Ordering parts for my 1968 Corvette I often get the question if it is a early or a late 68. And using a lot of Vin decoders it is not easy to tell.
My vin is 194678S410562

Anyone??

Runar

 

Early and late usually refer to the date of the specific running change of the part in question.

What part are you looking for?

Your car #10562 is earlier than mine (#16660) and looks like she has an early February build date.

 

At the moment things for the convertible. I thought It was a date or period that tings changed. So if my car was manufacured in august 68 it was a late one... See??

Runar

 

No, you misunderstand. Changes to the parts were introduced throughout the production year, possibly within a few weeks of production start, right up to a few days before change over to the following model year.

68 is one of the most complicated years to follow. As stated by Easy Mike, it's a part by part basis.

 

Correct as far as overall production is concerned since 1968 production ended in August 1968 but possibly not for running changes. With a VIN of 10562, your car was assembled in early February, 1968. Last car assembled in January was #10386. Your car is 176 from the last January car. Is your time/build code G02?

 

Like the earlier posters stated it is parts specific but a quick way to tell an early car from a late car is the interior door panels. The earlier cars had the recessed door handle pull and the later cars had the later style protruding door pull. You would still need to check regarding each part you need.

 

Being in the parts business, I don't like the terms early and late when refering to parts changes. Early and late can be very misleading when describing when parts went into production. I usually try to use first or second (and sometimes third) design.

Chevrolet made MANY changes throughout 68 to the Corvette. Early and late makes it sound like there was a cut off date where all changes were implemented, and this just isn't the case. Changes are made as a better or cheaper part is developed and either fazed in as old parts are used up or put right into production. Like 68, 63 had a lot of changes made throughout the year. Some, like the switch from the long base to short base mirror, took place about mid year (March), while others like the switch away from the roller door gas lid, didn't happen until near the end of production (June). About half of all 63's had the long base mirror and half had the short base, but over 75% of 63's had the roller door gas lid. Both the mirror and gas lids are sold as early and late, but when they went into production varies greatly.

Besides the well known changes made during 68, such as the 2 different door panels, 2 different center gauge bezels and the 2 different sized front headlight opennings, there were many other changes. Over the years I have seen 2 different design hinges for the rear storage compartment, different grill brackets, and 3 different attaching methods for the headliners in the targa bar, to name a few. Unfortunetly I don't know of any definitive source for identifing when these changes where implemented. I don't have an NCRS 68 Judging Manual, but it may contain some info on when changes occured.

Just don't allow yourself to get locked into thinking that because a part is refered to as "early", that it might not be right for your February built car. An early part may have been used for 2 months of production, or ten!

 

Actually, the later panel with the attached pull (grab handle) had the recessed pull with the insert installed in it, also. All Chevrolet did was install the handle to the existing panels. The handle was actually a Camaro part. It was originally used on 68 Camaros with the Deluxe interior option (69's with Deluxe interior used it also). Chevrolet was either having problems with the panels breaking where the insert was or were getting complaints about difficulty closing the doors, so they went to the parts bin and "borrowed" the handle.

Years ago, we parted out a 68 built in August 68 that had a map pocket on the drivers side dash panel. I wonder how the NCRS would feel about that.

 

They'd probably feel one hell of a lot better if it had a map pocket on the passenger side dash panel.

But seriously:

My VIN is 194678S425971 - so it's only 2595 from the end 28.5k run of cars - clearly in the last 10% of the run. (Please feel free to tell me what month it was built?)

It has the added door pulls, 1969 type dash harness, a pebbled cluster bezel, metal fiberoptic bezel, 69 style e-brake cover, and many other "very late 68isms".

The part that would make the NCRS heads spin; is that it has a late style seat release on the passenger side (high) and the early type (low) on the drivers side. Given how long I've owned the car and it's prior history - I see no reason to believe a seat was ever replaced. And the dates on the inside of the naugahyde are not inconsistant with them landing in the same car. I highly suspect that when the new type seats appeared at the factory that the low ones were used up on the drivers side where they did far less harm than on the passenger side. This would result in several cars using one of each until the old ones were used up.

-W

 

I want to add that unless you care about doing an NCRS type restoration - it's often advisable to use a 1969 (or later) design part in your '68 driver. This is true particularly in the area of weatherstripping, and some of the internals in the door window stuff. 1968 had a lot of "teething issues" and most of those were sorted out by the 1969 build.

Look carefully through (study) the parts catalogs and you can identify most of the parts that were improved upon for good cause. Often the 1969-1976 "good" part is 1/2 the price of the reproduction "defective" part. So you save money and get a better product.

-W (redoing my '68 and doing just that as we speak)

 

Probably July, 1968. Time/build code in the upper right corner of the trim tag will have the date your car passed the station on the assembly line where the trim tag was attached. She was probably not completed that day and would have needed another working day, possibly a day and a half, to be finished.

Look for an L code on the tag.

 

Takes a lot more than that to get my head spinning on a '68.

 

It says L18

-W

 

Easy Mike
About time code. On my 68 it seems that the code is C01 or G01.
I was not aware that it was a timecode on the trim tab.
What meaning is it, or how should I read it.
Have the Black Book, but nothing mentioned there...

Runar

 

The body build date or code is a letter for the month and a number for the day, starting with the first month of production. In 68, "A" indicated August 67 (body production began in August, the cars in Sept.), so C01 would be October 1st, G01 would be Feb. 1st. With the VIN you gave (10562) being February 68, I would say it's safe to assume that the body build code you saw was G01.

Clams, your right, that map pocket would be strange on the drivers side!

As far as your build date, the last 68 built in June 68 was VIN 23978. There are no build records for July 68, but the final 68 built in August was VIN 28566. On average, GM built about 3000 Corvettes a month in the late 60's. VIN 25971 would be about 2000 cars into July and L18 would be July 18th. I'd say your car was built the third week of July 1968.

 

Thanks!

A quick side question, do you know how long the down time was between when VIN 28566 was built and the 1st 1969 was built?

-W

 

I don't have anything giving me the down time for the 68 to 69 model change over, but I it couldn't have been much more than about 2 weeks. 3041 1969's were built in September 68, so 69 production had to start around the first of September.

 

Ya, I would not think it would take long - most of the running changes were already done with the exception of the new steering column.

-W

 

There are a lot of odd things that show up on a 68. The frame also changed somewhere. Mine is a very late car with a vin 28277 and there are a lot of 69 items on it that some would say it didn't come with. I know about my car back to when it was only two years old and I dought much was ever changed on it then. It does have the door pulls on it as well as smooth gauge panel, 8" wheels dated Augest 68, most internal parts of the engine are 69, so you can never tell for sure about what year or early or late a part is on a car like this. (68's) Unless you have or are building a NCRS car just use what ever seems to be the best for your own likes.

 

Considering the last one is 28566, you're within 300 of the end of the run. What's the date on your trim tag? I'm also curious if you got the 1969 and up front wheel spindles on your car?

-W