1966 Build date confusion
Planing on having my car flight judged in the spring. Today I was checking build dates. Car was built on 12-15-65. Engine pad said engine was built on 12-8-65. Checked starter and it has a 5M9 date (12-9-65)? Talked to previous owners of the car, and was told its the original starter. Does anyone knows what could have happened? Will this be a deduction in points at judging? Thanks Larry....
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Re: 1966 Build date confusion
Unless I'm missing something, I think you are OK.Tom Hendricks
Proud Member NCRS #23758
NCM Founding Member # 1143
Corvette Department Manager and
Specialist for 27 years at BUDS Chevrolet. -
Re: 1966 Build date confusion
I had one built 12/13. That date to me is very normal for these early 427's.Comment
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Re: 1966 Build date confusion
Why do you find these dates a problem?
Look at your copy of the AIM and you'll see the starter (and a number of other engine bolt-on components) were installed at St. Louis versus shipping with the engine from either Flint or Tonawanda...Comment
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Re: 1966 Build date confusion
Larry,
My car's starter is dated May 2nd, 1966 and the car came off the line on the 6th! As far as I know, it's original to the car and haven't had any issues during judging.
CheersRob
'66 327/300 Regional Top Flt
'08 6 speed coupeComment
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Re: 1966 Build date confusion
The "car build date" you mention is likely the body build date off the trim tag unless you have a copy of the actual production order with the final assembly date, which could be one to several days later than the body build date.
DukeComment
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Re: 1966 Build date confusion
Things to be careful of:
(1) The body build date reflects when the body was built...NOT the finished car.
(2) On mid-year cars, AO Smith supplied about half of the bodies and it took time for the body to travel from Michigan to St. Louis.
(3) Then, since there was very little 'spare' room in the plant to warehouse completed bodies, the convenience of the AOS bodies sitting on rail cars outside presented an attractive way to temporarily store finished bodies...
(4) As John Hinckley has taught us, a given body might have re-cycled through the paint shop for some time before QA/QC folks deemed it correct and ready to proceed forward to the final assy line and the trim tag went on when the body STARTED its build...
So, it's always best to look at the car's actual VIN and work backwards to the actual assy date vs. going by the date on the trim tag!!!
Last, while this isn't a 100% correct/universal rule, IF you see a given part called out in the AIM for assy, that means it was installed at St. Louis vs. being part of a larger sub-assy like the engine coming in from Flint/Tonawanda...Comment
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Re: 1966 Build date confusion
Jack,
I don't know for sure about Smith bodies but for St Louis, the trim/VIN tags were installed after the body paint operation was nearly completed. Once the trim and VIN tags were installed, the body was locked in sequence.
For St Louis bodies, the car would have been completed the same day or the next working day.Comment
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