. Whoever repaired it found a used part that fit and put it on.
The upside, at least back then, was that a 70 front grill is worth considerably more than a 71 front grill.
I suspect you will find that the same is still true. You should be able to sell the 70 front grill, assuming it is not broken and buy a decent correct front grill for your car.
The 70 front grill should have two "studs" on the backside that self tapping nuts would thread onto. The studs will be in about the same location as the holes on the other grill.
10-30-2014, 12:54 PM
Front grill hole mystery on my 72
