None of 'em are any older than 70, thats when they first were produced at all from what i have found. The idea of the bigger ones being the "first run" of them sorta makes sense to me, as does the idea of having them made smaller to fit in the valve covers in the second batch...I never really gave it much thought until now to be honest... From my experiences in tracking this stuff down it seems the smaller ones are much more plentiful. (although there are also fake small ones out there) My guess is there was possibly only one batch on the large ones made, probably the very first ones in 1970. After paying someone to sit and file the edges off of 2 of 'em for every pair of valve covers, the smaller ones probably were phased in with the second order. (no pun indended
) Yenko did similar things with his emblems, using the stick-on style in 70, likely to make installation quicker/easier. I know Rayburn's 1973 vette has the smaller ones on it, both on the body and the valve covers...I don't know if the emblems are the originals to the car or not though, as I believe its been restored. Speaking of valve covers, I'm curious about the chrome plated ones vs. the polished ones... I once thought the plated ones came out later, but if the theory that the "big" emblems were a 70-only thing is true, and you have a pair of original chromed covers with the big emblems in them, it would tell me that both plated and non plated were available from the beginning. (Either that, or the whole theory of the big emblems being early is wrong) The only pair I have with the big emblems are polished (not plated) All the chrome ones I have use the smaller emblems. Born30Yearslate... when you say your friend bought the larger emblems in the early 70s, do you mean around 1970, or much later than that? See if you can get a more firm timeframe, it may or may not help in determining when these bigger emblems were produced, installed, and sold. -JB