James and Alan, The vertically ribbed (lined) velour cloth was listed as an option in 1976, too. It was a no-cost option, and came with matching upper door panels. (I don't know why someone would opt against the super-plush button-tufted floating-pillow design that came standard.) Good call on the radio knobs (with 8-track only)... I had forgotten about that one! Chris in LA James (nyb@xxxxxxx) wrote: > From a casual examination, um, well you could have a look at the VIN. > 76/77 are very similar. If it has the lined velour interior it is a 77 > (I don't think this was avail in 76, but is quite common in 77 cars). > If the stereo has knobs on either side of the radio frequency display/8 > track bay, it's a 76. There aren't any obvious external differences. > You might also look at the speedometer. In Canada for 77 the large > print was km and I think American cars had km in small print, 76 was > miles only for both destinations.