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73 or 74?

Wamp

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2001
Messages
274
Location
Arizona
Corvette
'74 Yellow/Tan int '96 Black/Black int LT4
Hello all

My question is do I have a 73 or do I have a 74? Title says 74, bumpers (rubber) say I have a 74, but as I am redoing my interior the inside of door panels and T-tops tell me I have a 73. Also (get this) Owner never put any fix up parts except mechanical all is original but it seems to have a 1973 emblem on the gas door. looking up my carburator it is also listed for a 1973. I wonder what other parts are 73?

Wamp '74
 
What's the VIN number and interior trim code? Send them to me in a PM if you're not comfortable posting them.
 
Wamp, My guess is that you have an early 74. Since they started selling 74's in sep or oct of 73, this would not be unusual. I believe that my 74, also had 73 on the door panels.........Steve
 
My husband has a 74. It's our understanding that 74s did not have an emblem on the gas door, unlike 73 and 75 Corvettes. Of course, it could have been added later.

Lemon Peel aka Elaine
 
Rob and I hammered the numbers out last night, I knew it was a 74, but it has so many 73 parts on it. My biggest thing was the 73 emblem, since it is so faded I wanted to replace it, but like you say 74 is not suppose to have one. I talked to the original owner of the car late last night, he said he picked it up from the dealer that way. Wonder if Gm had an extra 73 lid laying around and just stuck it on.
 
Did you figure out what the build date was, this would be interesting........Steve
 
Wamp said:
My biggest thing was the 73 emblem, since it is so faded I wanted to replace it, but like you say 74 is not suppose to have one. I talked to the original owner of the car late last night, he said he picked it up from the dealer that way. Wonder if Gm had an extra 73 lid laying around and just stuck it on.

Hi Wamp,

That's kinda strange... If I'm not mistaken, according to the NCRS judging guide, even late 73's can be seen without the gas lid emblem. What is the build date of your car (from door trim tag)?

Well, that said, my car does have an emblem, but I always assumed that a previous owner had installed it. And I like it! :D

-Pedro
 
Gas door emblem

As I said earlier, we also have a 74 roadster which is the very final stages of being restored...hooray!! It did not have a gas door emblem, but we decided to add one while it was being re-done. We know it is not original, but we both like it better with an emblem! That could very well have been what happened to your 74.

We'll have the 74 back next week after 5-1/2 months!!!

Lemon Peel
 
build date

The build date in november 8 1973. I know for a fact the owners never added it now, called him back again today. He swears it came with the emblem. The emblem is so faded has no color to it at all thats what got me started I was gonna replace it and from part mags found out 74's never came with an emblem. Looked up the carb too and it's listed as a carter 73 model. anyone know somemore real destinctions between the 73 and 74 besides the bumpers and emblem?
 
I have a Sept 11, '73 built "1974"(VIN #01950), so, yes all the parts will be dated "1973". Mine also does NOT have the gas door emblem. It is quite possible "a few" could have come with it.
 
Wamp said:
anyone know somemore real destinctions between the 73 and 74 besides the bumpers and emblem?
Late '73s and all '74 had black grills in the front bumper. Early '73 had chrome leading edges.

'73 had one year only exhaust tips.
'73 had the alarm key at the rear.

There's lots of cross over engine numbers if you're into the NCRS game.:beer
 
my grills have chrome edges...

and its one one the last ones built...like in the last 1800 or so if memory serves...reason i say it , is due to the fact that the chrome looks bad and im thinkin i need to replace them.
Vettehead Mikey said:
Late '73s and all '74 had black grills in the front bumper. Early '73 had chrome leading edges.

'73 had one year only exhaust tips.
'73 had the alarm key at the rear.

There's lots of cross over engine numbers if you're into the NCRS game.:beer
 
i have a friend who inherited (from his dad) a 1970 chevelle ss ls6.this car came factory with two of one type rim on one side, and two diffrent style on the other.no-one knew till the car was months old.this car was made in or around the g.m. strike, but goes to show that the wrong gas cap thing could happen.mike
 
With a November, 1973 build date, every part in the car would carry a 1973 date; 10,000 74's had been built by then, so it's unlikely any leftover '73 parts (the '73 built-out in July '73) would find their way on the car four months later. Possible, but not probable - exceptions will be noted in the JG, with date ranges.

:beer
 
Wamp said:
He swears it came with the emblem. The emblem is so faded has no color to it at all thats what got me started I was gonna replace it and from part mags found out 74's never came with an emblem.
What emblem is on the gas lid? From your descriptions of the fading it sounds like the red sunburst emblem. The 73 had the crossed flags emblem on the gas lid. The red sunburst emblem for the gas lid did not come out until 75.

tom...
 
Tom...when i got my '73 the gas tank lid emblem was flags , but they were just chrome....no paint. i have since replaced it with new painted flags, much better...but i wonder if they were originaly chrome or just lost paint over 30 or so yrs?

Thanks, Chas:w

Tom73 said:
What emblem is on the gas lid? From your descriptions of the fading it sounds like the red sunburst emblem. The 73 had the crossed flags emblem on the gas lid. The red sunburst emblem for the gas lid did not come out until 75.

tom...
 
vettedude73 said:
but i wonder if they were originaly chrome or just lost paint over 30 or so yrs?
They were all painted originally, but most lost some or all of the paint over the years. Mine had just traces of the red remaining.
 
vettedude73 said:
Tom...when i got my '73 the gas tank lid emblem was flags , but they were just chrome....no paint. i have since replaced it with new painted flags, much better...but i wonder if they were originaly chrome or just lost paint over 30 or so yrs?
I just used some enamel model car paint to touch up mine. Very easy to do for the flags.

tom...
 

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