What does the number mean??

[Keith B.]

Ladies/Gents: I'm half way thru the most awful process of removing 39yrs of dealer ashphalt undercoating from my 66 L-36. I've found my grease shim markings, both sides and today my stencil numbers on the right rear outer frame rail. Amazing how that undercoating preserved everything, the fiberglass looks very nice now (underneath that is). This evening I found three(3) numerals on the right (passenger)front area that goes from the pass floor curving up the firewall just in line with the battery tray area. It is white in color and in large writing says, " 189". Any ideas, I gather the factory did this as it was under one inch of tar and is very clear to view. Just curious what it means........thank-you.

[Joe L.]

Re: What does the number mean??

Keith-----

It's very likely the "job number". For in-plant purposes, St Louis assembly assigned a "job number" to each car being built. It was usually a 3 digit number that ran through "500" and then started over again. It was just a simple way to identify the cars since a VIN had not been assigned from the beginning of the assembly process, so a VIN (or VIN derivative) could not be used.

The "job number" was usually written in large script with crayon at several underbody and chassis locations and is commonly found in the area that you described..

[Justin N.]

Re: job number

Keith,
It should also be present behind your door panels as It is on my 67 coupe, job # 104.
Justin

[Rob M.]

Re: What does the number mean??

Joe,

Did AO Smith do the same, or was it only at the St. Louis?

Rob

[Mike E.]

Re: What does the number mean??

It wasn't a "body assembly" number, it was an "automobile assembly" number. It was done only at St. Louis (not applicable at A.O Smith) and was done from 54 on at St. Louis.

[Art A.]

Re: What does the number mean??

Mike, I don't mean to be picky but I'm sure it was just called a job number.

FWIW, within GM the term automobile was very rarely used---the term vehicle was the term of choice.

Art

[John H.]

Re: What does the number mean??

It was commonly called the "Body Shop Job Number", and was only meaningful in the Body Shop and in the Paint Shop. You'll also find it scrawled on the back side of the rear bulkhead in front of the fuel tank.

[Michael H.]

Re: What does the number mean??

I agre with Art. Everything always refered to a job number, not a car number or body number. Even the wording on the original blueprints for the St. Louis plant refer to the number of "jobs" that a particular line would have on it. The workers in the St Louis plant always refered to a chassis or body as a "job". "This bag of brackets will be enough for 25 jobs"

[John H.]

Re: What does the number mean??

Yup, spent 37 years building "jobs", in nine different GM and Chrysler assembly plants . Only knew one guy who didn't use that term - when I was a General Foreman at Lordstown, I had a foreman from Massachusetts (ex-New England Patriot linebacker) whose mantra was "gotta get the pahts on the cahs"

[Mike E.]

Re: What does the number mean??

I think you misunderstood me. By the quotation marks I was making the point that it had nothing to do with the body assembly and everything to do with the mating of the body to the chassis as a part of the assembly at St. Louis, irregardless of where the body was built.
Sorry for my lack of clarity.

[Anthony F.]

Re: What does the number mean??

I agree with the term “Job Number”, as that is the term I recall using. I would like to interject a thought that might explain the location.

The underbody was assembled with rivets and plates, brackets or what ever it could have done while it was upside down. They had to be scheduled in sequence due to the options that the car had so the sequencing came out correctly. After which the underbody was set to a body truck for the trip through the body shop, paint & hard trim before being mounted to the chassis. Now the underbody where assemble ahead of the line needs so there would be a small bank setting ready for installation to the body truck as it came back into the body shop area. This was not an uncommon thing to do for production. They sub-assembled the front & rear body panels and kept a few ahead also.

If you would be wondering about a C2 with a Big Tank, these were assembled ahead and out of the line sequence build to be inserted at a little later time. The underbody was built, mounted on a body truck, set aside and the big tank items were installed. I remember that Carl Schneider would be responsible for the build of those.

[Mark P.]

Re: What does the number mean??

FYI, I have a '65 A.O. Smith body and found the same three digit number in the same location under all the goo. Sounds like it might have been done there, too.

[Mike E.]

Re: What does the number mean??

No--it was done at the assembly plant in St. Louis, not at the body plant.

[Mark P.]

Re: What does the number mean??

Fair enough. I thought it was stated that A.O. Smith bodies didn't have the job numbers. Thanks for the clarification.

[Michael H.]

Re: What does the number mean??

Tony,

Thanks. Excellent description of the beginning of the body build process and body number application procedure. Several months ago, there was a discussion about when these numbers were applied and when the body actually became specific to a particular vehicle order. The general opinion of many members was that bodies were built at random. I tried to explain that NOTHING happened randomly on that line and every floor pan that came off the pile and went on the line was already job specific. The build sheets were already in existance and one of the very first things that happened to the floor pan was the addition of the job number. From that point, every worker at every station would know exactly what operations to perform on each job, using the build sheets that were everywhere along the assy line. Copies of that same build sheet, with it's unique job number, were also used on the chassis and engine lines.

Another interesting part was the fact that all of the wheel/tire units had to be sent to the line in the exact order in which they would be used. These assy's were built in a separate building behind the main plant and came across the parking lot between bldg's on an overhead tire assy run, one at a time. When they arrived at the point on the assy line (with a bang!) where they were to be installed on the vehicle, they had to be in the proper sequence so the correct set was installed. This should further explain that the wheel/tire bldg had to have copies of the build sheets also, so they knew the exact order in which they were assembled/sent. Very complex process all in all.

Michael