Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Don Z.
    Expired
    • September 1, 1998
    • 254

    #1

    Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

    E-mailing another C-2 owner and discussing build dates and birthdays, I am now, after owning the car for sometime totally confused. Just what does most Corvette owners consider the birthday? My forward stamp and trim tag says
    3-21-66 (serial #17927). I know this is when the body passed the trim tag station. Is the trim tag put on at the beginning or the end of the line? Is this not the birthday of the car? I checked the birthday calendar on the C2Registry and I know it is approx., it is 1 week past the trim tag date. Since the last car in March was #18,091 it now does make a little more sense that maybe I have had my cars birthday too early. Any help is appreciated clearing this up for me. Thank You
  • Michael H.
    Expired
    • January 29, 2008
    • 7477

    #2
    Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

    Don,

    Just my opinion on this but as far as I'm concerned, the birthday is the day/date the vehicle rolled out of the assy plant and headed for the Complete Auto Transport lot. Once it went over that bridge, there was no more "assembly".

    The date code on the trim tag was applied at the end of the body build and paint operation. That means that it's POSSIBLE that the unit was actually completed on that same day but most likely, it was completed on the following WORK day as there was still a lot of car to build. The point on the line where the trim tag was installed isn't even half way through the build. If the body received it's trim tag at the beginning of a days shift, it would have had the remainder of that and the next shift to be completed. If, however, the tag was installed at the end of the 2nd shift, then obviously the unit would have been finished at least one work day later, and possibly two. (depending on the era. this time changed as the years/decades went by)

    Without a complete list of all the cars and their "build date codes", there's no way, at this time, to calculate their actual roll out date.

    The stories of cars being completed a week after the trim tag date are not at all logical. Those cars didn't sit around long at all after completion.

    None of this applies to Smith built bodies, obviously.

    Comment

    • Don Z.
      Expired
      • September 1, 1998
      • 254

      #3
      Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

      Thanks for your thoughts Mike. That was my thinking, but my car is an A.O. Smith body....now what!

      Comment

      • Michael H.
        Expired
        • January 29, 2008
        • 7477

        #4
        Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

        That makes sense Don. There is probably a one week lag between the date of your body build (at Smith) and the final roll out date of the completed vehicle at the St Louis plant. The body, built at Smith, was completed on 21 March and then shipped. It probably entered the St Louis line on the 27th or 28th of March and may have rolled out on the 29th or 30th. That would be a normal amount of time for a Smith bodied car.

        If the last car of March (31st) was 18,091, and the average daily build rate for St Louis in 1966 was 85 units per day, that would move your car back roughly two days. Hope I have that correct.

        Comment

        • Don Z.
          Expired
          • September 1, 1998
          • 254

          #5
          Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

          Thank You very much Mike. That makes a lot of sense and I had not even given that a thought.

          So then the "True Birthday" of my car is when it rolled out of the St. Louis plant. Am I understanding that is what you are meaning?

          How do I explain this to my car that its birthday really isn't the 21st and it will need to except its gifts a week later ! ! ! !

          Comment

          • Michael H.
            Expired
            • January 29, 2008
            • 7477

            #6
            Adopted Corvettes

            Could be worse than just a miscalculated b-day Don. Some guys have to explain to their cars that they're not the true father.

            I would definitely consider the 29th or 30th it's true b-day. My rough calc's actually fall right between the two days.

            Comment

            • Richard S.
              Very Frequent User
              • November 1, 1994
              • 809

              #7
              Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

              March 1966 average cars per day was more like 117. March 29th/30 was 122 cars.

              Comment

              • Michael H.
                Expired
                • January 29, 2008
                • 7477

                #8
                Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                Quite possible Rick. I was just taking a guess at the daily total. I was thinking of the typical 63 run which would probably have been closer to my guess of 85.

                I just ran the numbers and the monthly total for March 66 production was 2807 in roughly 27 working days counting saturdays but I'm not sure if Saturday was in the schedule at that time. That average is 103 units per day. Either way, you are correct, it would push Don's build date back one more day.

                Comment

                • Jack W.
                  Very Frequent User
                  • September 1, 2000
                  • 358

                  #9
                  Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                  FWIW, my (AOS) 65 has a T Tag Body Build date of March 29, with a calculated "birthday" of April 6 - similar spread, albeit different years.
                  65 MM Convertible, L76 (365 hp)

                  Comment

                  • Gary #41345

                    #10
                    Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                    Whatever the birthday...a day here a day there, don't give the old girl too much cake and ice cream they tend to put weight on in a hurry.... especially up here in the northeast this time of year...lack of exercise the good doctor says!!

                    Comment

                    • Richard S.
                      Very Frequent User
                      • November 1, 1994
                      • 809

                      #11
                      Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                      Michael,

                      March 1966 final serial number was 18091. February 1966 final serial number was 15404. That's 2687 cars built in March 1966. The Corvette Birthday Book shows 23 working days in March 1966. That's an average of 116.8 cars per day. I think there are some posts by John Hinckley in the archives regarding working days and number of shifts. My two St.Louis built cars,66 and 67,have Body Trim Tag dates one day prior to final assembly. I'm looking for more information regarding AOS body builds in Ionia and final assembly line dates in St.Louis.

                      Comment

                      • Michael H.
                        Expired
                        • January 29, 2008
                        • 7477

                        #12
                        Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                        Rick,

                        The list of final VIN per month that I used differs slightly from the info that you have. That's not to say this list is correct but it shows a final for Feb as 15,283 and a final for March of 18,091, for a total March run of 2807. I don't remember where I came up with this info so it's quite possible it's incorrect.

                        Later, I'll run the numbers and see if it was actually possible to build a number of units per hour with the 5 work day week and match your March total. I don't remember the number of units per hour for 1966 but that info is here somewhere.

                        How were you able to determine that your two cars had a final roll out date one day after the trim tag date? Is that info from the birthday book or is there some other doc's that somehow show this?

                        Comment

                        • Lyle C.
                          Extremely Frequent Poster
                          • September 1, 1994
                          • 3228

                          #13
                          Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                          Was the body non aos on the trim line heading for the body drop when the trim tag was attached? If so how many work stations or cars were on the line to the end where they were driven off? This would tell if it could have been 2 days without the weekend.

                          Lyle
                          Lyle

                          Comment

                          • Richard S.
                            Very Frequent User
                            • November 1, 1994
                            • 809

                            #14
                            Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                            Michael,

                            The info I have is from The Birthday Book. John Hinckley once advised....2002 I think......7 cars per hour, two shifts per day, average 112 cars per day. I think this was with respect to 1967 production.
                            Noland says 8 to 12 days for shipping completed body from Ionia to St.Louis....then at least a couple more days on the St.Louis dock and on the conveyor from the basement. Seems like it would be at least a 12 day time lag.

                            Comment

                            • John H.
                              Beyond Control Poster
                              • December 1, 1997
                              • 16513

                              #15
                              Re: Caculating True C-2 Birthday's

                              Lyle -

                              St. Louis-bodied cars had the trim tag applied in the first station on the Trim Line, where both St. Louis and AOS cars also had the VIN plate attached. I don't recall the job count from there to the end of the main line and the job count on the Final Line (where interior soft trim was installed), but Michael probably has those numbers.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              Searching...Please wait.
                              An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

                              Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                              An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

                              Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                              An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
                              There are no results that meet this criteria.
                              Search Result for "|||"