[QUOTE=thebluezzzz] .....I hope you are right cuz Im screwed if ya arent ![/QUOTE]

Why???


hmmm...might need to do a little research here....I have always heard, and read that the alarms were standard equipment starting in '73, with the key switch in the rear. It was moved to the fender in '74, I know. Now I'm cornfused! Adams' Apple2006-12-13 20:33:43

The first time my club saw my 71 with the alarm option, similar questions were posed.  I just told them that it was the lock that lets you take the plastic body off.

I have been corrected...the alarm WAS a standard item in '72, not '73 as I believed.
So... If your car does not have the key-switch in the rear, someone has filled the hole in, or replaced the rear section of the body with an earlier section. Or...Or...you have a '71?
Sorry for my mistake...

well, I guess Im not screwed, but I would like to know what happened to my hole.....Im sure I have a 72  Vette, thats for certain, based on the vin, interior, front lenses, etc.....so either someone filled in the holes or I have an earlier rear end on the car, say a 70 or a 71....I'll le you know once I get to the bottom of it....

I know the alarm was standard on the 73.  I have a 73 survivor car with the alarm key located on the rear panel, and I have the original window sticker that does not have the alarm on the option list.  I am the third owner of the car and have all documentation of the car including sales receipts, warranty paperwork, the special order form used when the first owner ordered the car, and every maintenance check the car has ever had.  Nothing in there about alarm installation by dealer. 

so how will this affect the value, if at all ?

Very little, if any. Check under the rear fender, driver side, just ahead of where the antenna is. There should be a long tube horn there. Also, if you open the doors, there will be a pin switch at the lower edge of the lock pillar, below the latch pin on the body. There will be one under the hood, also, at the rear, about center on the firewall. My guess would be that somewhere down the line, someone filled the lock hole in. If you look real close, at the right angle, sometimes you can still see where the hole was, as the bondo/resin will not be perfect, or may have shrunk enough to be able to see the repair.
If all of the other stuff is still there, you can have the hole put back in, and the lock switch installed.

The key is located on the back of my 73. Anyone could reach up and pull the wires off disabiling the alarm if they wanted to. Pretty lame  alarm system. They could do the same to the horn as well. There isn't any ignition cutout there either. So if you wanted to you could just drive off even if the alarm horn was honking.