Attn:John Hinckley-Trim Tag Date Question

[Larry E.]

Hello:
Have an interesting question on Mid-Year Trim Tag Body Dates. On example below lets assume all cars are St.Louis Convertible Body Cars. Here is my question:

Can a lower number VIN Car have a later Body Build date then a higher number VIN car? I assume some complete bodys where scraped due to
flaws. What I mean by later is 2-3 days.

Thanks; Larry

[Jack H.]

Re: Attn:John Hinckley-Trim Tag Date Question

The St. Louis body shop had very little room to 'inventory' finished bodies unlike AO Smith bodies that arrived on rail car and were often stored outside the assy plant on the rail cars they arrived on. So, the lion's share of finished St. Louis bodies went to the final assy line pretty quickly upon build completion.

BUT, the time period between when a give body started its way through the body shop and when it exited as a finished sub-assy WAS variable.... It depended on how many defects + re-work incidents were experienced on that particular job.

I don't know of any reason why the body shop would have SCRAPPED a given job.... They had all of the necessary parts to effect as-required repairs!

[Larry E.]

Re: Attn:John Hinckley-Trim Tag Date Question

Hello Again:
Thanks for relply and understand what you said. But if you read Noland
Adams book he indicates that from his surveys that body numbers occasionally exceeded total production figures.

Larry

[John H.]

Re: Attn:John Hinckley-Trim Tag Date Question

Can a lower number VIN Car have a later Body Build date then a higher number VIN car? I assume some complete bodys where scraped due to
flaws. What I mean by later is 2-3 days.

Thanks; Larry

Nothing is impossible, but it's highly unlikely - during the midyear era, the trim tag with the body build date on it was created and installed in the same station as the VIN plate, which was the first operation on the Hard Trim Line, where the body went immediately after leaving the Paint Shop. The VIN numbers were assigned and created sequentially in that station; the VIN number of any car wasn't known until the body passed through that station and proceeded, locked in physical sequence, into the final assembly system.

Bodies didn't get "scrapped".