Early Corvette Blue Prints

[Roscobbc]

I'm reminded of my obligatory 6 months working in the companies drawing office in the mid/late 60's. As a (then) leading manufacterer of potentiometers for the aerospace, nautical and electronics industries we would produce component, mould and press tool drawings for internal applications. As a mere 'oik' in the day I would take the ink lined drawings (on tracing paper) to the huge 'light box' with it's ultra violet lamps, sandwich the drawing (any size up to A1) under a sheet of photosensitive paper to the window off the light source for a timed period, roll it through the developer tank, then peg it up on a towel rail to dry.......long before the days of inkjet and lazer printers.

 

[Mr. Cricket]

I can still smell the Amon

I'm reminded of my obligatory 6 months working in the companies drawing office in the mid/late 60's. As a (then) leading manufacterer of potentiometers for the aerospace, nautical and electronics industries we would produce component, mould and press tool drawings for internal applications. As a mere 'oik' in the day I would take the ink lined drawings (on tracing paper) to the huge 'light box' with it's ultra violet lamps, sandwich the drawing (any size up to A1) under a sheet of photosensitive paper to the window off the light source for a timed period, roll it through the developer tank, then peg it up on a towel rail to dry.......long before the days of inkjet and lazer printers.

I can still smell the Ammonia even now

My stint in the drawing office lasted just 6 months and I'm very thankful for that (company went into administration) as sitting on my arse all day would not have worked for me. My time as an air conditioning & refrigeration engineer took me to places I'd have never seen otherwise. Some amazing, some scary like the mortuaries and medical collages

The drawing office consisted of me at 16 years of age and 6 other draftsmen all of which were 50+ which to me was ancient at that time. Their drafting instruments were equally aged and produced awful output. With my first weeks wages I splurged on a set of Marsmatic 700 drawing pens and that coupled to my 16 year old eyesight had the other draftsmen looking at me as though I was some kind of Demon due to the quality of my work. Within a couple of weeks they all had new ink pens

 

[Mr. Cricket]

If we remind ourselves that back then they did not have the design technology tools such as 3D imaging, then we can appreciate and understand more the importance of the S.O system. That said, some of the earlier design processes still cannot be improved upon, even to this day.

I'm pretty sure the story is true of a factory dog at the TVR factory that took a bite out of a clay design model of a TVR that they worked into the front grille design

 

[Mr. Cricket]

Well I nearly got it right. It was a foam model and they used the bite to model the front indicators it seems



I wonder if doggy got an extra treat

 

[split window coupe]

S.O. 10323 63 Harley Earl Convertible. Another variation of the special gearshift surround plate similar to the drawing you have. The panel surround surface has a grained effect and you will see that the S.O does not appear on the drawing legend. This suggests there is very possibly another copy drawing detailing this version, however, it could well be one of many that have been lost? GM Archives began transferring drawings to those awful micro- fische slides in the 70's - any of the guys remember those things from the parts departments and the like !! So many damaged destroyed or not properly marked with reference numbers - as I said previously, it is sometimes pure luck if you stumble on a link that you understand.
Note the chrome gear knob - GM Styling absolutely adored chrome finishes

 

[Mr. Cricket]

Ah yes as the '63 console was left bare metal. Don't know if that was the same for '64 but from '65 they were coloured.

My Nassau Blue '66


Ignore the paper bag, someone asked how clean white seats could be with regular maintenance

my '65

 

[Mr. Cricket]

Just found a pic of a Marina Blue '64 a mate had and yes they had painted console plates

 

[split window coupe]

I am guessing that the marketing guys must have liked the look for 64 production and that remained through to 67 I believe. I also think to improve the finished look they changed the gear shift etched pattern and raised it so that it was flush with the grain effect across the console panel. They had not considered that for the Harley Earl car. Maybe what we don't stop to fully appreciate is that even though the 63 car programme was a rush job from the outset and that would be putting it very lightly, engineers and designers still had the ability to look and plan ahead.