1963 Frame 'pull date'

[John S.]

My 63 split window was judged top flite, 96.1 first time out at the recent regional in Albuquerque. One item the judging said needed to be done was to put crayon 'pull date' on frame.

I'm not sure what that is or where to put it, what is says, etc. Can anyone help? Car is July 1963 build.
I have over half the deduct items now completed to get a better score, next time should do about 98+ if all goes well.
Thanks for the expert advice on this one,
John

[Harry S.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

Here ya go................The car build date is 4/20/63

[Tom H.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

Hi John !!

If you have the 63-64 judging manual check out the frame section. It mentions the pull date and gives and example.

I know John Hinkley and possibly others have photo examples. I believe you can see some shots of pull dates in Noland's book as well.

I will see if I can find you a picture.

[John S.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

OK, thanks for the info. Now I know where to put it. How can one find the exact build date of his car to know the date to put on? All I know now is July , 1963
Thanks,
John

[Michael G.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

John,

Believe if you'll look at the trim tag, top left corner you'll observe a letter and number. Letter will indicate the month and number will indicate date.

[Tracy C.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

John,

There is a Corvette Birthday calendar somewhere (someone here can post a link) that you plug your year and last 5 numbers of the VIN into and come up with a fairly accurate build date.

The pull date should precede the build date by one day. Two at the most.

tc

[John S.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

John,

Believe if you'll look at the trim tag, top left corner you'll observe a letter and number. Letter will indicate the month and number will indicate date.

I read in one of the older posts that the build date from the trim tag is possibly not the correct date for the pull date, they can be two weeks or more apart from what I read, so just need some expert conclusion. From what I read the pull date is the same day or maybe a day earlier than the true build date?

[John C.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

John

In 63 all the bodies were built in St Louis. When completed they would go directly to the final assembly line to be mated to the chassis. In this case the frame date would generally be the same or one day before the trim tag date.

Beginning in 64 and continuing through 67 the bodies were built both in St Louis and at the AO Smith plant in Michigan. It took about a week for the AO Smith bodies to travel to St Louis. So for AO Smith bodied cars the frame pull date could be a week or more after the trim tag date.

John

[Timothy B.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

In 1963, the trim tag date indicates month and week of assembly, it's different than my 67 which is month and day of month. Also "A" in 1963 = September and "A" in 67 indicates August.

[Joe R.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

Tracy,

Here's one version of the birthday calculator:

http://stlouisncrs.org/vin_calculator.htm

Joe

[John S.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

OK, I got a build date of July 8, 1963 for my car. Should I then use that date for the frame pull date?
Thanks,
John

[Tracy C.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

I read in one of the older posts that the build date from the trim tag is possibly not the correct date for the pull date, they can be two weeks or more apart from what I read, so just need some expert conclusion. From what I read the pull date is the same day or maybe a day earlier than the true build date?

John,

You are correct in your summation. I would not factor the trim tag date at all. I don't know if you've considered spending the $40 for the dealer info, but you will also get THE date your car rolled off the assembly line.

tc

[Loren L.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

John,

You are correct in your summation. I would not factor the trim tag date at all. I don't know if you've considered spending the $40 for the dealer info, but you will also get THE date your car rolled off the assembly line.

tc

I thought you got the date the car SHIPPED.

[Tracy C.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

Loren,

From the info posted in the sticky link, I interpret this to mean the build date rather than ship date.

"The first service is the CORVETTE SHIPPING DATA REPORT. The information consists of the dealer code, dealer name, dealer address and the date the car was produced. The good news is this should allow you to find the original dealer where your Corvette was sold and possibly open the door to finding more information about your Corvette. A letter containing the information you request will be mailed to your NCRS address on record."

[Jack H.]

Re: 1963 Frame 'pull date'

The shipping report date reflects when the car passed the 'pay point' at the assy plant. That's the date GM said the car's assy was finished/done.

A given car could have started down the final assy line and diverted to a major repair station for re-work. That's one of the problems with the conventional Corvette birthday calculators. They PRESUME finished cars came off the line in a nice orderly, lock-step, fashion based on consecutive serial numbers.

While that's a decent assumption, it is NOT necessarily true. The Shipping Data Report is the ONLY way to know exactly when a given car's build cycle really completed.

On what date you should put on your frame, it helps to understand the final assy plant manufacturing process. The final line had several 'feeder' lines serving it. One was the body shop, another the chassis line...

The date on the body represents when that body was built and NOT when the finished car was built. It's true that there wasn't much 'storage' space at the plant to warehouse finished bodies, but SOME were delayed between build completion and transition to the final line.

The same is true of the chassis. The pull date represents when a given frame was grabbed to START it's build cycle and eventually meet its matching body on the final line...