Good afternoon:

I am Pedro, from La Coruña (Spain); I'm going to buy a '75 C3 and I need your help.

In Spain I have to register the vehicle as "historic vehicle", because it is imported from USA and it hasn't European registration before.

For doing that, I need a report (it could be done by the university) saying that the car is factory original, and every accessorie was offered (as an extra) by Chevrolet in the '75.

So I have to know if side pides were originals (a factory extra), or were a vintage accesory (not originals from Chevrolet, but selled by third companies in the 75) .

Do you have this information?

If they require me an oficial report, do you know were I could get it? (I didn't find anything about old chevys in the chevrolet web page)

 

Side pipes were not offered from the factory or from a dealer in 1975.

The only original side pipes available for a C3 was 1969.

 

Thanks!
This is what I understood (I read it on the wikipedia).
But do you know if it was a historyc accessorie? (selled in the 75)

 

Hi p,
Yes.
The side exhaust were an accessory available in 1975 and COULD have been installed on the car at some time AFTER it left the factory at which it was built. No 1975 car left the factory with side exhaust as Vb described.
They would be in the "vintage accessory" category you describe. They were available from Chevrolet and other parts manufacturers.
Regards,
Alan

 

Interesting!
So It could be mounted AFTER lefting the factory, but side pides could be from Chevy?

 

Hi P,
Yes.
In fact that was quite common since the 69 style side exhaust were quite popular.
All the parts for the side exhaust system could be purchased from the parts department of a Chevrolet dealer.
Regards,
Alan

 

Keep in mind that '75 saw a big change in emission equipment. It was the first year for unleaded gas and the required Catalytic converters. This resulted in a single sentence exhaust system. To install side exhaust you would need to scrap the factory system, including the Catalytic converters.
Tom...

 

I'd check into the specifics of this rule. First, saying that a '75 could possibly have side pipes from a car 6 year previous ordered through a Chevy dealer and installed might be technically true, but in that vein you could say any vintage or performance part available from Chevy and that could be installed at a dealership falls under the rules? I'm going to doubt that. How about a '66 427? GM performance aluminum heads? How about how it affects '75 emissions? I think those rules are in place for what was a '75 accessory, not any part from Chevrolet history.

 

I've to check also how it is working in Spain; I don't really know what the law says (even if I know it, my english is not good enough) but it says something like "original".
Some engineers understand that it must be a factory-assembled or dealer-mounted accessory.
Others instead understand that original is "from these years" (maybe not mounted in the dealer, but you could do the modification in the '75).

 

I seriously doubt if any legitimate Chevrolet dealer would have broken the law and removed emissions equipment from the car.

So if the 69 parts were still available over the counter, they would not have been listed as a 75 replacement or accessory part number.

 

I bought a 1975 in 1976 and installed 1969 factory side pipes from Chevrolet dealer parts department .

 

Bingo!


While many were putting sidepipes on there cars, this was not quite legal as there were a bunch of federal laws about changing the emissions equipment.

Not that anyone driving a Corvette in the '70s cared.

So the dealer would not have installed them. They would sell the side pipes to you over the counter and you could install them.


A chain muffler shop would/should not have installed them, but many were franchises and sometimes owners would do it.

Independent muffler shops should not install them, but many did.

They were just a bolt on item. You unbolted the original exhaust and bolted on the side pipes . If you could handle driving on some ramps and a 9/16" wrench, you could change them. Lots of individuals installed the sidepipes themselves.


Now here is a new twist. There are sidepipes other than Chevrolet sidepipes. Do not assume they are the 1969 Chevrolet sidepipes. Thrush, Hooker, and more made side pipes for cars back then. Some were connected to exhaust headers and some only had the look of headers, connecting to the stack exhaust manifold.



So bottom line, no, the side pipes are not original to the car. It has been modified.

Yes, they were an item available then by third parties for installation. They would be a vintage accessory or a period-correct accessory.


You need to send pictures and people here will accurately tell you what you have.

 

You could also have bought header side pipes from GM for both small block and big block cars back then. Finding them today will be difficult and expensive but my guess would cost as much as just the reproduction 69 covers alone cost.