Heater Delete 1968-9's and the Lightweight L88's

[Richard P.]

I have owned a 69 project car for 12 years or more and my shop to restore it is coming together so its time to open up some un answered questions. So we all know that the Government mandated Defrosters in 1968 so all cars produced after that had Heaters. And we also know that the 1967 L 88's did not come with Heaters. For a Long time it was thought that all L88's were heater delete but that has long since been proven false. Watching another TV Auction I watched another 69 L88 Heater Delete car sell for 500k. So I can't see people who are in the know paying that for a car that is miss represented. At some of the big Vette shows I have talked to people who swore that there were Heater Delete 69-9's and they remember them when new.
So what this all boils down to for me is my project car shows a lot of signs of being an L88 and yes it is heater delete. My Car currently is a full blown custom car built in the early 80's right in the era when it was thought that all L88's were heater delete. But I just don't see somebody removing the Heater option on a custom street car. I have no documentation for this car and my history search is void between 1969 and 1985.
There has been thought that some L88's went directly to race teams and never passed threw a dealership and they were known as Lightweights. My car went threw a Dealership in Texas. I have never had any confirmation from anybody that there ever was a Lightweight and if there was what did it consist of. If a car was produced with out a Heater, what was done on the Firewall ? Was there a Special Fiberglass Block off produced similar the Fender Flares and headlight covers. ?

[Dick W.]

Re: Heater Delete 1968-9's and the Lightweight L88's

Never seen a DOCUMENTED heater delete past the '67 model year. You would have a VERY hard time getting full credit in NCRS or BG judging.

[Joe L.]

Re: Heater Delete 1968-9's and the Lightweight L88's

Never seen a DOCUMENTED heater delete past the '67 model year. You would have a VERY hard time getting full credit in NCRS or BG judging.

Dick------


I agree. There are a lot of non-standard things that GM might do with a small number of cars primarily through the COPO process. However, I really don't think that doing something that would contravene federal regulations would be one of them. If the car has a standard VIN, I'm virtually certain of this. In fact, even if such a car was built for "experimental" purposes, I don't think that GM would ever have let such a car get out of their control and, likely, such a car would have been destroyed when the purpose it was built for was over. GM would have had too much to lose and virtually nothing to gain.