Early or late Vette??

[76L82]

Am I to assume that a Vette built prior to June 30 of the year is an "early" Vette and one built after June 30 is a "late" Vette?? Or is there another distinction??

Reason I ask, is that I was taking my last ride of the season...really wanted to get the old girl in the garage early and do some overhaul work to the belts, hoses, etc....when you guessed it...temp gauge starts to spike...there is a hissing sound and then no radiator fluid.

Took a look under the car and saw that my lower radiator hose had been rubbing for some time on part of the lower frame of the radiator support and there was a big hole in it. My parts store...although they didn't have one in stock...nor did anyone that I called...said that they listed two for the 1976 Vette...one for an early Vette and then one for "others". Any thoughts???

[Willis76]

The difference in the early vs late 76 radiator is in the top hose outlet. The early 76 upper outlet pipe goes to the right and late 76 upper outlet pipe goes straight back. I just replaced my upper hose. (I have an early 76, built Sep 75)

The lower hose is the same for both early and late. I found this out through Dr. Rebuild site at:

http://www.docrebuild.com/dr-r-web/RAD-HOSE2.PDF

Best bet, take the old one with you when you buy another.

good luck

[76L82]

Willis - Excellent source! Thanks. I am going to try to put a new hose on before I wheel her in the garage for the Winter.

I see you live in Mass. Do you have to put the Vette up for the Winter or does where you live stay mild? Knew a guy down on the Cape and I swear he drove his Vette year round!! Lucky bugger!!

[Willis76]

You're welcome - Dr Rebuild is a good source for these old cars.

Sometimes I think we get more snow than Maine down here. I live south of Boston and keep the Vette in the garage. I do try to drive mine throughout the winter, as long as the roads are dry and "fairly clean". Usually not too far though, but far enough to make sure everything gets some use, and most importantly - to put that big smile back on my face!

[76L82]

Amen Buddy! Let's hope for a mild one!

[DDLS3]

There is always the alternative of moving south 49 years in Maine was enough for me............I love Kentucky. I understand that Kingfield got 3" of snow just over 2 weeks ago, hope that is not an omen of things to come.

[Vettehead Mikey]

Originally posted by 76L82
Am I to assume that a Vette built prior to June 30 of the year is an "early" Vette and one built after June 30 is a "late" Vette?? Or is there another distinction??

The 'early' and 'late' designations is another confusing and unfortunate piece of terminology used in the Corvette hobby. It is should be used in the context of 'first design' vs. 'second design' components.

GM made running changes on cars thoughout the model year. Usually they switched from one design to another as the old style parts ran out, whenever that may be early, middle or late in the production year.

It's entirely possible that there are examples of components that switched from first design to second design within the first days or weeks of production, or conversely there are examples (my own car is one) where the switch was almost at the very end of the production year.

Using the terms 'early' or l'ate', and relating it to the calendar year makes things very confusing as you can see.

[76L82]

DDL - I live with 3 ski nuts who think snow is "white gold" Have a place in Kingfield, there was most definitely snow there...in fact 6 inches last week...the first skier of the year climbed Sugarloaf with his skis strapped to his back and then skiied down. I have never been one to look forward to it...I kinda ski out of self defense You're right...Kentucky sure is beautiful!

[Robin7TFour]

the only snow down here will land you in jail for about 5-10 years


robin