I have 64 roadster and am wondering how can I get info on what my car came with from the factory. I have had many Chevelles and Z/28s with build sheets recovered from the gas tank and back seat but was told early C2s wont have a build sheet except on a rare occasion. One example of the info I want to know is the fact that my car has the ignition shielding but no radio, its very easy to tell the engine has never been out of the car and the bolts, etc. holding the shielding appear to have been on since new, yes I know it is over 50 years old and anyone could have installed this long ago but everything I have repaired or replaced on this car so far have been original, unfortunately and obviously this car was rodded hard and not maintained.
I was also told GM wont be able to give me any info either ........any help? thanks

 

With a '64 it is a guessing game. Build sheets were not put on fuel tanks until '67. No one, not GM, not the NCM, has option data for any particular VIN numbered car. You can make some educated guesses. Besides the shielding and no shielding, are there capacitors everywhere? If no, probably a radio delete car. Are there remnants of an antenna cable under the carpet, or evidence of a fiberglass repair where the hole for the antenna would have been? As for engines - if it was a high horse power it should have a high red line tach but.... tachs can be changed; Was it a fuelie at one time - look for patched holes on the inner fenders where the FI script would have gone. Other than verified numbers matches it is really almost impossible to determine what the car left the factory with.

 

as said, there is no mythical data base out there. you're looking for clues that can be added or removed.

 

TR64 - Welcome to the Corvette Forum. You've gotten some good advice on where to start your detective work. If you are an NCRS member, you could get a Shipping Report for $40 but
that will only tell you (if info is available on your VIN) who the original selling dealer was. Beyond that, you're stuck doing your own investigation. Post up some pics of your 64.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

 

Yes thanks for reply looking at the underside I can see where the antenna would have been installed no repairs there. No left over antenna cable under carpet, no patch on the dash indicating previous radio install, mostly I was wondering why the ignition shields with no radio.

Engine is matching numbers 300HP, 4 speed, CJ 3.08 highway gear posi, backup lamps no other options that I can spot.
Thanks

 

does the dash look like it's been ever out of the car? does the car have the capacitors behind the dash? chances are the shielding was added over the years

 

Here is my 64 I do have the original wheel covers and wheels but installed the torq thrust d and t/a package for the retro look.
Below is a pic I took in 1975 I was 15 saw this vette at my friends neighbors house, ran home grabbed my camera and before I got back it was driving at me in my Chevelle snapped the shot and drove straight to the drug store to drop off the film. This is the day the C2 was put at the top of my car bucket list.

 

TR64 - Sharp looking 64 Roadster. And I can relate to that other pic due to my neighbor in the 60's who was the last owner of Half Moon Bay Dragstrip and one day when I got home with my folks, maybe 1966/1967, my neighbors friend was parked in his driveway with a Black on Black 66 L72 Coupe. My folks car had barely stopped when I jumped out to take it all in. I can still see that car in my memory.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

 

Not trying to pick nits but, until 1980 there was no such thing as 'radio delete'. The car was ordered with a radio as an option...or it wasn't. There was, however, a heater/defroster delete.

 

I was 12 when an older cousin, staying with us, came home with a brand new '57 Venetian Red vette. It was another 9 years before I bought my first Corvette.

 

If your 64 has a St Louis made body, the trim tag will include a two letter code as part of the interior trim code. This two letter code is an ECL code and can be used to maybe determine some of how your car was originally equipped. The ECL tells what a car might have been built with, or what option might not have been available with certain other equipment in a car, so it might tell you if it had a radio, and that it couldn't have power windows, or other similar combinations of equipment. The St Louis NCRS Chapter use to have a trim tag decoder on their website. If it's not up anymore, the NCRS sells a book on decoding trim tags, and a few members on here can probably decode your ECL code too.

Corvette bodies were made in two plants, the Corvette plant in St Louis, and by AO Smith in Michigan. Unfortunately, only 64 St Louis bodies have the ECL codes, not 64 AO Smith bodies. You can identify a St Louis body by an "S" prefix in the body build number, and an AO Smith body by an "A" prefix in the number. If there is no S or A, then it's a St Louis body built before AO Smith started making bodies in January 64. Later in the 64 production run, AO Smith bodies might have gotten ECL codes too, I'm having a senior moment right now and can't recall.

Welcome to the Forum. Nice looking 64!

 

glen I see it has black interior so therefore zero chance for a ECL code.

 

Vet65te- I would like to think that pretty much most of us over 55 or so have that deep rooted interest in not only in the Corvette but just about any of the muscle pre 1973 or so. I was born and raised west of Flint and had many relatives working for GM back then all of our families owned many cars that today are considered collector vehicles, too bad we cant get those cars back. Today I cringe when I see a heavily modified C2 like the one in my pic but in the mid 70s it was cool and a C2 was just another used car and living in southern Michigan at that time every big block Chevy, hemi Dodge and big block Ford all were just daily drivers .