[eaglesan13]

On the 70 Trans Am dash bezels, the rings are not black, they are shiny. Are they polished metal, stainless steel, or chromed plastic. They are black on my 70 and I don't know if they have been replaced or what. I would like to return it to the original appearance.

[eaglesan13]

On the 70 Trans Am dash bezels, the rings are not black, they are shiny. Are they polished metal, stainless steel, or chromed plastic. They are black on my 70 and I don't know if they have been replaced or what. I would like to return it to the original appearance.

[3tas4me]

They are supposed to be chromed plastic. You can have your black rings chromed. As a note, some early 1971's also had the chrome bezels. My white '71 does.

[keith k]

In my experience, most if not all of the early '70 cars had the black bezels (no chrome), so if your car is an early one I'm not surprised they're black. Sometime in the middle of the model year they switched to the chrome, then back to black sometime after the start of the '71 model year.

You can chrome the black plastic ones, then very carefully paint back the black plastic inner bezel area.

[eaglesan13]

Thanks for the info. The guy I bought my car from had owned it since 1973 and it is about 99% original. So, it didn't make sense to me that he would have changed the bezels to black. Keith, your expanation makes sense and I'm now pretty sure these are the original bezels. I always thought that having been built in April made it a later car, but it seems this is not the case. My trunk floor is the same as the one you posted the picture of so I guess I have and early car, hence the black bezels. Thanks again.

[keith k]

Production didn't start until January, so yeah, April could be considered "early" for a '70 T/A....

[FunctionalShaker]

But here's an early, said to be unrestored original, car with both! I've also noticed that non A/C cars can have the bezel bird in two different locations as well.

[eaglesan13]

Dang! Over 13 years since the last post, talk about reviving the dead LOL.

Originally Posted by FunctionalShaker

But here's an early, said to be unrestored original, car with both! I've also noticed that non A/C cars can have the bezel bird in two different locations as well.

[68bird400HO]

Late 70 TAs had the bezel bird to the left (same ss 71-72). I have heard the change to be around June build dates which means most, if not all, RAIVs had the late version.

[FunctionalShaker]

Eaglesan, Everyone should do a topic search first, that way we can revive old related threads rather than continue to add new ones. Many times the answer/info. we seek has already been posted.

Do we know when the lights/wiper holes changed?

Also, when the small fuel/volt gauge bezel rings went from thin to thick/shallow to deep?

[Norwood]

Originally Posted by FunctionalShaker

But here's an early, said to be unrestored original, car with both! I've also noticed that non A/C cars can have the bezel bird in two different locations as well.

Well let’s look at this with a bit of common sense. The 70 non T/A bezel is a one year only bezel that used different rings than the 71-81 bezels. So you say this is an early car with mixed rings. I say that this is nearly impossible since these rings at the time were Trans Am only and in all likelihood these bezels rings were only being made with a chrome finish early in production as there was no black application for them.

Sent from my iPhone

[FunctionalShaker]

Norwood, I was referring to the use of chrome vs black, not wide to thin, as both chrome and black were used on 70 bezels (just not together-usually) . The T/A and wood grain bezels use the same thin rings for the outer two gauges. The pics show the chromes to be the 70 thin ring style. Just reporting what I found.

My Mar. built T/A has black rings -- the three center are thicker style, while the two to the right are thin style. Original bezel.

[eaglesan13]

I agree, we should all be doing a search first.

On the light/wiper question, they had separate openings up until 72, then in 73 it went to a single opening for both.

I'm not sure what you mean on the thick/thin bezel ring question. My understanding is that the small center ring is thick to match the tach and speedo rings, (trans am) while the other rings (2 rings if no a/c, or 4 if equipped with a/c) were thin. These are pictures of the rings in my 71 trans am after getting the originals rechromed.

Originally Posted by FunctionalShaker

Eaglesan, Everyone should do a topic search first, that way we can revive old related threads rather than continue to add new ones. Many times the answer/info. we seek has already been posted.

Do we know when the lights/wiper holes changed?

Also, when the small fuel/volt gauge bezel rings went from thin to thick/shallow to deep?

[FunctionalShaker]

To clarify: From looking at later bezels, it appears that the thin rings were replaced by the thicker style at some point. Just wondering if we know when?

Nice job on your bezel.

[3tas4me]

Originally Posted by keith k

In my experience, most if not all of the early '70 cars had the black bezels (no chrome), so if your car is an early one I'm not surprised they're black. Sometime in the middle of the model year they switched to the chrome, then back to black sometime after the start of the '71 model year.

You can chrome the black plastic ones, then very carefully paint back the black plastic inner bezel area.

Anybody know when the changeover from black to chrome was? My '70 was built third week of Feb, 1970 and still has the square stamping in the door jambs.

[Tellyshavilli]

Originally Posted by 68bird400HO

Late 70 TAs had the bezel bird to the left (same ss 71-72). I have heard the change to be around June build dates which means most, if not all, RAIVs had the late version.

That would be correct according to everything I’ve looked at ,and definitely with the raivs

[Tellyshavilli]

Originally Posted by FunctionalShaker

But here's an early, said to be unrestored original, car with both! I've also noticed that non A/C cars can have the bezel bird in two different locations as well.

And the difference in dash color , I’ve seen that before on 70s

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by FunctionalShaker

... Also, when the small fuel/volt gauge bezel rings went from thin to thick/shallow to deep?
...
To clarify: From looking at later bezels, it appears that the thin rings were replaced by the thicker style at some point. Just wondering if we know when?

...

I believe you are mistaken.

the aluminum turned dash insert used on the Trans Am's always used the "thick" gauge rings - always.

The 70-72 non-TA wood grain dash insert was actually a wholly different part, which had formed openings for the center gauge cluster, and this is why the two large, and small center pods used a thin ring;
If either of the rally gauge options were ordered, the rings used for the separate pod were the thick style rings that the TA used - albeit left in as molded black.

As i see it, essentialy for the 1973 model year there were two things done to streamline Firebird dash insert production;
1) the two small openings for he wiper switch were replaced with a single larger opening (probably easier to manufacture and assemble)
2) the Trans Am and non-TA dash inserts both used what I see as being the same stamping for the back of the dash insert - this necessitated that they all used the same style gauge rings

[FunctionalShaker]

Here's a pic my original, plus another car that appears to have thins and a leter car with thins. I had another one that someone had cut the main gauge holes oversized, but still had the two thin rings. I'm also finding later T/A bezels with the thin rings. Like I said -- just reporting my finds.

[68bird400HO]

The thinner rings for the right side gauges and vents are correct. Keep in mind that on the factory chromed rings the raw black plastic was smooth and shiny before the chrome was applied. So, these thinner rings would have to have been molded to be chromed and used for TAs. I think the thin rings on the 70-72 woodgrain bezels are even thinner than these and specific to those bezels.