Kick panel vent handle in '68

[ThreeQuarter]

I believe this is the factory kick panel vent handle for a '68 (see pic). Sounds like they changed it to a round knob in '69. I can't make sense of why the early ones were designed this way. If it spins easily on the rod, it's very awkward to use. I'm not even sure which direction it's supposed to be turned on the rod. Anybody have some background behind this design? I never got to use one when new, so maybe it made more sense back then?

[firedemon]

my 67 is like that too i wonder the same thing

[lil hoodlum]

I have a '68 C10 and '68 C20 and both of them have the same ones that you posted.

[Andy4639]

My 67 Ramp truck has them. I just think thats how the molded them back then.

[toms68cst]

I didn't realize the later ones were different! You learn something new every day here. My guess is the later design was 10 cents cheaper to source they went with that design.

I saw a news article many years ago how automotive designers tweak every last cent out of their production costs. 50 cents per unit equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars of cost savings over millions of units produced or something like that.

[BigBird05]

Toms68cst, you are exactly right. Styling, cost, vender quality all go into making a car or our case a truck. GM doesn't spend a penny they don't have to. So when you say i'm not going to put that part back on, remember it was designed and installed by GM for a reason.

[ThreeQuarter]

Originally Posted by toms68cst

My guess is the later design was 10 cents cheaper to source they went with that design.

I saw a news article many years ago how automotive designers tweak every last cent out of their production costs. 50 cents per unit equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars of cost savings over millions of units produced or something like that.

Agreed, the knobs are definitely a cheaper part to produce than these handles, judging by the complexity of the mold alone. Knobs seem like a more appropriate part for this application as well since they always feel the same no matter how they’re oriented on the rod. I’m still wondering what made the designers think the ‘67-68 handle was a good idea in the first place. Knob seems like a no-brainer for this application. Although I like my ‘68 to be mostly true to the model year, this is one of the places where I’m going for a newer part.

[Andy4639]

For my 71 C-10 I went to pickclick and typed in billet knobs, it will pull up all kinds of knobs. I put a whole set in the 71. The dash and the vents all match.