'73 454 Hood Emblems

[Tom Freeman]

I recently picked up a two owner, 46000 mile, 454 '73. In # 2 condition with an original no-hit body. But, it does not have the 454 emblems on the hood. Best I can determin is that it did not come from the factory with them. I know that the judging manual states that some were delivered without the emblems.

Does any one have any details of this? Such as was the ones delivered without the emblems were of a specific VIN series or ???

Any thoughts on adding the emblems? Hate to have a 454 and no one know it so have been considering puting them on, but if it did not come with them........

Appreciate any input.

tom...

[Joe L.]

Re: '73 454 Hood Emblems

Tom----

Originally, 1973 LS-4 Corvettes were scheduled to be produced with a DECAL on each side of the hood as the "454" designator. I have never seen an original car(or any other, for that matter)with a decal, but, I've certainly not seen every 73 LS-4 ever made, either. I can find no evidence that this decal, GM #336101, ever went into production. It was NEVER available in service.

I expect that when the first one was applied to a car, and someone saw how tacky it looked, the decal was immediately scrapped. During the period of time that it took for the new, metal emblem to be designed and produced, LS-4 cars probably received no emblem, but I do not know how long this took.

I'm generally a big believer in originality, but, in this case, if it were me, I'd probably add the emblem. The emblems were original for 73 LS-4s, whether or not they were original for your particular car. These emblems are still available from GM under part number 336119.

[Joe L.]

Re: '73 454 Hood Emblems

Tom----

Originally, 1973 LS-4 Corvettes were scheduled to be produced with a DECAL on each side of the hood as the "454" designator. I have never seen an original car(or any other, for that matter)with a decal, but, I've certainly not seen every 73 LS-4 ever made, either. I can find no evidence that this decal, GM #336101, ever went into production. It was NEVER available in service.

I expect that when the first one was applied to a car, and someone saw how tacky it looked, the decal was immediately scrapped. During the period of time that it took for the new, metal emblem to be designed and produced, LS-4 cars probably received no emblem, but I do not know how long this took.

I'm generally a big believer in originality, but, in this case, if it were me, I'd probably add the emblem. The emblems were original for 73 LS-4s, whether or not they were original for your particular car. These emblems are still available from GM under part number 336119.

[Tom Freeman]

Re: '73 454 Hood Emblems

Joe, the cars VIN is in the 5000's, third month of production, so don't think that the decal situation would apply to it. I am leaning to adding the emblems as I said, why have a 454 and noone know it.

[Tom Freeman]

Re: '73 454 Hood Emblems

Joe, the cars VIN is in the 5000's, third month of production, so don't think that the decal situation would apply to it. I am leaning to adding the emblems as I said, why have a 454 and noone know it.

[Patrick H.]

Re: '73 454 Hood Emblems

Tom,

Did you ever think about having a local vinyl graphic designer make a custom set of 454 graphics? You could probably make a red and black set of numbers very similar in appearance to the original metal ones, or be different and choose a script similar to the "LT-1" graphic or the "L-88" that you see people have added to a few of those cars. At least that way you wont have had to drill any holes, or even glued on anything that might ruin the paint.

Just a thought.

Patrick

[Patrick H.]

Re: '73 454 Hood Emblems

Tom,

Did you ever think about having a local vinyl graphic designer make a custom set of 454 graphics? You could probably make a red and black set of numbers very similar in appearance to the original metal ones, or be different and choose a script similar to the "LT-1" graphic or the "L-88" that you see people have added to a few of those cars. At least that way you wont have had to drill any holes, or even glued on anything that might ruin the paint.

Just a thought.

Patrick