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My originals are rounded as well.

looks exactly like your Avatar. Great preservation . 🙂

Thanks!

Here is my 68 L30/M20, Ash Gold.  Photo taken day of delivery, July 6, 1968:

I converted to full manifold vacuum on my 68 L30 327 many years ago, but I had to make modifications to support the change.  Initial static timing, vacuum advance canister, mechanical advance springs & limiter - these are the changes that I can think of off the top of my head.  Just making sure that your distributor "rework" includes these modifications.  You can't just solely change the vacuum source.  If you already know all this, please accept my apologies.

There is a great article out there by John Hinckley that was published in Corvette Enthusiast entitled "Timing And Vacuum Advance 101".  If you google search that title you should find the article. 

We all ways zero balance the flywheel, then bolt on pressure plate and make any changes just to the pressure plate, that way everything is zero neutral balance.

This is exactly what was done to my flywheel / pressure plate at the recommendation of my engine builder.

I'm a little late to the game, but...

You really don't want to store the car with the suspension at "full droop".  The suspension bushings rely on deflection of the rubber throughout their range of motion.  All your suspension hardware should have been tightened at normal ride height, putting the rubber bushings in a 'neutral' or unloaded position at ride height.  At full droop, the rubber bushings are flexed to a position that they do not normally experience, and the rubber us put under a lot of load/stress.  This can damage the bushings.

If you want to lift the car off the ground for storage, it is best to use a lift that keeps all the weight on the tires, or lifts from under the rear axle tubes and front control arms.

Nothing beats the look and driving experience of bias ply tires on these cars.  Don't be scared of them, they are fine (see disclaimer).  I run the repro Goodyear Polyglas F70-14 on my L30/M20 car because that is what my Dad put on the car 'back in the day'.  They hook up great and are handle just fine, even when cruising the winding back roads at a good clip.   I wouldn't trade them for anything.  For me, there is no better feeling that rolling into a local show rockin' the Polyglas with full wheel covers!!

Just make sure to align the car properly for them and run the right tire pressure (which is relatively low by today's standards).

Disclaimer:  My experience is with the currently available reproduction Polyglas from Kelsey.  Now, it's my understanding that the Wide Tread tires had a different internal construction that the Polyglas.  I'm not sure if the new reproductions exactly follow the original internal construction or not, so the Wide Tread may be different than the Polyglas.

I would still like to hear a definitive statement on the Norwood built 1968 models.

My Norwood built 68 has black straps.  As Mike S stated, hard to tell if they started life as full gloss, but the paint left on mine appeared semi-gloss.

I bought a set from them for my 68 to duplicate the CT plates that my car wore its entire life.  The first set I got wasn't very good - the letters & numbers were perfect, but the border shape was way off and the color way way off as well.  This was even after supplying them with high-res pictures of my original vintage plates.  They gladly re-made the plates, but had me send them a color sample to ensure they got the color right.  The final set looks perfect, but they are a slightly thinner material than my originals.  You can tell if you handle the original & new plates side-by-side, but once on the car it isn't noticeable.

Back story:
CT DMV requires that you bring in the actual YOM plates that you want to use, which I did.  The plates had registration stickers on them dating from around 1973 back through 1965 (at least that's where I stopped trying to peel the reg stickers off).  The person at the counter used his phone to google what a 1968 CT plate should look like, and told me they weren't acceptable - they were too old (they had slots in them for back when the registration year indicators were metal tags).  So, even though they were THE ACTUAL license plates that the car wore its entire life, they weren't acceptable to the CT DMV.  Crazy.  Anyhow, the guy told me to just get a set of reproductions made.

I think you can remove the rear view mirror assembly and put that piece into position.  My memory is fuzzy, but I think I forgot this on my car, and put it in place after the fact.  What I can't remember is if I was able to get to the screw, or if I installed it with a little bit of adhesive.  I'm pretty sure the screw is not accessible after the fact.

I seem to remember putting the rearview mirror boot/visor clip in place, seeing a gap between the boot and the header molding, then having an "oh, sh*t" moment as I remembered that rubber block.

It's the rubber bumper for the top middle of the windshield frame.  It gets installed on the windshield frame before the chrome header moldings are installed, and provides support for them.

It's aluminized steel.  I don't think Gardner does stainless systems. 

Hint:  Wear gloves when installing the system, then wipe down with lacquer thinner after it's all in place.  This will eliminate those nasty little fingerprints.

I have a Gardner deep tone exhaust (with concours show package) on my 68 convertible.  It fits beautifully, looks perfect, and sounds very nice.  As noted, not cheap.  The guys at Gardner were excellent to work with.



PS:
My only issue is regarding the sealant they supply for the exhaust joints.  The sealant that came with mine was an acid-cure clear silicone sealant.  This means that it reacts with moisture in the air and produces an acid when it cures.  IMO, not what you want in a $$$$$ exhaust system.  I used non-corrosive Permatex Ultra Grey at the slip joints instead.  They guys at Gardner say the original sealant was clear, but I'm OK with the grey as it isn't noticeable at all.

Awesome!
Maybe it's just me, but with those glasses & 'stache you have a little bit of an old school "Weird Al" vibe going on in the first picture.  Just needed more hair.

I have a lot of PB photos in my posts as well.

What's a good alternative?