Vent Windows Out, Side Markers In: Spotting a 1968
Most of the 1968 changes are visible from across a parking lot, and they’re the first things we check for correctness.
The door glass is one piece. The vent windows were gone, replaced by Astro Ventilation: fresh-air outlets in the dash that let the car breathe with the windows up. A 1968 with vent-window doors has had a door swap at some point, and it’s worth knowing that before anyone else points it out.
Side marker lights appear on all four corners. Federal rules required them, and they’re the fastest way to tell a 1968 from a 1967. The fronts are small amber lenses and the rears are red.
The grille is more pointed than the flatter 1967 piece, and the taillight lenses are divided. On Rally Sport cars, the backup lights moved down below the rear bumper. Parts that look close enough to someone who doesn’t know the year are exactly the ones a knowledgeable buyer notices.
The interior carries over in overall layout but picks up year-specific details around the ventilation outlets and trim. Cars built after the start of calendar 1968 also got front shoulder belts. A missing belt is an easy fix, but it tells us something about how carefully the car has been kept.
The rear suspension was fixed. The worst of the 1967 cars’ wheel hop was dealt with on the high-performance models: staggered rear shocks, one ahead of the axle and one behind it, and multi-leaf rear springs on the heavier-duty cars. This is why 1968 SS 396 and Z/28 cars drive noticeably better than their first-year counterparts. It also means we check that the staggered mounting is intact and the correct springs are in place, because a 1968 converted to later or aftermarket hardware loses part of its year-correct story.
The Z/28 grew up. In 1967 the Z/28 was close to a secret. In 1968 it became a real production car, with many times the first year’s output, as racing success in the Trans-Am series pulled buyers into showrooms. The 302 stayed the heart of it: a solid-lifter, high-revving small block rated conservatively and understood to make considerably more than its sticker figure.