I went to pick up a passenger door today from a guy about three hours from me. While I was there I snatched the lower dash trim / climate switch from a big bumper camaro.

I got home and I noticed it was chrome and looked different than the broken plastic piece on my car....it was made of metal

I'm tickled to death right now because my old plastic one was broken at the mounting points and really not fixable.

So my question is, was there a change between the years to a metal face for the climate switch? All the ones I have seen were plastic...the stock one on my 76 was plastic until I found this one.

I would like to know the history on this if anyone knows...maybe a certain assembly plant used these?

 

I'm pretty sure the earlier Camaros were metal with a plastic face over it. I think that one is just missing the face with decals.

 

I removed the clear lens and black paper from the metal one. There's no decals because the lettering is silkscreened directly on the back of the clear lens.

What is in the pics are the main "body" of each type of switch assembly, the sliders and face screw into the main body. This actually attaches to the back of the lower dash trim.

I'm curious as why some years got the metal body and some got the plastic body, when it's obvious the metal structure is far superior. I have had two plastic climate controls and the housing were cracked at the mounting points. That's the weak link in the assembly.

 

I think you just answered your own question. They changed later to save a few pennies.

 

^^+1^^ I see this stuff all the time. I make OEM door handles. A few years ago zinc was $1.80 a pound and plastic was around $0.90 per pound. I costs the about the same to build a mold for either material.