Some of these cars that have different or odd ship dates vs build dates, may have been held back as "repairs" may have had defects that needed to be repaired before shipping. I work at a GM truck assembly plant, and they have "back lot" trucks awaiting quality repairs that may set for weeks before there shipped.

Also, want to add that all ship dates are not "created equally"--we are not always comparing apples and apples. We have been told that the ship date for zone ordered cars is the ship date from the zone lot to the dealership. My car, and others made at the same time, may have been shipped from the factory to the zone lots the end of the 3rd week of January or the 4th week of January. (I know Barron knows this, and I'm repeating myself--sorry.)

The January 31 ship date for GTOPLACE's car (an 01D car), is a "from the factory" ship date since it was bound for a dealership at that time--a very large CA dealer. The Canadian car was also bound for a dealership when it left if I remember correctly.

We'll never know the earliest ship date from the factory because of this difference unless we find some other info.

Oh, and that zone lot must have been a sight...........................wish someone had a picture.

[QUOTE=Baron Von Zeppelin;3535068]
It is a 'Pattern Built' Judge.

QUOTE]

What does "Pattern Built" mean? Sorry if I missed it somewhere else.

[QUOTE=GregP;3536607]When Judge production began, various Pontiac zone offices "ordered" (not sure if the zones actually ordered them or Pontiac's executives had them sent) Judges. The Judges that were built were generally in 2 versions--1) a manual shift version with certain options (usually a 4-speed which we call the 4-speed pattern) and 2) an automatic version with certain options (called the automatic pattern).

Apparently dealerships could order a Judge at this time, but we have found few Judges produced in January that were not "patterns." One such dealer ordered Judge made the 4th week of January (I believe) is GTOPLACE's Judge, and it does not have the "pattern" options. I believe it is the one ordered by Bob Longpre Pontiac near LA--a large dealership. It has hidden headlights and does not follow the normal pattern. I was surprised when I saw his PHS.

Looks like someone around this car bought it, or they pulled it. EBAY was easily figured out when I started there, they've changed it so much who knows what's going on anymore...DW

And another tidbit to mention on the "Pattern Built Judges".
When DeLorean and/or Wangers have ever mentioned reference in speeches or interviews about the initial planned first 2000 69 Judges built - these "Pattern Built" Judges are the ones they were refering to.

But its common ad hype on 'almost' every Orange 69 Judge that gets auctioned to claim "one of the first 2000".

Another good thing about the Pattern Cars is they are nicely/desirably equipped.
There are exceptions, but most often better equipped than big majority of non-pattern built 69 III Judges.

Doug, Auction ended with Buy it Now for $12,000. I thought that was an ok deal for a complete numbers Judge project.

I agree with you the price was great. Just that as I read it, the bidder did all there bidding with that seller. I just thought the way it ended seemed odd.
That car can be restored very nicely and a person should be in it for quite a bit less than 40K, I know, I've been keeping good track of costs lately.
I think I may start a restoration shop on the side, or atleast do some partials. I could charge much less than what I've heard is the going rate...DW

I have been discussing the car with the owner of it. Very nice guy and is doing his best to represent the car accurately, but isn't a car guy. He offered it to me for $15k...a bit more that I was willing to spend right now. He was getting all kinds of offers, his highest was slightly above what e-bay indicates the car sold for.

He had offered it to me at $13,500 on Wednesday. I tried to get the block date code and letter code from him. He kept telling me he would get it but he never did. I gave a long list of items I couldn't see in the photos and he said they had all of them. He said hood had some rust issues. My only hesitation was verifying numbers on block and that he demanded it be taken out in 7 days. He is Indiana and I'm in Ma. I didn't think I could pull that off in that short of time. If everything checked out it probably would have been better taking the money out of the market and buying this.

I think on Tuesday, his highest offer was $12,500. Honestly, I would have probably gone $12,000 that he got, and could have gotten the car tomorrow. Oh, well..still have my 69 Judge rustbucket project. ;-)

Put me at the top of the list Doug!

Want to do my 68 for me?