1978 Dashboard Differences
 

Wondering if anyone has info on why I keep seeing what appears to be older looking dashboards in the 1978 camaro? I have been looking for a 2nd gen Z28 and have come across some for sale on both eBay and Craigslist. When taking closer looks at the interior I have noticed that a couple of cars have what appear to be dashboards of say a 1976 car while the other cars have what I am familiar with as I used to own a 1978 Z28 back in the day. The cars are advertised as original. Is it possible that Chevy put 1977 or 1976 dashboards in the early part of the 1978 model year and later switched to the newer dashboard in the later part of the 1978 model?

Someone else probably did it ,It a second gen car so its possible They didnt change the dash till 1979-81.

I'm not sure what differences you're referring to, but according to The Camaro White Book there was a special instrumentation option (U14) offered that included a tach, volt meter and temp gauge. The production numbers for this package in 1978 was 15,967. I looked through showroom brochures from around that time and I couldn't really notice if the dash changed a lot year to year, but I'm not very familiar with the second gen Camaro either. I've attached a couple of pages from the 1978 and 1975 Brochures that may help explain what was available.

Here's a page from a 1972 Brochure that looks like it has a picture of an instrument cluster with warning lights. The pages posted above looked to be gauges.

Yes this is one of the dashboards I am seeing in the 78 camaro. It's what I was thinking was a previous model year dashboard. I'll try to upload a photo of the dashboard I am familiar with that I had in my 78 Z28 which would have been a different looking board. Thanks for this info peterpar.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/camarof...9d859071c7.jpg
This is an example of the dashboard I had in my 78 Z28. If you compare it to the image that Peterpar uploaded in his reply you can see the differences.

The closest year brochure I have above 1978 is 1981 and that resembles the picture you posted. The shape of the instrument cluster seems to be the same, but the bezel has more chrome trim on it. Is it possible that your old 78 had a newer dash?

I suppose it is possible my car had a 79 dashboard in it. The more I look into this the more I see evidence showing that the 1978 dashboard is the same as the 1977. However even just before I wrote this response I came across another photo of a 1978 Camaro with the same dashboard as I had in my car and the same one as the picture I posted above earlier this morning. I wonder if Steve Magnante would know? Lol.

As I said, I not familiar with the second generation Camaro enough to know. It would be interesting to know what the production date of your old car was. Just wondering if the new style dash could have been introduced just before the new model year.

Yeah that's exactly what I was wondering too.