68 Center Gauge Bezel

[Stefan H.]

[John B.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Stefan,My 68 is smooth. I think there is an early and a late 68 bezel, but both are smooth according to the Judging Guide.Regards,John

[Terry B.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Hi Stefan,

As far as I know, '68 had only one style of console bezel. One way to determine if you have the '68 or '69 bezel, beside smooth or grain texture, is what is at the bottom of the bezel. '68 had the cross flag logo and '69 had the engine size identification plate. What I would expect to see on a late '68 is the '68 style bezel. On the very early production year model, some cars could possibly have the older bezel style part until factory supplies ran out. We have seen this on the '68 style exterior front grill on very early '69 production. For what it is worth, '68 console bezels are not found in reproduction form. If you are lucky enough to have an original, you can restore it or there are people out there who do excellent restorations. The trick is finding the '68 bezel.

Terry

[Jim T.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Stefan how long has your 1968 been in Sweden? Just curious? My 1968 convertible has its original center gauge bezel and it is smooth and a FEB 1968 build month. If you were able to find an original replacement it would be a rare find if the upper top portion has never been broken in the bezels weak spot.
Mine is broken in this spot, but it is not an highly noticeable break, the pieces fit together very good and unless you just look for the break line it is not that noticeable. Are you going to remove your 68's bezel for replacement or gauge removal?

[Stefan H.]

[Dennis O.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Mid-America Corvette has repop early (no wiper override) and late (wiper override) smooth '68 bezels. They are about $300.00. incidentally, my May-built '68 convertible has a smooth bezel with wiper override.

[Rich G.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

My July built 68 has a grained bezel but even though the car has an original interior when I researched this I came to the conclusion that mine had most likely been replaced. Up until recently the grained version was the only repro available. Considering that this piece is easily broken, I concluded mine must have been replaced in the past before I owned it.

My car was found in a garage around 1990 and had not been on the road since 1973. I was not the one who found it, so I can't say what the bezel looked like then. I have pictures taken at the time but unfortunately the resolution isn't good enough to tell.

Rich

[Joe L.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel


Stefan------


I would not be surprised, at all, if a very late 1968, such as yours, would have been originally equipped with the 1969 style cluster bezel.

One thing you might look for: sometimes zinc diecast parts such as this bezel will have a casting date on the reverse side. Often times, this will be seen as a double circle with a 2 digit number inside the inner circle and the space between the circles occupied by segments, each with a number in each one. The 2 digit number in the center is the year. The segment with the dot in it is the month. I just don't recall if these bezels had this sort of date coding but it's easy to look for with the bezel out of the car and stripped bare. There could also be some other date coding format.

[Stefan H.]

[Paul B.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

...when I was actively attending many Corvette shows and looking at hundreds, maybe almost a thousand 1968 VIN#s seeing as '68s are one of my favorite model years, I've maybe seen a dozen or so very late production '68s(last month to last 6wks production)that convinced me they had the original '69 style non-smooth bezel from St. Louis. The myth about some very late '68s having the '69 doors and '69 column and ignition, no, having seen a few last day or 2nd to last day production cars. Also on the "for & aft" outside driver's door mirror, I think that change was around appx #14800 to #15800 from what I've noted.

[Rich G.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

...when I was actively attending many Corvette shows and looking at hundreds, maybe almost a thousand 1968 VIN#s seeing as '68s are one of my favorite model years, I've maybe seen a dozen or so very late production '68s(last month to last 6wks production)that convinced me they had the original '69 style non-smooth bezel from St. Louis. The myth about some very late '68s having the '69 doors and '69 column and ignition, no, having seen a few last day or 2nd to last day production cars. Also on the "for & aft" outside driver's door mirror, I think that change was around appx #14800 to #15800 from what I've noted.

Interesting. My build date is July 18. I looked at the pictures again last night that were taken of my car when it was unearthed. I really can't tell what the bezel looks like. I could convince myself either way. I wonder what the service replacement was in the early years? If the original owner had to replace that part in 1970 because it got broken in a radio theft or repair, which style would have been used?

Rich

[Reba W.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Anything replaced after the build date would have been the 1969-76 (grained) style. I have seen many 1968s with parts of later vintage because so many items were unique to that one year. Parts books always listed them as inclusive for whatever they fit.

[Joe L.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Interesting. My build date is July 18. I looked at the pictures again last night that were taken of my car when it was unearthed. I really can't tell what the bezel looks like. I could convince myself either way. I wonder what the service replacement was in the early years? If the original owner had to replace that part in 1970 because it got broken in a radio theft or repair, which style would have been used?

Rich

Rich-----


Believe it or not, the 1968-only console bezel, GM #6483386, was available in SERVICE until September, 1979. At that time it was discontinued without supercession. It was never officially replaced by the 1969+ bezel.

By the way, the 1969-70 bezel, GM #6491074, was replaced several times by later model year bezels. The 6491074 was discontinued in December, 1971 and replaced by GM #6496837. The latter was discontinued in February, 1972 and replaced by GM #6497819. That piece was discontinued without supercession in May, 1985.

[Rich G.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Joe

Thanks very much for that information

Rich

[Rich G.]

Re: 68 Center Gauge Bezel

Joe

Thanks very much for that information

Rich