Gm official production date versus trim tag

[Bob H.]

received my NCRS shipping information. It confirmed where I knew the car was shipped to. My question is the official production date is 11/02/71. The trim tag says 11/01/71. Is this common? Did I have half a car on the 1st?

[Terry M.]

Re: Gm official production date versus trim tag

received my NCRS shipping information. It confirmed where I knew the car was shipped to. My question is the official production date is 11/02/71. The trim tag says 11/01/71. Is this common? Did I have half a car on the 1st?

Bob
I don't know how common this date disparity is, but I just got the shipping information for a 1969 Corvette I owned briefly and the trim tag date and shipping date were the same. That is the only experience I have with this matter.

However, I can explain how that disparity happens: The trim tag date is the date the tag was attached to the body. In the case of your 1971 that was after the body got it's final coat of paint, but the body had not yet met the chassis and there were many other parts to install on the car.

The shipping information date is based on when Chevrolet considered the car a completed unit for accounting purposes. They could hardly have considered it complete before the body was on the chassis and there is still the matter of final trim and water test. Apparently, for some cars all that happened on the same day, and for others they sat overnight on the assembly line between when the tag was installed and the car was considered complete.

[Dan D.]

Re: Gm official production date versus trim tag

Not uncommon. The trim tag is the day the car was in the "trim shop." This car was on the line over night. The production day is the day it rolled off the line, drafted against the Dealer's floor plan and was released to shipping. In the case of my '72...the car was actually on the line over the weekend. The trim tag is "Friday" while the ship day was "Monday." I might point out that if the car had to be delayed for any reason i.e. go to the repair shop, that interval could be longer.

[Larry E.]

Re: Gm official production date versus trim tag

How does a labor dispute effect the trim tag dates? (Build vs. Shipping) The 1970 production was shortened by a labor dispute, and the 1971 Corvette was treated as an extension of the 1970 production. There had to be Corvettes Started but not Finished. Has anybody ever seen a
Trim Tag with dates that are far off the Start/Finish. I believe that also happened to the C2's in 1965. Larry

[Terry M.]

Re: Gm official production date versus trim tag

How does a labor dispute effect the trim tag dates? (Build vs. Shipping) The 1970 production was shortened by a labor dispute, and the 1971 Corvette was treated as an extension of the 1970 production. There had to be Corvettes Started but not Finished. Larry

There were work stoppages at the Corvette plant in 1969, 1970 & 1971. Those cars that were on the assembly line with trim tags already installed would have quite a distance between the trim tag date and the shipping date.

It is a good thing that for judging purposes we use the trim tag date.

[Bob H.]

Re: Gm official production date versus trim tag

Thanks guys, That is what I assumed. However, you know what they say about that!

[Siegfried K.]

Re: Gm official production date versus trim tag

I received my NCRS shipping information as well, with official production date of March 19, 1970. My trim tag shows C18 = March 18.