Theo, my vette number is 31XXX, sorry i forgot the rest of them lol. So it's not as late as I thought it was. I just looked at it wrong.

Keep a eye on that motor Fla Vette HAHA

Cool,
Fla vette, I'm kinda glad you found a CE light, as up to then you were being the odd one out.. , i was confused as to why your 80 didn't have one, when everyone else seemed to . Glad to hear your engine was still there, though.
Otherwise it would have been a right pain cutting Fred-Flintstone holes in your floorpan(!)
Oh, cheers smokin, for checking out your number for me. Seems yours is quite a few earlier than mine and still has the light...

It all makes perfect sense now - if they had to be produced for the california cars, there would be no point in making a different console for the others, specially as I'm sure they had every intention of wiring them in the next year.
That's my understanding of it anyway.