63 "Caution" stickers

[Michael G.]

Thought I'd start a new thread to discuss the placement and wording of the CAUTION stickers found on 63's. The question Michael Hanson and I were discussing in the middle of another thread was whether early 63 cars had CAUTION stickers on both the radiator top and the expansion tank. Also to be considered is whether the wording of the two matched when both were found on one car...

Please let me know what you think....

Thanks,

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

Thought I'd start a new thread to discuss the placement and wording of the CAUTION stickers found on 63's. The question Michael Hanson and I were discussing in the middle of another thread was whether early 63 cars had CAUTION stickers on both the radiator top and the expansion tank. Also to be considered is whether the wording of the two matched when both were found on one car...

Please let me know what you think....

Thanks,

Michael,

It's often difficult to nail down the time period of changes made during a model year, especially the 1963 model year. We normally have 45+ year old cars to observe and the 63 AIM, neither of which are actual documentation. Such is the case with the coolant caution stickers and their usage/placement.
I'm not sure (haven't looked) but I believe the AIM and the JG seem to indicate that only one sticker was used for most of the first half of the 63 model. I don't agree.

Fortunately, for us, we have pictures of brand new cars to help sort this out. The first pic below is a scan of a page from a May 1963 Road & Track magazine that shows the engine compartment. Not very clear but it does seem to show a sticker/label on both the coolant tank and the radiator.

The 2nd and 3rd pic's are cropped closeup scans of the original 8X10 photo from the Road & Track files. Each clearly show a sticker in both locations.

We know this is an early production car (probably October 63?) because of the lack of any chrome items on the engine. (along with several other tell tale signs) Chrome wasn't used on any 63 engines until at least 19 Nov 62 and more likely 3 January 63, according to GM NPC's. Also, it has the silver 7014730 throttle return spring that was used in 63 production until 25 October 1962.

The sticker on the coolant tank appears to be a small square shape. The sticker on the radiator appears to be the conventional rectangular shape that we're used to seeing on 63-64's.

I can't read the printing, yet, but I'm working on it. I'll scan the original 8X10 again and see if I can up the quality.

[Bill C.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

Michael; nice photos. Isn't that square sticker on the tank a '62 item??
Regards
Bill

[Michael G.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

I saw one other virgin early 63 car with the 62 sticker, so I'm tempted to put the square 62 sticker on the coolant tank and leave the other one on my radiator.

Anyone else have an original car with that sticker?

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

I saw one other virgin early 63 car with the 62 sticker, so I'm tempted to put the square 62 sticker on the coolant tank and leave the other one on my radiator.

Anyone else have an original car with that sticker?

Here's another picture of a near new 63. Yes, it already has some custom items but this pic was found in a 1963 issue of "Custom Corvettes". It was a brand new 63.
Both the coolant tank and radiator stickers are clearly visible.

The car also has all of the early production items, including the silver throttle return spring. The new blue spring entered production on 25 October 62 so we know this is an early car.

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

Michael; nice photos. Isn't that square sticker on the tank a '62 item??
Regards
Bill

Thanks Bill. I'll bet you're right on the small sticker being the same as the one used on 1962 models. I don't know much about 62's but I do vaguely remember seeing a reproduction sticker that looked just like that on a friends restored 62.

I wonder what part number is shown in the 62 AIM?

[Michael G.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

I saw one other virgin early 63 car with the 62 sticker, so I'm tempted to put the square 62 sticker on the coolant tank and leave the other one on my radiator.

Anyone else have an original car with that sticker?

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

I saw one other virgin early 63 car with the 62 sticker, so I'm tempted to put the square 62 sticker on the coolant tank and leave the other one on my radiator.

Anyone else have an original car with that sticker?

I found pictures of the sticker on new early production 63's on pages 127, 135 and 177 in the Noland Adams book. Also, page 136 for the 2nd design long sticket on the coolant tank on a mid production 63 car.

[Michael G.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

Thanks Michael, the pic of an early car on page 127 of Noland's book shows what I was looking for: the 62 sticker on the coolant tank, as well as the long sticker on radiator of the same car.

Also, in looking through Noland's book, something else stood out: a few pics of 63's on the assembly with NO stencil on the passenger's side of the frame rail (page 74, but larger on page 28). If its not on the right side, it must be on the left side, as was my car. On page 29 there's a 63 coupe on the line with something white where my stencil is.

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

Thanks Michael, the pic of an early car on page 127 of Noland's book shows what I was looking for: the 62 sticker on the coolant tank, as well as the long sticker on radiator of the same car.

Also, in looking through Noland's book, something else stood out: a few pics of 63's on the assembly with NO stencil on the passenger's side of the frame rail (page 74, but larger on page 28). If its not on the right side, it must be on the left side, as was my car. On page 29 there's a 63 coupe on the line with something white where my stencil is.

Michael,

I found the article that Bill Sangrey wrote for the Restorer magazine a few years ago. I only have a scan of the article, not the magazine so I don't know when it appeared. I can post the page here, if I'm allowed to do that???

He found a LOT of interesting things on his chassis during disassembly, including the Smith and GM part numbers on the opposite side that would be considered correct.

Very interesting article.

[Michael G.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

Michael, I have the 63-64 Restorer files and tried to search for the article. I found 33 articles by Bill (or mentioning him), but none of them had the pics you spoke of. Perhaps they are in a different model year section.

What the heck, post the scan, if it gets deleted, we'll know you weren't supposed to do it.

Either that or email me a copy

Thanks,

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

Michael, I have the 63-64 Restorer files and tried to search for the article. I found 33 articles by Bill (or mentioning him), but none of them had the pics you spoke of. Perhaps they are in a different model year section.

What the heck, post the scan, if it gets deleted, we'll know you weren't supposed to do it.

Either that or email me a copy

Thanks,

Here's the original page Mike. Very interesting.

[Michael G.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

After a couple of years of working on 63's (not counting the one I had in the 60's) I have come to the conclusion that almost anything could have happened in the first six months of 63 production. I might question an LS9 in one, but not much else....

I'm leaving my frame stencil on the drivers side where I found it, (and where it was before its first restoration) I'll take the points....

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 "Caution" stickers

After a couple of years of working on 63's (not counting the one I had in the 60's) I have come to the conclusion that almost anything could have happened in the first six months of 63 production. I might question an LS9 in one, but not much else....

I'm leaving my frame stencil on the drivers side where I found it, (and where it was before its first restoration) I'll take the points....

I would print the article and have it handy during judging. Highlight the paragraph that mentions the location of the frame number.