C2 vin no. & build date

[Steven B.]

I would like to hear from John Hinkley on this if possible please. I have talked to Noland Adams about my '67 having a vin of 100108 and what day it was built. Noland says that during the '66 build, '67 pilot line cars would be assembled and assigned consecutive vin numbers starting with 100001. Approximately 25 to 30 pilots were built so that when the first day of production rolled around, regular production vin numbers did not start with 100001 but 100025 or so. With the assumption that typical production numbers of 96 per day were achieved on Sept.1,'66, my car's time of build would be late during second shift. John, do you agree with this assumption? Steve

[Wayne M.]

This may be an example of Noland's statement

... re pilot line cars. This 1967 Coupe VIN 00005, [L36 C60] with body # S1 (first 1967 St.Louis coupe). Note body trim tag date K13 (July 13th, a Wednesday) which is 2 full weeks before the end of 1966 Corvette production.

Unfortunately, I don't know whether the whole car was assembled this early (didn't write down the other #s). This was back in early 1976 when a friend owned this car.

[John H.]

Re: C2 vin no. & build date

Steve -

That's a logical assumption. Nobody knows how many 67's were built as Pilot units prior to normal '67 start of production, but somewhere between ten and twenty is reasonable. You'll note in Wayne's post that four Pilot units (S/N 001-004) were built prior to the car whose tags are in the photo (coupes and convertibles had separate body numbering systems).

[Steven B.]

Re: C2 vin no. & build date

John and Wayne, thanks for your responses. Sorry I misspelled your last name in my original post, John. Wayne, on another subject from Noland's book concerning hood stripes on early big block '67's. Noland writes that the hood painting process had not been perfected by the start of '67 production and cars with vin numbers under 101000 may not have stripes. I was wondering if the car you pictured in your post still had original paint when you saw it and did it have a painted hood stripe that appeared original? Steve

[Wayne M.]

Car was painted white by 1976, and ...

Noland is refering to A.O.Smith (Ionia Mich.-produced) bodies as the one's with the trouble applying the stripes. VIN 00005 is a St.Louis body (S1), so it undoubtedly had the stripes.

[Richard S.]

Re: Car was painted white by 1976, and ...

Wayne,

Was 00005 in Montreal??

[Wayne M.]

GM promotional car, toured Canadian dealers

from east to west (as I understand the story). Eventually sold to the public through a Vancouver B.C. dealership. I have a photocopy of the first title transfer somewhere. This car originally had bolt-ons, which had to have been one of the first sets available. The rims ended up (at least by 1976) on a '64 red coupe from B.C.