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Tom, Some of the last over the counter license plate surrounds were really crude for sure. Easy to spot as they were all wrinkled up if you know what I mean. John
I can tell you that the part number, GM #3797486, was the same throughout C2 PRODUCTION and it was the same number that was available in SERVICE. Whether there were some nuances that changed over the 63-67 period, I do not know.
As John mentioned, later SERVICE examples were of poor quality. That's because, for a part like this, GM will usually not refurbish or replace tooling after the part is no longer used in PRODUCTION. They'll usually keep selling the part in SERVICE as long as it can be manufactured off of the original tooling. As time goes on, the tooling degrades and the parts become of lesser and lesser quality. When GMSPO deems that the quality is no longer acceptable (as likely influenced by customer complaints), the "discontinued sign goes up". For this piece, that occurred in January, 1994.
Tom, I remember in the early 80's ordering a ton of those for my '63s. I kept returning them from Chevy as they were mostly a POC. Luckily the parts guy was my friend. I did the same thing for bumpers and tail lites. Kept ordering trying to get a decent set. I remember reading about the license plate bezel 25 years ago in our mags as to how poor the quality of the over the counter replacements were. I have my own theory (unproven) about a lot of our old parts. Rejects from the assembly line. For example you see 100's of NOS 63 to 65 FI chrome front balance tubes in the flea markets and on ebay. I mean I have seen literary 1000's of those things NOS over the years. Well the entire lot of them are junk. They don't begin to fit. So you ask yourself why would RP and GM make so many chrome balance tubes for service. My answer is they didn't plan it that way. They just sold the crap to get rid of it as it didn't fit the assembly line FI's. FI rebuild kit often contain inferior diaphrams that were assembled backwards and so you take it from here. It was simply smart business. Bean counters demanded it I am told. Frank Sciabica told me that many years ago. John
Naw, you dont think they would do that do ya? I have had several parts over the years that had "Service" or "Return to Service" marked on them. I once got a door for an 82 that was obviously pulled off of the line. Already had a partial primer coat and a repair. It was marked "Service". I am sure that they didnt mean to leave the marks on them, but some got through.
It was not necessarily still manufactured in 1994; I'm sure that its manufacture ended some time prior to that, maybe a few years. However, that's when the last one went out of a GMSPO warehouse.
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