1974 Corvette Gas Door
Hello, I am a long time post reader and first time poster. I have a 1974 Corvette Coupe with 454 Big Block, numbers matching, low mileage. The car was manufactured on May 16, 1974. My gas door has an emblem and appears to be from a '75. I had assumed a previous owner wanted a gas door with a cool emblem and replaced the original, plain jane with an original '75/'76. I have now found images of other '74s with the same gas door with emblem (two such examples are found in Peter Henshaw's The Ultimate Encyclopedia of the Corvette, 2013 revision, pgs. 218-219). Is it possible some later production '74 models received '75 model gas doors? I know '74s are supposed to lack an emblem, but would that many people have swapped gas doors over the desire for an emblem? Just wondering if anyone had any info on this. Thank you for your time and any research assistance you can provide.
-
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
JJ, If you have a Judging manual for your year it may be spelled out in it. anything is possible with later cars. As there were so many corvettes built during that time.New England chapter member, 63 Convert. 327/340- Chapter/Regional/national Top Flight, 72 coupe- chapter and regional Top Flight. -
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
JJ------
I'd say it's very possible although I can't say with certainty. The 1974 filler door, GM #339116, was identical to the 1975 door, GM #347913, except that the 347913 had holes for the emblem. If the supply of 339116 doors ran short at the end of the model year and the 1975 doors were available, the factory could have used them. Of course, since the 1975 doors had the holes, the factory would have had to install the 1975 emblems (or leave the holes as-is which would never have happened).
Addendum:
Something else you could do to help establish originality:
1) Check the underside of the door for an embossed part number. If it's 347913 then you know this is the 1975 door. In that case, it's likely original to the car. In other words, if someone had just added the emblem, they likely would have just drilled the original door for the holes for the emblem;
2) If there's no evidence of a part number and assuming this car has never been re-painted, remove the filler door emblem and note if the holes appear to have been drilled after the door was painted or if it appears the door had the holes prior to painting (i.e. there appears to be at least some paint on the periphery of the holes)
Second Addendum:
I was incorrect when I stated above that the 339116 and 347913 filler doors were the same except for the holes in the latter. The 347913 had a slight recess on the surface of the door for the emblem to install into. So, if your door has this recess, then you have the 1975 door and emblem. In that case and assuming the car has not been re-painted it's likely original to the car. However, if your door is flat, then it's the 1974 door and the holes and emblem have been added. There's no way the factory would have added the holes and the emblem to a 1974 door.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
1974 production ended in September with another 8000 cars built after yours. It's unlikely that GM had already run short of the correct fuel filler doors or had the following year (1975) door on hand.
The appearance of an emblem on yours is similar to seeing the Stingray script on many later year cars, long after GM stopped installing them. Owner inspired additions or deletions.Comment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
My brother bought a 1974 Corvette when it was about a year old in 1975. Within a few months of owning the car the paint started to chip off the lid in big chucks. Over a few months the paint was completely gone. The part appeared to not have been prepped correctly because the metal underneath was shiny. My guess would be that perhaps it was changed out at some point for one with an emblem perhaps from a 1975 Corvette or later of the same color.
MikeComment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
My 74 is a Sept 74 car and no emblem
EdEd DiNapoli
CNJ Chapter Past Chairman/Co Founder
1972 Targa Blue Coupe, Original Owner,
Duntov Award, Sam Foltz Award,
Founders Award, NCRS Gallery VIII
2011 Corvette Convertible
NCRS Presidents Award 2014Comment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
Thanks to everyone for the quick, helpful responses. My gas door and emblem are definitely the same as a '75 model as the emblem is held on by two nuts and a recess exists underneath to help secure the emblem. My car has its original paint and the gas door matches up (some lite paint chipping/fading is present). Despite this, with Ed having a September '74 model with a '74 gas door (no emblem), I would think mine must have been changed. His example knocks out the factory running out of '74 gas doors theory. I think Michael and Mike are correct that a switch out occurred. My car is Silver Mist and there was a "Silver" paint color in '75. I still need to check the part numbers and markings with the part off the car, but I know mine does have the 347913 part number (it was a little tough to make out). I will probably leave it for the moment and try to track down a plain jane '74 gas door at Bloomington or Carlisle this summer to put on the garage shelf. Thanks again to everyone. This is why I love being a part of NCRS. As soon as I bought my first 'Vette back in 2009, my father told me this was THE CORVETTE ORGANIZATION to join. He was right!
Thanks,
J.J.
2nd Generation NCRS Member
1974 Silver Mist Coupe with 454
1984 Medium Gray MetallicComment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
J.J.-------
Notwithstanding the fact that 1974's built after yours were originally equipped with the GM #339116 filler door, it just seems very strange to me that someone would change the door on your car to install the emblem. Changing the door, of course, means the new door has to be painted and that add a lot of trouble to the process. Instead, they could have simply drilled the holes and installed the emblem. The recess is not really necessary and I'm a bit surprised they would have even realized that the 1975 door had the recess. If they did this, they would have to have done it before January, 1982 because at that time the 347913 door was discontinued and replaced by the 339116. So, even for a 1975 application, after that time one would have to purchase a 1974 door and add the holes to install the emblem and, of course, without the recess.
The fact that your car has not been re-painted adds even more question to this situation. In that case, they would have had to use the 1975 door and paint it to exactly match the existing paint on the car. Can you see any difference in the paint color between the door and the rear deck? For them to get this exactly right seems very unlikely to me, especially with your silver paint color.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
Mike------
What you suggest is a possibility. However, I would still not expect an exact paint match if a filler door was transferred from a later car even of the same color.
By the way, the paint flaking situation you describe is caused by the door not being properly primed. Zinc diecast body parts (like the filler door) had to be primed with zinc chromate primer for the paint to adhere. As far as I know, GM always primed such parts with the zinc chromate primer. It seems strange to me that they would have neglected to do this for the 1974 filler doors but mistakes do happen.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
Joe,
I just checked over the gas door again and the paint on the gas door looks slightly less shiny compared to the rest of the silver on the rear deck but not by much (it would be hard to see the difference in a picture). I did notice the paint that has chipped off on the left edge of the gas door has left bare metal and the backside of the paint chip looks like the color of red oxide primer almost. Did they prime the Corvettes of the era in the red oxide colored primer? I am curious about the primer color for the gas door and the rest of the vehicle (still need to look the car over to see primer color for the rest of the vehicle).Comment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
My son and I both have 74's with both built in the spring of 74' about 6 weeks apart. Neither were bought new. When we got his coupe it had a gas filler door with cross flags (held on by two acorn nuts as I recall) but the car was otherwise as it came from the factory other than tires, battery, shocks. We replaced the door with a plain one we bought at Carlisle. My 74' convertible came with a plain door and my car has had many more items replaced with incorrect parts, by previous owners, than my son's.
I do not know what this all means but I do find it strange that a previous owner
would change out the gas filler door on my sons car and yet the rest of the car was left untouched other than the normal wear and tear items.Comment
-
Re: 1974 Corvette Gas Door
I cannot comment on the style of the door we replaced on my son's 74' since we did the change out more than 10 years ago. I do know that the plain door we bought at Carlisle was from a 74' since the car it came from was at Carlisle being parted out. Also all the GM literature I have for the 74' shows a plain door.Comment
Comment