December '05 Feature Car

[Mr70]

Those really are a nice accent.
I've seen a few of those sets made in the past by some home grown restorers.
Their results are Very Good!
They take the Current repop tips.Remove the Chrome plating.
Bend & Weld round steel stock around the exit area to replicate the original design that was actually a rolled over lip.Clean up the area & Grind the weld flush to the extension tip body.Then have them polished & re-plated.
Finding real ones is so hard,this makes sense today.

[ORIGLS6]

If I recall correctly, wasn't Eric Gardner looking for an NOS tip to reproduce a couple of years ago? Maybe the process wasn't cost effective.

[GeorgeLyons]

My local guy that did the work on these originally has converted a couple sets for Gardner. He sent him the tips and he handled the chrome plating. They are really nice and catch your eye on the car.

[Alss]

What was the production timeframe for the rolled tip??and when were they phased out by the non-rolled tip? It seems that so few cars have them today and the ones that do seem to have a wide range of build dates. I think they are way cool and would love a set on my car but with a 07B build I think its too late

ALbert

[Stuart Adams]

Put em on anyway. They really look nice, IMO.

[GeorgeLyons]

When I first got into this years ago I tried to figure out the time frame these things were used and could never sort it out, seems like they were on a car or two just about anytime during production. Very confusing. Some very early cars you would have thought would have them, seem to not have had the rolled tips. Old wives tale was chambered cars got them........no truth to that I can verify. They look great and "could" be correct on any '69 as I see it so go with them if you like the look. I WECOME ANYONE WHO KNOWS MORE ABOUT THESE TIPS. I have talked about them for many years, laid a set on my table at Carlisle many times and nobody seems to really know the deal with these things. One guy swears his '70 SS454 Monte Carlo had 'em new. Only ever heard that once, very strange. Talked to two people that clearly knew what they were, had '69SS cars and both said the lower lip edge rusted out in a year or two from new. I have NEVER seen a single NOS one, anybody else here ever found one ?

[Mr70]

Mark Meekins had a set of two NOS Originals for sale in 1998.
Showed a picture of them in The Chevelle Report.
I bought them for a local who had a Lemans Blue 1969 POST SS396 Chevelle at the same time.He installed them on his car,and threw their boxes away,then sold the car for pennies in disgust.(another story)
I am all for putting REAL parts on a car,but in his particular situation,I think I would have held onto those tips & boxes as collectors items alone.

[ORIGLS6]

I put a set of the rolled tips on my '68 Chevelle, after modifying the tailpipes to exit at the '69 location. They only lasted about a year and were rusted through at the bottom. Probably why the 'new design' came into play. When you consider the number of plants building Chevelles and the probable uneven supply chain to the individual plants, isn't it possible certain plants' supply of these tips lasted longer than other plants?
BTW, I NEVER saw rolled edge tips on ANY '70 vehicle; Chevelle or Monte! ( Oh oh, I just used the dreaded 'Never' word! Here we go again! )

I agree Al, if you have the rolled edge tips, USE 'EM! They're just too cool!

[bad1racing]

Dennis,Wouldn't a Monte Carlo SS454 be considered a super car?It came down the same line as the Chevelles.Pretty close to the same weight as a Chevelle w/454CI.Probably a major topic before that I haven't looked up.

Kendall

[ORIGLS6]

Kendall,

Yes, this has been discussed before..... a number of times. An SS 454 Monte is no more a Supercar than an LS-6 Chevelle. These cars were available to the general public under RPO's. By generally accepted definitions, both here and other sites, the term 'Supercar' indicates a vehicle produced under the COPO program or a transplant handled by one of the few High Performance Dealers around the country such as Yenko, Nickey, Dana, Baldwin, Gibb and their Associates like Dick Harrell and Motion Performance. (Of course, we're talking Chevrolet here. Ford and Mopar had their own versions; Shelby, Tasca, Mr. Norm...,etc.)

As we've said before; they're Super Cars, just not SUPERCARS. It's constantly discussed and sometimes even challenged, but the "General Acceptance" is above.

Now would someone please add a legal disclaimer to my ramblings?