1978 Corvette pace car options and RPOs

[bullitt65]

Hi I have been studying the 1978 Corvette Pace car, and I have noticed some of them have the bolt on rear spoiler and some of them don't. I thought this may have been a dealer add on initially. But then I ran across a pace car with the build sheet and it shows a RPO C75 'AIR DEFLECTOR'. I am not sure if this is referring to the spoiler, but I have gone on a couple of corvette websites, and I could not find this RPO code listed.

I also thought maybe this was a mid production change to the Pace Car, but I haven't seen a source for this either. 

Here is the car in question and pics of it showing the rear spoiler and at the bottom of the pics is the build sheet: www.streetsideclassics.com/vehicles/7302-atl/1978-chevrolet-corvette-l-82-pace-car



Thanks for the help 

[rpoz78]

Bullitt65
All 1978 Corvette Pace Cars came from the factory with the rear spoiler installed. The front air dam was not installed at the factory because the car sits so low it couldn’t be loaded on the auto carrier (semi) without damaging it. It was dealer installed.

RPO Z78 - Limited Edition Pace Car

Standard Equipment:

In 1978, when RPO Z78 Limited Edition Indy Pace Car was ordered, the printed build sheet listed a number of limited edition items. For example, RPO Z78 was called “Appearance Package, 25th Anniversary, (Limited Edition)”. The RPO’s included with that defined the Pace Car and included RPO D88 for red Accent Stripes, D75 for the Rear Spoiler, D80 for the Front Air Dam Deflector, DL6 for the Limited Edition Pace Car Decal set and CC1 for the Glass T-Tops. Below is a list of all the other convenience options that were standard equipment on the Limited Edition Pace Car.

A31 Power Windows
C49 Rear Window Defogger
D35 Dual Sport Mirrors
AU3 Power Door Locks
C60 Air Conditioning
N37 Tilt/Telescopic Steering Wheel
UA1 Heavy Duty Battery
UM2 AM/FM/8-Track Tape Player Stereo
U75 Power Antenna
U81 Dual Rear Speakers
Y58 Aluminum Wheels
ZX2 Convenience Group

With all the above set as standard equipment, that didn’t leave much for the customer to choose from to make his/her Pace Car their own. There was only a choice of six options available: change the L48 engine to the L82, change the standard M20 wide ratio 4-speed transmission to either the M38 Turbo 350 Hydra-Matic three speed automatic or to the M21 close ratio 4-speed, add FE7 Gymkhana suspension, K30 Cruise Master speed control (not available with manual transmission), ZN1 Trailer Package which included the FE7 Gymkhana suspension, and change the standard UM2 AM/FM Stereo radio with 8-Track for the UP6 AM/FM stereo radio with built in Citizens Band.

Hope this helps
Jeff