early vs late 1976 L 88 body / engine

[Larry K.]

new to corvetts. Have 76 L82 four speed,have seen reference to early
or late. Have build date of Oct 22nd 76 best I can tell. Rear bumper/AC compressor
and air pump or no air pump ect. Also trying verify engine is original to car.
would appreciate any help.

[Patrick H.]

Re: early vs late 1976 L 88 body / engine

Not sure why you have L88 in the title?

I would also suspect that your build date is Oct 22, 1975, as by Oct 76 they were building model year 1977s.

Having worked on both 76s and 77s, I would say that your car is an early 1976 with regards to buying parts. In reality, most of 1976 has the "early" parts, and the later 1977 style parts occur toward the end of the model year.

[Rick N.]

Re: early vs late 1976 L 88 body / engine

Two items come to mind when determining early and later production 76's.

Early cars use an axial A/C compressor and later use the Radial compressor.

Early cars use the same style radiator, shroud, and support as 1975 where later cars use the radiator, shroud, and support as a 77 and later.

[Tom B.]

Re: early vs late 1976 L 88 body / engine

Lots of running production changes in 76. I'm an orig owner of 76 L82 auto. Small rear bumper emblem was until dec I believe. My car is a 35000 prod in May still has the large A6 compressor. All 76 L82 have smog pump. Later production around June or July small A/c compressor , dome lite moved to between t tops and coat hook added. Also leather interior and power steering and brakes became standard in later production . Before then they were options.