68 headlight dirt shields

[James H.]

I have a very early 68 vin #00320 and I'm curious if all 68s had dirt shields in front of the head lights.. my BB has approx 35k miles and shows no sign of them.
Thanks,
Jim

[Joe L.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

I have a very early 68 vin #00320 and I'm curious if all 68s had dirt shields in front of the head lights.. my BB has approx 35k miles and shows no sign of them.
Thanks,
Jim

Jim-----


Very early 1968's had all sorts of strange things associated with them. I once had the opportunity to examine an untouched, very early 1968 and I was amazed at all the strange things I found. I wish I had kept notes and taken lots of pictures, but I did not.

While I can't say so for sure, I would not be surprised if very early 1968's lacked the headlamp shields. The original part number of the shields implies that they could have been introduced at some point after the start of the model year.

[James H.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

Thanks Joe,
Do you know if the dirt shields required any specials hardware? or maybe I wont worry about them..

[Joe L.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

Thanks Joe,
Do you know if the dirt shields required any specials hardware? or maybe I wont worry about them..

James-----


I believe they were attached by 3 phosphate-finished, hex head, self-tapping screws.

By the way, the 1968 and early 1969 shields were different than the later 1969+. The later shields were slightly smaller in size.

[John C.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

James

Check the formed steel channel at the very front of the car. There should be three holes in the channel on each side directly in front of the headlights to mount the shield. If you don't have these holes you know you never had the shields.

On later 68's there are notches in the bumper directly below the screw holes to allow the shield to be added and removed from the car with the bumper in place. The early 68's did not have the notches and you must actually remove the bumper to add or remove the shield.

Along with the screws that Joe mentioned, there is also a c-nut that clips to the shield to mount them. All are available in reproduction.

John

[Jim T.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

My FEB built 1968 bought in MAR came with the shields and they are still in place after 43 years this month.

[William H.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

I've always thought is was strange when you see a $50,000 car with out them??? My Mid Dec car has them.

[Jack C.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

My January 22 built 68 has them.

[Robert M.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

my Serial # 3907 has them

[James H.]

Re: 68 headlight dirt shields

Thanks all,
As soon as I get it out of storage, I'll have to look to see if it has the mounting hardware.
Jim