Factory documentation for Chevelles, Novas and Camaros

Compared to the owners of “other” brands of classic American muscle cars, Chevrolet enthusiasts have been at a disadvantage when it comes to obtaining their cars’ documentation records. While Mopar and Ford fans have often been able to get detailed information on the build history and original factory options on their cars from the manufacturer or a third-party source, the build records for a great many Chevrolets from the 60’s and 70’s simply no longer exist or just can’t be located anymore. That’s the bad news. The better news is that the National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS) now has plans in the works to begin offering a number of Chevrolet shipping records to owners of classic Chevelles, Novas, and Camaros.

Many qualified people have searched for the early production documentation including Chevrolet’s former general manager Jim Perkins (1989-1996), who was frustrated by an unsuccessful company-wide quest to locate early Chevy production records and Terry Michaelis, president of Pro Team Corvette, who once posted an unclaimed offer of $1 million to anyone who could produce the build records for early Corvette models. Even though many of the early Chevrolet production build records do appear to be long lost, the shipping records are a different matter. NCRS has located trove of mostly complete microfiche shipping records that include dealer code, dealer name, dealer address and build date for some of the most popular Chevy muscle cars of the 60’s and 70’s. The shipping records don’t include the build data, but they could be a real blessing for owners trying to prove or disprove a car’s history.

The NCRS already provides shipment data, document validation and car award confirmation services for 1965 to 1972 Corvette models (with membership in the NCRS), and now it says it will attempt to offer shipping records for 1965 to 1972 Chevelles, Novas, and Camaros as well. The service is expected to be available before the end of 2014 and the cost to provide documentation for a single vehicle will be $50. Although most of the microfiche shipping data was found to be complete, not all of the old records are completely readable and some have been damaged. In those instances, the NCRS will refund the applicant’s money. The huge job of converting the data from microfiche to a digital format was complicated by the fact that between 1965 and 1972, more than 7 million Chevelles, Novas and Camaros were built.

Other than the records available from the NCRS, General Motors vehicle records available from the GM Media Archive include dealer invoices for Chevrolets built after 1977; Cadillac’s built after 1980; GMC’s built after 1976; Oldsmobile’s built after 1977; Saturn’s built after 1994; and Pontiacs built after 1987. There are also some production build records for 1962 to 1986 Pontiacs available from the Pontiac Historical Society, and additional information on 1970 to 1976 Buicks is available from the Sloan Museum and Buick Gallery.

For more information visit the National Corvette Restorers Society at www.ncrs.org, the GM Media Archive at www.gmmediaarchive.com/, the Pontiac Historical Society at www.phs-online.com, or the Sloan Museum and Buick Gallery at www.sloanlongway.org.