can i look up what year my GT is by the number?

its so torn apart right now... but thanks any way

Hi, Spyder,

Rubber windshield trim is late-1976, same for angled-rubber bezels between the taillights and the body.

Short engine cover is incorrect information. They were all sent long and owner/builders trimmed to taste. The engine cover is a key, but it's where the license plat light mounts that makes the difference, not the height of the cover.

If you have a wide rib beneath the plate and the light mounts there facing upward, it's 1975 or older. If the light is in the plate recess, above the plate and facing downward, it's 1976 or later.

Pop-up headlights with a singe lamp in each pocket came out as an extra-cost option in late-1976, so there's a good chance that your GT is later than 1976 if it has them instead of the drop lids with the dual headlamps in each pocket.

The pop-ups are a nightmare for bounce, but there is a good fix on my CD.

Please remember that ANY Bradley part or feature was available from the company as an added-cost option, at least until they closed the doors. Even though some parts mentioned here were available in and after 1976, most were optional and not standard equipment.

My early-1976 kit came with drop-down light lids, no taillight bezels and chrome windshield moldings. All those features were updated by me over the years, and so are meaningless in determining the car's age.

The TRUE tell is the engine lid, unless it was replaced for one reason or another. Light above the plate: 1976 or later. Below the plate: 1975 or earlier.

Bradley ID plate serial numbers mean absolutely nothing to anyone. My thought is that they were all unrealistically high numbers, and randomly selected to throw competing companies off their game.

BTW, what anyone pays for a car has no bearing on what replacement parts should cost. If a Cadillac windshield costs $500, the price is still $500 whether you bought the car new from a dealership, won it on a game show, bought a rust-bucket in a junk yard or a good Samaritan sold it to you for $20.

Same goes for a Bradley GT and Sun Ray's Plexiglas. What you paid for your the car isn't part of the formula for what it costs to produce and ship these parts and still make a profit. This is business for car parts providers, not the hobby it is for us.

Making windows is far from as simple as you seem to think. I've never seen a proper set from anyone other than Bradley, Allied Plastics or Ray Tierney at Sun Ray, and the first two are no longer producing. If the window were easy and inexpensive to make, you and everyone here would have the ones on their and two spare sets in the garage.

NO PART on these cars is subject to greater damage and wear than the Plexiglas gulls and rears. If you don't need them now, you will soon.

Regards,
.

Sorry, but none of those items has any bearing on the car's year of production.

Regards,

aww

well, I knew it had something to do with the engine cover......

Hey, Spyder,

The windshield may not be as bad as you think. The Plexiglas parts are very costly, but you can find a 1963-67 Corvette Coupe windshield in almost any auto glass shop for $175-250, uninstalled.

One way or another, you're going to need a windshield to get the car licensed and on the road.

Warmest...