Red63SW

For some parts in the catalogs, I see '63E and '63L listed. Is there a serial no. cutoff between early and late?

achapman

There is no cut off date between early and late. The changes were phased in over a period of months. I had a late May 63 SWC that had the muncie tranny and no tool wells. A friend of mine had a December 63 SWC that did have tool wells and a T-10 4 speed, but did have the unfrosted wheel covers. I had an AM/FM radio and he had AM only.

There were a lot of running changes made over a period of months.... Ironing out the bugs I guess.....

Shumdit

There were various cutoffs, not really like a 63 and 63 1/2 where you might have a date or VIN to go by. The side mirror changed at a different point than the steering wheel spoke machine marks, and the rear floorboard pockets changed to a shallower version at a different VIN than the hood blocks appeared and then disappeared. So there is no exact way to determine a 63E or 63L in many cases since there could be a car with some parts considered 63E and some parts considered 63L that could be factory correct. The exception is that the very earliest cars would all be 63E by parts content, and very late 63's would be all 63L by content.

A few examples: the side view mirror changed to the 63L style at approx VIN 11133 (mid way through the model year)
The fuel door changed over to the 63L style at approx VIN 15200.
The steering wheel spoke marks changed over at approx VIN 18000 (very late in the model year)
4 speeds changed from T10 to the Muncie at approx 14500
Vinyl covered center dash section started at about VIN 3000 (very early in the model year
The 64 dash cluster housings were installed on the last few thousand 63's since they ran out of the 63 housings while the car was still in production.
The rocker molding screws changed from 2 to 1 at each end early in production (about VIN 3500)

So there are a lot of items that changed at different times. My car is a Late July 63 build, made in the last couple of weeks production, so it would have all the "63L" parts, but a car built a month before mine might not have the dash housing or steering wheel spoke marks, but would still be a late 63 to most people based on production date.

JohnZ

Do you have the NCRS Judging Guide? It will indicate the approximate VIN range for many of the '63 running changes.

Red63SW

Thanks for the tip! I just ordered it from NCRS. I appreciate the help.

philip964

Wow great stuff thanks.