1965 A. O. Smith body survey
1965 A. O. Smith body survey - We need your help uncovering a part of Corvette history!
Mark Francois and I need your help with some research we are conducting on 1965 Corvettes that have Dow Smith built bodies, commonly referred to as A. O. Smith bodies (“AOS”). Our NCRS web administrator John Waggoner will be posting a sticky thread soon with our survey questions regarding 1965 Corvettes with A. O. Smith bodies. If you are not sure if your 1965 Corvette has an A. O. Smith body—look at your trim tag. If the body number on your trim tag starts with the letter “A”, then you have an A. O. Smith body. St. Louis bodies have body numbers that start with the letter “S”.
AOS bodies have some subtle but well known differences from St. Louis built bodies, but there are a number of not-so-well known anomalies as well that we have observed in unmolested, original cars. Some of these more obscure differences (anomalies) include:
v Side cross flags emblems were not uniformly centered over the three gill side vents;
v Dash console side tab rivets were, at times, painted though the original interior and exterior colors are the same (e.g. red exterior with red interior). Typically, these side tab rivets were only painted if the exterior and interior colors were different colors;
v Often these dash console side tab rivets were black, but occasionally some were silver colored.
v On some AOS non-power window cars, a power window indexing dimple on one or both door jambs between the two door hinges may exist (thought to be a St. Louis-only trait);
v Hood release cable clips along the firewall were attached by shouldered Philips head screws instead of rivets;
We are attempting to identify the VIN series range where these anomalies appear. In order to gather meaningful data, we need your help in obtaining as much information from as many cars as possible. If you own a 1965 Corvette with an original AOS built body, [that has its original front-end fiberglass and emblems and un-restored door jambs], please help us in our research by completing the survey once John Waggoner posts the survey form in a sticky thread at the top of the discussion board. Even if you can only provide a portion of the information that we are researching, your help is still needed and appreciated. If you are able to take quality, high resolution photos to include with your survey responses, this will enhance our research.
Find the Survey Form Here! You can print the form and take it to your car to fill in the blanks. Come back to the form on your computer and type the data into the form so it is easily readable. Save them form to your computer then email it to Mark or Tony along with any pictures you can provide. Email addresses included on the form.
We greatly appreciate your support, and we intend to publish our findings in a future Restorer article.
Thank you for your help!
Mark Francois & Tony Stein
Mark Francois and I need your help with some research we are conducting on 1965 Corvettes that have Dow Smith built bodies, commonly referred to as A. O. Smith bodies (“AOS”). Our NCRS web administrator John Waggoner will be posting a sticky thread soon with our survey questions regarding 1965 Corvettes with A. O. Smith bodies. If you are not sure if your 1965 Corvette has an A. O. Smith body—look at your trim tag. If the body number on your trim tag starts with the letter “A”, then you have an A. O. Smith body. St. Louis bodies have body numbers that start with the letter “S”.
AOS bodies have some subtle but well known differences from St. Louis built bodies, but there are a number of not-so-well known anomalies as well that we have observed in unmolested, original cars. Some of these more obscure differences (anomalies) include:
v Side cross flags emblems were not uniformly centered over the three gill side vents;
v Dash console side tab rivets were, at times, painted though the original interior and exterior colors are the same (e.g. red exterior with red interior). Typically, these side tab rivets were only painted if the exterior and interior colors were different colors;
v Often these dash console side tab rivets were black, but occasionally some were silver colored.
v On some AOS non-power window cars, a power window indexing dimple on one or both door jambs between the two door hinges may exist (thought to be a St. Louis-only trait);
v Hood release cable clips along the firewall were attached by shouldered Philips head screws instead of rivets;
We are attempting to identify the VIN series range where these anomalies appear. In order to gather meaningful data, we need your help in obtaining as much information from as many cars as possible. If you own a 1965 Corvette with an original AOS built body, [that has its original front-end fiberglass and emblems and un-restored door jambs], please help us in our research by completing the survey once John Waggoner posts the survey form in a sticky thread at the top of the discussion board. Even if you can only provide a portion of the information that we are researching, your help is still needed and appreciated. If you are able to take quality, high resolution photos to include with your survey responses, this will enhance our research.
Find the Survey Form Here! You can print the form and take it to your car to fill in the blanks. Come back to the form on your computer and type the data into the form so it is easily readable. Save them form to your computer then email it to Mark or Tony along with any pictures you can provide. Email addresses included on the form.
We greatly appreciate your support, and we intend to publish our findings in a future Restorer article.
Thank you for your help!
Mark Francois & Tony Stein
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