C2 '66 alternator date... too close to cars B-day?

[Steven S.]

A St.Louis built body with a trim tag date of Jan.7th, would an alternator with a Dec.30th date be realistic? 8 days seems too close, although some of the survey results reported in Nolands's book are approx. within a week of the car. Did the alternators get shipped with the engines or did they install them at St.Louis? Thanks, Steve

[Peter L.]

Re: Alternator lead times

Steve - Alternators are called out in the Assembly Instruction Manual so they would have been installed at St Louis and depending on the alternator I don't think 8 days is too close. My experience has been that the more common alternator(s) generally have shorted lead times than higher amp or unique application alternators. They didn't want to hold up a car for the lack of an alternator or the appropriate alternator. Pete

[Steven S.]

Re: Alternator lead times

It's the 1100696, so not as common as the 1100693, but probably more common than the 1100750. For some reason I was thinking they were sent with the engines, but now that you say it I do remember the call out in the AIM. Steve

[Tom S.]

Re: Alternator lead times

I think you are o.k. if for some reason they had a problem with these alternators they may have pulled some off the assembly line for that reason. Also it was in the middle of the holiday season so that might have affected supply also.I would not worry about it if I were you. Tom

[Steven S.]

Thank you! *NM*

[Ken K.]

Re: C2 '66 alternator date... too close to cars B-

I think the date on the trim tag is when the body was built, not when the total car was built. You can look up the "Birthday" by your VIN and find out when your car was built. I'm guessing it will come up around Jan. 13th. Let us know.

[Steven S.]

Re: C2 '66 alternator date... too close to cars B-

Actually, the B-day calculator came up with January 7th as well, same as body build date as shown on the trim tag. Steve

[John H.]

Re: C2 '66 alternator date... too close to cars B-

On a St. Louis C2, the body build date is normally the day before the car actually came off the line, although if it hit the tag station early in the first shift, it could come off the line late in the second shift the same day.

[Steven S.]

Re: C2 '66 alternator date... too close to cars B-

Did the line run on Saturdays? The 7th was a Friday, so if they didn't run on Saturday then we would be looking at the 10th (unless it was in the situation you described).

[John H.]

Re: C2 '66 alternator date... too close to cars B-

There were occasional Saturday overtime shifts, but the exact dates are unknown; in any event, your dates are OK.