69/70 grills... what`s the difference?

[68c10owner]

can somebody tell me the difference between the 69 and 70 grills? they look the same to me but i was told they are different somehow. thanks.

[Gee_Emm]

70 is on top 69 is on bottom, the 70 has silver sections painted on its egg crate while the 69 egg crate is uniform throughout

[Gee_Emm]

Hmm, the bottom one might be a 70 also, hard to tell, here is a 69 for sure.

[jescates]

Can't verify for sure, read something about this a long time ago. Seems they overproduced the 69 inserts. So when they changed the 70 inserts, they didn't bother with making extras. So if you wrecked your 70 model and it required an insert, they would stick a NOS 69 insert. Can anyone verify this? I want to say I read it in one of those handouts that specifically talk about individual truck years.

[jescates]

I have different ones on both of my 70's. I know my stepside is original, the one on the LWB is supposed to be original also. So don't know for sure.

[jescates]

above pic is the LWB, almost looks like the insert was painted. Here's the stepside.

[COBALT]

Real basic: the inner grill (what everyone's calling the "insert") has the vertical dividers. That SHOULD be the only difference.

Now the other thing that has snuck into this discussion is the difference between NOS, original factory, and aftermarket grills. There are NO aftermarket '70 inner grills as far as I know. They're all '69, but some aftermarket parts sellers will market them as '69-'70.

NOS became a mix of inner grills for '69-'70, so much so that I don't think you can be 100% sure that an NOS '70 inner grill will have those dividers when it's slid out of it's original GM box. The only true source for these '70 inner grills was from the factory on the truck. Granted there may be some NOS '70 inner grills still out there, but they're hard to find, and some NOS '70 innner grills will be (once you open the box) identical to the '69 inner grill as I said before.

Finally, don't make the mistake of assuming that the outer grills have much of a difference. Both years had the black bars in the center piece (surrouding CHEVROLET) extend to the headlight bezel. Any aftermarket grills can be spotted from a mile away, because those black bars DON'T go all the way to the headlight bezel. Therefore, don't assume that the differences there indicate a difference between '69 and '70.

To make it more confusing some NOS outer grills for '69 and '70 have this "flaw" in them too (black bars not going to the headlight bezels), so NOS and aftermarket grills get mixed up.

...so....from going top to bottom on the pictures of this post:

1. '70 inner grill (probably factory) and '69-'70 outer grill (NOS or aftermarket; probably NOS considering the age).

2. '69 inner grill (factory, NOS, or aftermarket) and '69-'70 outer grill (factory or NOS).

3. '69 inner grill (factory, NOS, or aftermarket) and BEAUTIFUL '69-'70 (probably factory).

4. '69-'70 inner grill (NOS or afterkarket) and definitely '69-'70 aftermarket outer grill.

5. '70 inner grill (probably factory) and who knows on the outer. Someone did a no-no and painted both pieces it looks like.

[jescates]

Thanks Cobalt, never new about the outer grill. Now looking at my LWB, it does'nt have the bars going all the way to the headlight bucket. I guess mine is an aftermarket one. Never even noticed that before.

[COBALT]

Well, like I said it can be confusing. One way to know is to try and figure out how old the grill is. Some NOS pieces don't have those bars going all the way to the ends. They're not aftermarket grills, but they weren't made the same as the factory grills.

I'm sure Longhorn Man has some things to add. There's a few of us '69-'70 people around who've been debating this stuff for years. Both of my '69 trucks have original inner/outer grills (although the outers are pieces of crap). I have two other '69 outer grills that are near perfect originals. All of them have the black bars going to the bezels. The few original '70s I've seen have the same thing.

[Classic Heartbeat]

How are you making the distinctsion between after market, NOS, and or Genuine GM? Because all of the grills pictured are Genuine GM and not after market. None of the aftermarket grills have the stamped C-h-e-v-r-o-l-e-t letters in them, although some companies offer stickers for that. Also, GM is not going to produce any more of those grills, so once the Genuine GM grills are sold out, goodby Charley!! Something you 69-70 owners should be thinking about. They are already in short supply. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com

[Pilgrim]

My 69 had a plastic grill. The grill I bought off a 70 was metal with stamped louvers.

[COBALT]

I could have sworn I've seen plenty of aftermarket grills with CHEVROLET stamped in the center bar, but I guess what you're saying makes sense. That would mean we forgot the "reproduction" category, which isn't necessarily aftermarket or NOS/factory.

[68c10owner]

thanks for all of the responces guys. i am now totally confused. lol, thanks again.

[DevinM]

It appears that the '69 grill has a seperate square piece between the headlight and the blinker, while the '70 appears thinner and more "uniform" with the center line of the entire grill.