<VV> Next year's parts put on prior year's cars on assembly line

[wrsssatty at aol.com]

Two remarks in regard to the possible phenomenon of a part supposedly unique to the new model year being installed on the prior year's models on the assembly line toward the end of the prior year's model run:

1.  As most of you know, the beautiful rear grill used on '62 and '63 model year Corvairs was never reproduced and supposedly never available after 1963 as a replacement part.  In fact, as I understand it, if one went to the local Chevy dealer's parts department and asked for a rear grill for a '62 or '63 Corvair the parts catalog listed only the part number for a '64 grill as being correct for '62 and '63 also.  Unconfirmed (to the best of my knowledge) rumor is that at some point during '63 model year production the mold for producing the '62/'63 grill was some how destroyed.  In fact, another unconfirmed rumor is that some late model year run '63 Corvairs came off the assembly line with '64 style grills.  Anyone know for a fact?

2.  I always thought that all '62s had no black paint between the ribs of the headlight bezels and only the '63s and '64s had the black paint there.  BUT, a few years ago, when I was attending the Detroit/Sterling Heights, MI CORSA convention I took the tour of the Hudson Museum in Ypsilanti which also houses the CORSA Museum and Preservation Fund's collection.  There, on a wall, I saw a factory flow chart detailing the assembly of a '62 Corvair and, lo and behold, the finished product '62 Corvair rolling off the assembly line on that poster bore the black paint between the ribs of the headlight bezels!  Anyone know anything more about that?

~Bill Stanley