Assembly Manual

[Dick C.]

I have been told that assembly manuals had a section on preparing cars for export. All the reprints have no such section. Can anyone comfirm this.

[Christopher R.]

Re: Assembly Manual

I don't know. I've never seen this in any AIMs.

But in speculating. Wasn't export an RPO? All the other RPOs are at the end of the AIM.

[Dick C.]

Re: Assembly Manual

Chris,
Export cars were handled like COPO cars(so I am told), they went through the "Central Office".
All of the tank stickers I have (7) has one or the other code: 8PROC 1 or 8PROC 2 on them. I am hoping that the "Foreign Distrubitions Division" of GM can shed some light on exports. Just can't get my foot in the door to find someone who can help. The search continues. As these car went down the line there must have been some instructions on how they were to be prepared. Is that where the 8PROC comes in ?, who knows. The info is out there.

[John H.]

Re: Assembly Manual

Dick -

St. Louis didn't do anything special to export cars, other than shipping them to Mortensen's Warehouse at the Port of Baltimore; Mortensen's was a contractor to Chevrolet, and did all the overseas prep on all Chevrolet products in those days (sprayed the engine compartment and chassis with oil, coated the car with a heavy shipping wax to protect it against the salt air and condensation, etc.). Export preparation instructions were never included in the A.I.M. - it was a separate Engineering document issued to Mortensen's, and included the procedures for removal of the shipping protection materials, which was done by another GM Europe contractor at the receiving port (usually Antwerp).

[Dick C.]

Re: Assembly Manual

Thanks for the correct info. I have the info on the delivery location overseas, another piece of the puzzle. Still looking for the meaning of 8PROC code found on all the tank stickers I have. Dick

[John H.]

Re: Assembly Manual

Dick -

I suspect the "8PROC" was an internal billing code that charged the cost of the Mortensen export prep to the GMODC (GM Overseas Distribution Corp., a division of GMOO - GM Overseas Operations) budget, and relieved the Chevrolet books by the same amount. I was there (Chevrolet) in the 60's and 70's, and Chevrolet never spent a penny they couldn't recover from someone, either internal or external to GM.