Jimvett77

I have a 1977 Coupe and I'd like to know an easy way to determine if I have an early-year made 77 (77E) or a late-made (77L) Vette. I once thought you could tell just by the T-Tops (77E has two clasps vs. one clasp for the 77L). But now I am not too sure. Any help is appreciated. :confused:

dman535

If you have no crossed flags on the fender its probably an early. If your alarm switch is in the front fender its probably an early, vins 427373 and earlier. If the A/C system uses a VIR setup its probably an early.

Jimvett77

Thanks for the response. However, I am still perplexed. I have no crossed flags on the fender (perhaps a respray eliminated them), I am not sure about the A/C abbreviation you gave, and finally, my VIN starts with 431. So, it is hard to tell. Any other way???

ManFromEagle

This is an interesting question. I have a 77 with the alarm switch on the fender. I have two hold down clamps on my T-tops. I have no cross flags on my fenders. (That does not mean squat because the car body was repainted and I don't have corvette on the back or cross flags on the nose either). All that would lead me to believe it''s an early.

I however have a ccot air conditioning system and not vir.

:crazy:

MarkV

I have a '77 L-82 4 speed. It has the VIR (Valves In Receiver) as part of the AC system. My fender has crossed flags as well as a keyhole for the alarm. My car was built the middle of March 1977. Hope this helps!

Mike Ward

This a very misunderstood point in the hobby.

The term early or late denotes the status of an individual component, not the entire car. GM mades lots of running changes throughout the production year, so there is no break point to designate the entire car one way or the other.

Mine (a '73) was built on July 5 and I have 'early' front grills, but a 'late' intake manifold.

Jimvett77

Mike,

Now I'm really confused. Not by your answer necessisarily, but to the answer to real reason I asked the question of early or late. That being, I need to replace my A/C Main Hose, and I do not know if it is an early or late. So, how do I actually tell which version of the hose to buy to replace my current damaged one???

dman535

If memory serves mine was a late April car. Has alarm switch in the door, has crossed flags on fender, has ccot A/C system.

mstanton

Probably the best way to know which your car should have is a NCRS technical judging manual. The manual usually gives a VIN range that the change occurred. Often the changes were running changes and did not occur at a specific VIN. For example up to VIN 20000 would be "early", after VIN 25000 would be "late", and between 20000 and 25000 could be either. Hope this helps.

Tom77

If you look where the air conditioning hose hooks into the evaporator, there will be a unit that is either an accumulator or a VIR assembly. The accumulator is all alumiumm. The VIR unit has a what appears to be a glass bottom to it. Early would use the VIR. Late uses the acccumulator.

tedo77

When I bought a weatherstripping set for my 77 Iwas told that the 77L had metal inserts in the w/s for the t tops. So I assumed mine was 77L My alarm switch is on the fender.

80Xflags

I heard that this was an accurate way to figure out exactly when you're car was made. http://www.ncrswi.bizland.com/wi_ncrs/bdaycalc.htm

. . . if that's of any help.

:seeya
Matt

FeedVaal

I found a date stamp on the inside of my door panel which agreed with the birthday calculator. My car's a Cancer.