1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

[D S.]

In a previous post I submitted regarding 1970-1972 exhaust tips Pat Moresi said he thought Richard Fortier was perhaps making them. I was told that Richard advertises in the Driveline so I found the telephone number and called him. Great guy to talk to. He confirmed at that time that he was only going to produce the 1st design exhaust tips or spouts as the assembly manual refers to them. Good news.....
Richard says he is in the process of going forward with duplicating both of the 1970-1972 steel exhaust tip designs. He says they will have the same gauge steel, welds, and design and be flash chromed like the OEM versions. Feel free to email Richard for more details and to offer comments. Email him at: richfortier@chartermi.net

Thanks,
Scott Sims
Texas Chapter

[Edward J.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

Thanks For That Info Scott- I Am Looking For Tips For My 72

[D S.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

I emailed Richard and asked to put my name down for a set of 1st design tips. From all that he described he is going to duplicate even the steel "grain" finish. I sure hope they do turn out just like the originals. In my opinion it's way better than those stainless steel and chromed stainless steel. Look at it this way.....if you get lucky and someone finally sells them on eBay or the Corvette Forum for a pair of originals for, say, $300 and then one has to get them prepped and chromed they're going to run up to a total of $400 and you still have an old but refurbished set that likely has the pipes flared from being used.

[Pat M.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

As I said before, Richard repaired and restored 70 front grilles for me and did an outstanding job, just right. I'll bet his tips will be just as meticulous and correct as he's describing.

[D S.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

Pat, you're the person that got me started into looking into this so I thank you for that information. Richard described in detail what he's doing and has two 1st design and two 2nd design tips in his possession to view. I had emailed Ernie Fry of Willcox about it and he wanted to see the link to the thread that you posted your reply which I sent to him Friday night. If I were a gambling person I'd bet that Ernie might have a business interest in them.
Wish there were more people like Richard that paid as much attention to detail.

[Pat M.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

It's my pleasure, and thank you for taking the ball and running with it and getting us all up to speed on this issue. And I completely agree about the attention to detail, it's refreshing to see that someone still understands what "correct" means.

[Warren F.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

Jim,

Are your tips perimeter welded around the back plate, or spot welded. I viewed your items, but can't quite tell.

[Don L.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

I was at Richard Fortier's shop a couple weekends ago, and he showed me the exhaust tips he's developing. I saw a couple originals and a couple prototypes. The attention to detail comments made earlier in this thread are bang on. Richard is sincere and is very exacting in his design, tooling and fabrication. I can't wait to see the final product.

[Greg F.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

I emailed Richard and asked to put my name down for a set of 1st design tips. From all that he described he is going to duplicate even the steel "grain" finish. I sure hope they do turn out just like the originals. In my opinion it's way better than those stainless steel and chromed stainless steel. Look at it this way.....if you get lucky and someone finally sells them on eBay or the Corvette Forum for a pair of originals for, say, $300 and then one has to get them prepped and chromed they're going to run up to a total of $400 and you still have an old but refurbished set that likely has the pipes flared from being used.

I emailed Richard last night and already rec'd a nice detailed email from him. I'm excited about this opportunity! I have a question regarding which design is right for my car. I believe I can use either but want to confirm with the pros! I have a 71 and the VIN is 09990 (build date of Feb 1971). The TIM&JG states there is a running change from 1970 - s/n 14,000 to 1971 - s/n 16,000.

I'm assuming that I can use either design 1 or design 2, correct?

Thanks,
Greg

[D S.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

As I interpret the 1970-1972 JG, yes. Or a combination of both to about 1971 SN 16,000. Wish I could find a passenger side 1st design but now that Richard is going to produce them.......
When I bought my March built 1970 in 2003 I was curious why there were two different type exhaust manifolds, one with the AIR holes plugged and one without AIR holes. Both were dated the same month and year. I understand that during that particular period of time they ran out of one or the other and installed what was available whether they matched or not. As much as I hated to change it out the AIR one was badly cracked.

[Warren F.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

Greg,

On my two '71's, vin #12659 has 1st design tips. The other car vin #15065 has one 1st design and one 2nd design tips.

[D S.]

Re: 1970-1972 exhaust tips revisited

That's like the front grilles on the 1970 Corvette. It wasn't uncommon to see one of each type on the same car. One with the studs and the other with the screw holes on the lower rail.