67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

[Bill Becker]

I just received what I was told is an original 67 Rockwell panel. I am however sending it back as it's not quite the condition I was lead to believe (imagine that). My question is; on original Rockwell replacements, were the openings in the louvers cut at the factory or left for the purchaser to cut?

Thanks, Bill Becker

[Chuck S.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Bill,

I don't know about mid-years or service replacements, but all the "Rockwell" panels on my '70 have a label embedded in the fiberglass that indentifies them as REAL Rockwells and have a week/year date code. If the panel didn't have such a label, I would be highly suspicious.

Chuck Sangerhausen

[Wayne W.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

They should be black fiberglass and yes they were cut from the factory. Many late supplied panels were of very poor quality and I like you sent many back. Oh I wish now I hadn`t done that!

[Mark J.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Pardon my ignorance about Rockwell panels. Are these aftermarket panels or did GM use them as part of original assemblies? What might be a good reference source for further information?

Mark

[Bill W.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Bill.... they were cut or trimmed when built. this was done by humans and is not now, and was not then perfect.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Mark,

The Automotive Division of North American Rockwell, the aerospace company, was an original component supplier of fiberglass body panels to GM.

The labels on my panels (I believe these have also been shown in other Corvette references), are white with blue printing and have the old Rockwell logo clearly visible. If your car has these labels (I say "if" because different model years may have used different suppliers), you find them during a body-off restoration, e. g. when you remove the black-out paint in your wheel wells. I found one on the bulkhead behind my left front tire. It was toward the bottom of the bulkhead and just inside the fender. It has a week/year date code: 28-70

Chuck Sangerhausen

[Tom B.]

Re: Original fiberglass panels

Mark,

I can stand to be corrected (and very quickly, at that), but I've always had the impression that original "midyear" fiberglass panels, at least from the factory, did not have the "Rockwell" identification embedded in the fiberglass.

I don't think it was found in "original" factory fiberglass until sometime in the early shark years, like 1970 or so. Also, I haven't seen a reference to identifying fiberglass in the judging manuals (at least before and including the 68-69 JM) that says anything about original fiberglass identified as "Rockwell". As I said though, I could be mistaken. TBarr #24014

[Wayne W.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

The black 67 Panels never had the Rockwell stickers or other designation. They were originally made by MFG and gave that designation on them with a little cartouche cast into the panel allong with the part number. MFG was bought out by Rockwell sometime in later years, but it seems that rockwell never added their logo to the part.

[Franz E]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

If memory serves me correctly, Rockwell body panels were manufactured at it's Ashtabula, Ohio (North eastern Ohio) plant. Rockwell acquired Morris (Morrison?) Fiberglass Boat Company from the Morris family in the mid seventies. Rockwell anticipated that the automotive segment would increase significantly with additional application's for fiberglass components. One of Morris's primary products was a small, green in color, fiberglass boat for Sears. Morris manufactured all major Corvette body panel since day one. There were two facilities involved Ashtabula, Ohio (Corvette) and Centralia, Illinois. During the late seventies or early eighties production was transferred to Centralia to consolidate all compression molded products. The primary product line was fiberglass tilt-front ends for heavy truck, such as Mack and Freightliner. The Rockwell logo was a corporate directive and to appear on all Rockwell products. The plastic division would have had one of five logos: 1. Rockwell logo only with NO corporate identification. 2. Rockwell logo with "North American Rockwell" on a label which appeared to be in-molded. 3. Same as 2 however, it was a sticker that was manually applied after molding. 4. Same as 2 & 3 corporate identification was revised to "Rockwell International" Rockwell supplied GMPD (General Motor Parts Division) with service requirements. It's important to emphasize that Rockwell service components were manufactured from the original production tools and with contemporary technology. Raw material (dark glass, white glass and on occasion white glass that had a greenish appearance) and manufacturing equipment would have been "State of the art" technology. Our plastic division was to be one of the largest in the automotive group. Rockwell International later divested it's plastic division in the early nineties. Morris purchased the Ashtabula plant back and presently manufactures the floor and other panels for the C5.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Franz,

Gee, thanks for the history! It's nice to have a former employee right here on NDB. Wish we had more former GM employees with such good memories to answer some of these nagging questions.

My '70 has label option Number 2. Labels on my panels also say, on the first line in slightly larger print, "Automotive Division", then "North American Rockwell". Further down on the label it says "Reinforced Plastic Products Plants", and the following line has the week/year date code.

Chuck Sangerhausen

[Mark J.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Chuck, Tom, Franz,

Thanks for the information. I recently replaced the gas tank in my '66 and while apart I found a Rockwell logo on the inside of the taillight panel (driver's side). I wondered if the car had been tapped in the rear sometime in the past and repaired with an aftermarket Rockwell panel. There was no evidence of fiberglass repair you see on some cars. All of the bonding strips were on clean-sanded surfaces. Just curious. I wish I still had the car apart to take a closer look at the Rockwell detail.

Mark

[Robert C.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

I don't believe the Rockwell logo was on ALL parts. There are to many that are original parts back in the 60s and 70s without any logo's. My 71 had a dated week-year logo one the inside of the spare tire carrier. I only saw a couple more like it after that. Many didn't have them. I think during those years they just put them in the glass every so often. My 65 rear left fender has a dated (32wk-1982)logo on the inside!!!!!!!!!


Texas Chapter NCRS

[Chuck S.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Mark,

As I said before, I know ZIP about mid-years or service replacement panels thereof, but I still have an opinion and it is this: based on what others have said here about mid-year panels, I believe that your car indeed might have been tapped from the rear, and repaired with the genuine GM service replacement panel available in that time period, i.e. manufactured by Rockwell with the discussed label.

The clue is in the sanding for the bonding strips; the factory, at least on the '70s, used SAND BLASTING to roughen up the fiberglass areas that were being bonded. It was fast and it was thorough. I would suspect any ground or sanded fiberglass as being indicative of body shop repair. Sounds like they did a good job though.

Rear tail-light panel is always a good place to look for body damage in a Corvette; you see, you get these "always wanted to own one" guys following close behind you, gawking at your beautiful car, and they fail to see your brake lights come on for the stop light, traffic, etc. And, they end up paying for a Corvette, at least the rear end of one, even if they don't get to drive it. But, this is all strictly BS and speculation...

Check for a date stamp on the panel next time you drop your tank.

Chuck Sangerhausen

[Chuck S.]

Re: 67 Rockwell Louvered Fender

Bob,

I think you could be right about all panels not having the logo; I have not inventoried all my panels to see that the label is on all of them, but it seems I would have seen more than the two or three labels I know of if all of panels had them.

Regarding spare tire carriers, I have seen them with the label both in person and in photographs, but both of the ones I have for my car (the smashed original and a pristine replacement) DO NOT have the label.

Chuck Sangerhausen