Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

[Wayne M.]

This one's probably for the GM alumni on the board. I'm looking at a Chevrolet -- Central Office letter to Zone Service Managers (Oct, 1965). There's info about each production facility; some have the suffix "BOP" following the plant name / location.(ie. SOUTHGATE - BOP; Atlanta has both ATLANTA (Pass. Truck Chevelle) and ATLANTA - BOP (Pass.) There's a total of 5 suffix - BOP's among 17 plants.

What does this BOP designation mean ?

[Loren L.]

Sounds like Buick/Olds/Pontiac *NM*

[Duke W.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

Chevrolet typically had their own assembly plants back in that era due to their hugh volume. Remember, in the sixties Chevrolet production accounted for about half of all GM production, which was nearly half the industry.

Buick, Olds, and Pontiac often shared plants where the the A-body, for example, was built for at least two of the BOP makes because they shared many components. Cadillac had their own dedicated plants.

Sometimes assembly plants could have a strange mix of cars on the same line, like Lordstown in the late sixties. Back then the Chevrolet B-body and Pontiac F-body (Firebird) were built on the same line even though they had virtually no common components other than fasteners and basic transmission design, but Camaro volume was sufficient to have their own plant at Norwood, while the VanNuys plant was exclusively F-body building both Firebirds and Camaros for the West.

Also in that era, the plants were divided into two separate parts, the auto division and Fisher Body, and there was a Chinese wall between them with very little communication. The Corvette plant was unique in that they had their own body line that was not controlled by Fisher. Corvette bodies were built by Chevrolet, either in the St. Louis plant or under subcontract to A.O.Smith.

I think one reason it took so long for GM to get into unibody construction was that the whole corporation was organized around body on frame construction. The body did not include the front end sheet metal, just the cowl back. The auto divisions were responsible for the frame, suspension, driveline and front end "sheet metal" from the cowl forward,

Indeed, if you look at a Corvette AIM, all the front body work is included in Section 11. titled "[Front End] Sheet Metal".

Duke

[William C.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

As Duke stated, BOP Plants were Shared Facilities, Atlanta (Doraville) GA. was one, primarily building the "A" bodies for some time, Framingham was another. All the BOP designations were dropped when GMAD took over plant operations.

[Art A.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

Duke, Most of what you said is right-on---but I don't recall any GM assembly plant building "B" and "F" bodies on the same LINE????? Maybe at the same assembly plant, but not on the same assembly line.

To my knowledge F-bodies--- both Firebirds and Camaros were always built on the same lines, be it at Norwood or VanNuys.

Art

[Wayne M.]

What about consecutive VIN's ?

Thanks to all for this good information (I hope it's considered on-topic). Another Q: again 1965 model year; St. Louis, where they produced Chevy trucks, Corvair "95" ('til end of '64), Passenger and (of course) Corvette.

Now Passenger could have been Biscayne, Belair, Impala or Impala SS. The data I'm looking at gives final monthly VIN #'s for the TOTAL of Passenger. Were several of the above 4 passenger models produced on the same line ? Would only the Series and Body Style coding of the VIN number change, but the VIN # still be sequential ?

[William C.]

Re: What about consecutive VIN's ?

Pass cars are built on one line ans sequentially serial numbered. The Truck lines and the Corvette line were separate areas. Same as in Janesville, in the early 70's both cars and trucks were produced at the plant, but with separate lines and essentially seperate (but conjoined) facilities.

[Duke W.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

Art, I swear it's true. In '68 I was a production engineer at Pontiac, and we spent some time at Lordstown on Firebird changeover for '69. Then they sent me out to Van Nuys to ride shotgun over the '69 Firebird pilot build.

Lordstown built the Firebirds (no Camaros) on the SAME LINE as the B-body Chevies!!! VanNuys was pure F-body, building both Camaros and Firebirds.

This was my first job out of college and probably the best job I ever had. GM was a class act back then.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: What about consecutive VIN's ?

All the models you listed are B-bodies - just different trim levels. Back in that era there was probably nothing in the VIN that identified them by trim level, just B-body, so the only difference between VINs of any car would be the sequence number.

BTW, A-bodies were the mid size cars - Chevelle, Tempest, etc., and the Nova was the X-body. Of course, the Corvette is the Y-body.
Duke

[Art A.]

Re: What about consecutive VIN's ?

Wayne, Yes, the Series and Body Style coding of the VIN number would change, but the VIN # would still be sequential----for each Division.
There were exceptions, but basically GM built vehicles by the letters. "A" cars ( Buick Specials or Skylarks, Chevrolet Chevelle or Malibu, Olds F-85 or Cutless, Pontiac Tempest or Lemans) could be built on the same line. "B" cars ( Buick Lesabre or Wildcat, Chevrolet Biscayne or Impala, Olds Delmont or Delta 88, Pontiac Catalina or Bonneville), could be built on the same line. This scenario would apply to most if not all of the lettered Truck and Passenger vehicle lines.
For example, in 1967 there were body type vehicles of A,B,C,D,E,F,X,Z, AND 194 (Corvette).

No matter what plant built a body type, each Division had its own VIN series, which were applied sequentially.

Art

[Art A.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

Duke, As I said, I don't recall any GM assembly plant building "B" and "F" bodies on the same LINE, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Now that you mention it, I do recall it, but you must agree it was a rarity.

Art

[Duke W.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

Yeah, I thought it was odd, but then I was just a rookie engineer, so I didn't know how odd it was. John H, might be able to comment on this although he may not have seen Lordstown before they began building Vegas, but that's sure how I remember it - Firebirds mixed on the line with B-body Chevrolets.

Duke

[William C.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

Yes, I was also in the L-town plant and at that time I didn't realize how rare it was to have the Chevy "B" and the Pontiac "F" on the same line together. About 20 years later when I spent a lot of time in assy palnts, I used to wonder if I only Imagined it but I double-checked with a local Lortstown retiree and he confirmed it.

[Art A.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

Bill, Do you recall when GMAD took over at L-town?

Art

[William C.]

Re: Q re "BOP" Chev assembly plants

No Art, I'll ask the Lordstown guy (If I remember that long) I remember that in '83 I bought a Corvette Jacket at BG and I had a problem with it so I sent it back for exhange in '85 and the new one had a GMAD patch. I think all the plants were changed over pretty much at one time, but I could be wrong since it didn't directly affect us in the Component business.