Date's-Body Build and Stamp Pad

[Dana M.]

Is there a time frame between body build date and engine stamp pad date.Which should come first. Most I've have seen are with in a few days. I'am looking at a 1965 that the pad is about 2 weeks after the body date.Is this normal.

[don 42616]

Re: Date's-Body Build and Stamp Pad

Dana, The motor pad date is always before the build date.

[William C.]

Re: Date's-Body Build and Stamp Pad

Ok, is the car an AO smith body or a St Louis body? The engine date needs to be before the FINAL ASSEMBLY date of the car, usually by anywhere from a few days to in some instances a few months. St Louis built bodies were built to firm orders for cars scheduled for assembly, while AO smith bodies were built on forecasted need and had both the shipping time to St Louis and differences between forecasted requirements and actual requirements creating variations between the body build and the final assembly date. In an AO smith body, it is possible to have the body built before the engine, but both would have to be bult before the final assembly dated of the car, which is determined by the VIN of the car. So the answer to your question of which would come first really depends on more information than you have provided in the question as the answere could be either, depending on the variables mentioned above, so what is the VIN, Who was the body builder, when was the engine build, and what was the body build? All of those elements need to be looked at together to answer the question, as it is really specific to the details of one car, not a generic "always will be..."