When did battery date codes change?

[Mark F.]

Re: When did battery date codes change?

Troy,

according to the web...

The last St. Louis Vette was produced on August 1, 1981.

Bowling Green produced its first Corvette, a C3 1982 two-tone coupe, on June 1, 1981, during a two-month period when production overlapped with St. Louis.

[Troy P.]

Re: When did battery date codes change?

Another question to answer, per your post, is why Muncie would have two plant codes - I and T? The Delco battery catalogs going back to 1953 (the earliest I have - which is Delco's Silver anniversary 1923-1953 catalog) says Muncie is T.

[Troy P.]

Re: When did battery date codes change?

That's about what I recalled. Thanks for the confirmation of the move to Bowling Green.

That still leaves us with all 1957-1980 Corvettes having the closest battery plant being Olathe, KS with a plant code of V.

[Troy P.]

Re: When did battery date codes change?

Two of the codes I have photos of N2X and N7X have a problem with the first figure being the month. The last month of the year is M. So N doesn't fit. That and unknown plants K, I, C and N are the reasons I concluded the convention must have changed from the known year-month-plant configuration.

I have contacted Delco's amateur historian, a former employee (Delco no longer exists so there is no official historian), to see if he knows anything about N being a month and K, I, C or N being a plant code.

[Troy P.]

Re: When did battery date codes change?

After further Delco battery plant research, here is a list of all the plants I could find:

1928 Muncie, IN
1936 Bloomfield, NJ
1946 New Brunswick, NJ (replaced the Bloomfield plant)
1953 Anaheim, CA
1956 Olathe, KS
1974 Fitzgerald, GA
1976 Muncie, IN (replaced old Muncie plant)
1979 Juarez, Mexico
1980 Sarreguemines, France
1990 Piracicaba, Brazil
???? Oshawa, Ontario Canada
???? Kumi, South Korea
Not 100% certain those last two did make batteries.

I may have an answer to how the Muncie plant could have two different codes.

The Muncie plant was built in 1928 as the first Delco-Remy battery plant. In 1976 a modern replacement plant was built in Muncie. Possibly the "T" code was for the original plant and Delco may have given the new plant a different code of "I".

I have a thought about the other unidentified plant codes as well - K, C, & N. Perhaps those codes reflect changes to existing plant codes when AC and Delco combined into one company. AC's plant codes may have conflicted with existing Delco codes and battery plant codes were changed to eliminate the conflict. Or those codes could be for plants that came along 1974 and later as listed above. That's all guessing.

[Troy P.]

[Terry M.]

Re: When did battery date codes change?

I do, but my challenge will be to find it. I have a battery product sales brochure someplace. Either with the materials Delco sent me for the Sealed Side Terminal story (I didn't pass those on to you yet, did I?) or with all my books in my library in the garage. It will be another of the many searches I have to make. Just keep reminding me.

In the bigger scheme of things, does it matter. Your experience and mine with the 1971 are the same. We do these things more for our own satisfaction than anything. Maybe some day it will provide a learning experience for someone and that will make it all worth while.

No joy in the easily accessible places. This will become a long-term search. Best if any one else has anything they step forward.