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1972 Seat Belt Warning - Front Park/Turn Lamps

 

Beginning around January 1, 1972 Chevrolet began installing a seat belt warning lamp to alert the driver to buckle up. There are even owners reporting having the lamp in the dash but no wiring connections on some December 1971-built Chevelles. Probably the dash carriers were being modified and shipped before the wiring. On the SS and gauge equipped non-SS dash the lamp is located just above and to the left of the cigarette lighter. On non-SS Malibus the lamp is located in the instrument panel below the 100-110 speed location of the speedometer.

 

'Early' 1972 round pod dash without warning lamp.

'Late' 1972 round pod dash with warning lamp

 

'Early' linear (sweep) without warning lamp (Early November example)

 

'Late' linear (sweep) dash with warning lamp

 

Parking Lamps / Headlamp Bezels

 

GMs docs that I have show the 72 Concours and Concours Estate have a clear lens with amber bulb; the Nomad and Greenbrier are just the opposite, amber lens with clear bulb. Why the difference? Only GM knows. Doesn't seem to make sense but the same is true for the base Chevelle series (134xx) vs. the Malibu series (136xx). The base Chevelle got clear lens/amber bulb while the Malibu got amber lens/clear bulb. It should be noted that other GM docs show only the 1157 bulb (clear) for parking lamps.

 

It had nothing to do with options (nor were the lenses/lamps optional via one or the other) nor did color make a difference. It was all based on the series.

There may have been a change during the production year. Chevrolet often did such things. I have photos of Malibus (135/136xx) both ways. I have photos of very early production run Malibus with amber lenses and very late production run Malibus with clear lenses. With or without the SS option doesn't seem to matter either.

Headlamp bezels are another item that seemed to change.  GM docs show the Malibu series got bright headlamp bezels while the Chevelle series got black bezels and the parking lamp bezels were bright regardless of series.

 

Most of the example photos below are what are probably unrestored cars. Those that are probably restored (hence not original) are noted with an asterisk ( * ).

 

Oshawa Chevelle sport coupe - March 1972. Amber lens & black bezel.

 

Kansas City Malibu 4-door sedan - January 1972. Clear lens & bright bezel.

 

Baltimore Malibu sport coupe - January 1972. Clear lens & black bezel. *

 

Kansas City Malibu sport coupe - September 1971. Amber lens & black bezel. *

 

(Bullet indicates the data was revised in December 1971)

 

PDF file of 200 park lamp/headlamp bezel findings from all plants.

 

Van Nuys Concours station wagon - April 1972. Amber lens & bright bezel.

 

Concours station wagon - unknown plant or date. Clear lens & bright bezel.

 

Malibu sport coupe - unknown plant or date. Amber lens & black bezel.

 

Discrepancies/Exceptions

 

There always seems to be exceptions to every rule. Shown above are some random examples found and they don't always match what they're supposed to have for the headlamp bezel and/or lens color. Owners in the past may have had to replace their lamps and used what was available, some may have just liked the amber over the clear or vise versa.

 

Some 1972 Chevelle owners simply preferred one lens color over another. This owner preferred the amber lens to match his Orange Flame Chevelle.

 

AIM & Parts Book

 

The 1972 Factory Assembly Instruction Manual shows a drawing change on 11/26/71 indicating a change from parking lamp lens to another and the Chevrolet parts book shows early lamps have an amber lens and late lamps with a white lens.

Part numbers for items 3 & 4 are a bit hard to read, so:
3 - From 5965269-0 to 5965683-4
4 - From 5965275-6 to 5965687-8

(Click for larger image)

 

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