Job number

[Bob M.]

Does this job number look like it was changed on the line?

[Alan Drake]

Re: Question

Unable to help, but would ask the same question.
Assume this is the passanger front floor job number location.

IF so-- what is the red/orange over spray? Have same stuff on my 64. Was going to try to remove it, but now it appears standard (second time I've seen it).
Can you email me the picture? Unable to get from post.

Thanks
Alan

[Barbara S.]

Re: Question

When I cleaned and degreased the underneath side of the body from my '67 coupe, I found the number L383 on the passenger front floor area of the engine compartment. The same L383 was also on the rear area of the body in front of the gas tank. I couldn't see the rear number until I lifted the body and did some cleaning.

I assumed it was the job number as well. If you ever drop your gas tank, you might want to see if you have the job number on the rear of your body too.

Hope this helps.
Tony

[Stephen L.]

Re: Question

Red/orange is primer.

Number is body shop job number. It also appears on the rear bulkhead (gas tank area) and inside each door. The hood also had it but it was covered over during blackout.

[Ken Edmunds]

Re: Question

The red overspray is red oxide primer.

[Michael H.]

Re: Question

Alan,

As Steve and Ken mentioned, the redish brown color is indeed primer. However, you may not find much on some cars. The amount of primer, and eventually blackout, pretty much depended on the worker who was spraying it that day. The intended surface for both the primer and blackout was actually only the vertical surface and a small part of the roll at the bottom of the vertical surface of the firewall. The angle of spray would have been such that the vertical surface received a good shot but the angled panel below the heater would have only received some light overspray. This is obvious as on most bodies, the job number is still visible and easy to read, even though it's covered in what looks like a heavy coat of primer. The coating was usually so thin that the job number characters actually apperr to be on top of the primer but actually, they were under it. Here's a shot of an unrestored 64. It's obvious that the worker that shot primer was shooting at a little different angle than the worker that shot the blackout as the blackout ends almost abruptly at the curve.

[Alan Drake]

Re: Question

Mike,
That's what I suspected - good thing I never tried to remove it! I too have an unrestored 64 and the number IS "370" Thanks

[Bob M.]

Re: Question

Can you folks fill me in on why these numbers appear on the body.

Bob

[John H.]

Re: Question

Bob -

That's the sequence in which they were scheduled to be built in the Body Shop; each major component/subassembly that was built-up off-line and later joined to the underbody on the main line to create a body was identified by that number, which referred to a "run sheet" to show what style and options went with that car. That ensured that all the pieces that arrived at the main body line for any given car were correctly configured for the options it would receive later.

This logic is explained further in an article (with lots of photos) I authored on building the Corvette body in St. Louis in the current (August) issue of "Corvette Enthusiast" magazine.

[Bob M.]

Re: Question

Thanks John, I will have to make sure I get that issue.

Bob

[Gene B.]

Re: Question

When I had to replace the front clip on my 64, (from the previous owners accident), not only was the job number shown on the fire wall in the engine compartment, it was on the bird cage under the front fender next to the vertical bonding strip, just below the windshield on the passenger side. There is a flat spot on the birdcage that had the job number.

Interesting though; the serial number on my 64 was 00224, the job number was 221. So for some reason, the car was pulled off the line and then put back after three cars had passed. Not sure why. Amazing what kind of questions are raised as we restore a car. Rasies the question on the job number versus serial number for cars numbered between 221 and 224.

Gene

[John H.]

Re: Question

Gene -

It wasn't "pulled off the line"; chances are it simply got a "re-run" through one segment in the Paint Shop for a repair and thus got out of sequence - happened all the time. That's why not all cars have the VIN matching the Body Shop job number dead on, but vary a few numbers.