72 LT1 Vette

[ss67mike]

Hi, this is my first post since joining this forum and was hoping I could find some good information from the members here about a vette I got recently.

I've been working on a 72 LT1 vette I got from my uncle. Its been in my family since 1975 and has just a little over 60k on the speedo.
I've had a few muscle cars, but this is my first vette and I know the LT1's are rare. This one is a pewter silver, all numbers matching car in very good condition with the build sheet. It is also a factory a/c car.

A little history on the car......

The car was bought from a local South Carolina Ford dealership used car lot in 1975 by my uncle. He drove it until 1987. Its been in storage since then until last year when I got it and got it running and driving again. The interior, the body, and exterior is very good, and the car still runs and drives very good, a couple of things are not right to the car. In the three short years before it joined our family, someone managed to lose the LT1 hood and put a homemade L88 style hood on the car, the factory mechanical fuel pump was replaced by an electic pump that was stuck in the front grill of the car with about a half mile of rubber hose and wire(Nuts!!!!) The original side mirror is gone and was replaced by dual bullet-style mirrors(not sure what they came off of). The car had also appears to have been repainted before my uncle got it with the original pewter color. The original radio was replaced with a am/fm cassette and someone put masserati air horns on the car.
The car was ordered from Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was a plant delivery vehicle.

I was just wondering if there was anyway to trace the cars history before 1975. Anyone's success stories about this, or any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Mike

[MosportGreen66]

NCRS Shipper Data report could be a good start

[napa68]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MosportGreen66</div><div class="ubbcode-body">NCRS Shipper Data report could be a good start </div></div>

Here is the link Mike. Welcome to the site!

http://www.ncrs.org/services.php

Tim

[ss67mike]

Thanks for the info about the NCRS report. I'll check it out. I've enjoyed reading some of the posts on this site and finally joined in. Love the supercars!

One other question, the car currently has a set of factory side pipes installed but the covers were not installed. The original exhaust was rusted out and thrown away some long time before. I've got a set of complete original factory side pipe covers for the car which I know never came on this car but they look so cool I am tempted to put them on for now instead of putting the original duals-out-the-back ssystem. To do this I would have to drill a few mounting holes to put them on.

Would mounting these on the car take away from the overall &quot;survivor&quot; it is? Opinions please.
Thanks
Mike

[napa68]

It certainly will not help. It's more a matter of what you like as it is YOUR car. IMO, if you are focused on the Survivor status, I'd stay away from that.

Tim

[ss67mike]

Thanks Tim. I have gone back and forth on this and even asked some of the guys I know who do restorations(on a national level) for a living and get both answers for different reasons.

The case for replacing the exhaust is the same, its not original to that car.

Their arguement for the side exhaust is that unless I were to do a total restoration on the car its better to get rid of the parts that are just junk(electric fuel pump, air horns, etc) and preserve the &quot;good stuff&quot;. Since it has had this exhaust on it since mid 70's, and the side pipes and covers are all oringinal GM parts from that time for that body style car, vs a new non-GM, repro aftermarket exhaust system, that it preserves the &quot;good&quot; side of the car the way it has been for 38 years. I have removed all the aftermarket fuel system and things that should not have been on the car and put it all back right. Just debating the exhaust thing a little. Not sure about their argument??

I will get a pic and post it soon.

Mike