I have a 1978 with the L82 option and four speed. On the hood is a set of L88 badges can anyone tell me why? this car is also silver black, and I was told it was a pace car, but the vin. does not match with decoder ect... can anybody tell me whats up? Also every option is in this car , leather, t-tops,cruise,power, whole nine yards

thanks, Steven

I am not sure if the holes in the hood will match between the 8 on an L88 and a 2 in L82. Has the hood been repainted and they just put the wrong badges on it? I think the previous owner would have noticed that but ya just never know. L88 was not available for your year Vette, but you did say the numbers don't match. What does the VIN say the car is. That is the place to start. Also check out the little plate on the inside of your drivers door jam. It shows the paint code used by the factory for your vehicle. You probably already have your VIN posted elsewhere on this site so if you don't mind, put in in this post along with the numbers from the paint code and I bet within an EXTREMELY short time, someone will tell you all about your car.

|UPDATED|6/10/2002 7:18:11 AM|/UPDATED|

Hello Steven,
I will try to make this as short as possible. Usually when I start talking about Pace Cars I go long. Glenn was right about there not being a L88 option for the 1978 year. There were only two engine types for that year a L48 and a L82. The L82 was the only to have badges on the hood. There are two ways to identify the option you have, visibly check and the numbers in the VIN.The L48 engine looks like this

The L82 engine which produced more horsepower(220) because of it's dual air snorkel and aluminum intake ,valve cover and major internal parts looks like this


The other way to tell what options your car has is to check your VIN. The 1978 Pace Cars had their own series of VINs. Examples are,1Z87L8S900001 through 1Z87L8S906502. To determine what engine type you have you go by the 5th numeral L represents a L48 option engine, a 4 would represent a L82 option engine. As far as the Pace Cars are concerned the last 6 digits of the serial numbers are totally different from standard production corvettes that start out at 4 instead of 9.

Most likely the past owner either put the wrong badges on your vette or was not sure what options he had on the car.

Also the M21 four speed S6(muncie) option that you said that you had on your corvette is a very collectible option that you had on your corvette. Since they only made a little over 3000 in 78.Sorry about the big pictures did not have time to resize them. Hope this helps.
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- Doug

|UPDATED|6/10/2002 5:05:28 PM|/UPDATED|

Steven,

You can get all of the info you want from a couple of web sites.

http://www.idavette.net/

and

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/

Just nose around in there, and you will get all kinds of answers.

|UPDATED|6/10/2002 10:35:42 PM|/UPDATED|

Thanks for the pics. the second picture of the engine compartments that you gave, is a exact replica of what my car looks like. I used the vin decoder to find out what this car is. still need to look at the rest of the numbers to see if all my options are stock. my vin is 1Z8748S409188, so I know that pace car is out of the question. even though the paint sceem is silver: black. Thanks
steven

|UPDATED|6/11/2002 1:08:27 AM|/UPDATED|

Jeeez Doug, GREAT answer. Those engine compartments both yours?

Glenn,
I have had and have the good fortune to have friends and buddies around me who like 78 vettes. And to answer your question, yes and no. The L48 pic is a picture of a friend of mines vette that we are currently restoring. The L82 pic is a vette that I have in hiding that needs to be restored. Needs alot of work. But both are Pace Cars.

The one you see on my signature is my pride and joy it's a L48, all original

Steven,
Now that you have determined that your vette is a standard production you can do what Glenn suggested and get started on finding out your original color.Through the body paint and trim plate located on the drivers door hinge pillow with two pop rivets. Look between the words trim and paint. The first three numerals will be the color of your interior. The remaining numbers are your exterior color codes. Here is a quick list of those codes for 1978

07 Dark Gray(two tone)*
10 Classic White
13 Silver
19 Black
26 Frost Blue
72 Red
82 Mahogany
83 Dark Blue
89 Brown
13/07 * available only on the Silver Anniversary
19/47 Black/Silver Metallic -- only on Pace Cars
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- Doug

|UPDATED|6/12/2002 2:46:35 PM|/UPDATED|

This has been very informative. Now I know more about my car than ever exspected. It is an original L82-4speed, with silver/black. I imagine its an anniversery edition if such a thing exists, Is the leather interior rare? What if the stereo is not original, and you know what I mean(cut and hack)? if my diggy camera works I'll take some shots of my vette for you guys.


steven

Steven,

I got ahead of myself, It is not a pace car...I'll do some checking...
I think leather is standard, cruise is an option, am-fm radio is an option, if the radio has a corvette emblem on it.
anything else??

|UPDATED|6/14/2002 9:18:39 PM|/UPDATED|