[Cletus.D.Yokel]

The one in the Firehouse was a 1968 model year like yours.
In the triacic period, new cars were introduced in the fall.
(You know this).
Early model-year cars were assembled starting in July, previous.

Walking home from school past the dealerships with wide eyes is a good memory for me.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Actually, I mis-typed. Mine was a '69. The pic at the link was a '68. Nice but not as smooooth as the '69.

I used to work at a GM assembly plant many years ago. We could tell how much change would be coming to the new model year in the Fall by how long the shut down and retooling was going to be.