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Old 01-26-2020, 03:40 PM
tsmith455 tsmith455 is offline
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Default Date of production question

I have a 1969 Firebird. If my car was produced and invoiced in late June 1969, would this be considered a late production car?

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Old 01-26-2020, 04:20 PM
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Curious how late they built these, IIRC, were not some titled as '70s and built well into the Fall?

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Old 01-26-2020, 05:09 PM
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Also, would the looming GM Strike have impacted when the final 1969 cars were produced?

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Old 01-26-2020, 05:36 PM
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The late introduction/start up of the 2nd Gen Bird was the reason the 69 Bird's were sold into 1970.
Not sure if the dates were any later per se' but they were still 1969 Birds.
Some did have cast dates and casting numbers of the the 1970 engines.



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Old 01-26-2020, 05:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsmith455 View Post
Also, would the looming GM Strike have impacted when the final 1969 cars were produced?
The strike beginning late Sept of '69 was Flint Fisher Body #2 & effected early '70 Monte as well as early '70 Chevelle production. Have logged '70 GTO's built in Aug-Nov of '69 out of multiple assembly plants. from my notes that particular UAW Strike didn't effect multiple divisions & lines of GM products. A year later is when the Bad Boy of all UAW Strikes hit GM, company wide, idled basically every plant & most suppliers from middle of Sept '70 til early Nov '70 when a few suppliers began gearing up. Assembly plants began to resume production around Nov 20th, though several like Norwood & Lakewood did not resume production of ' 71 models till after the first of the year.

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Old 01-26-2020, 06:40 PM
tsmith455 tsmith455 is offline
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So this explains a couple of things. The block is the original block with a June 69 casting date which aligns with the car, and has the 1969 Block code. The block casting # however, is 9799914 for a 1970 block not 9790071 which would be a 1969 block casting # and has the "70" up by the distributor, however was clearly produced in June of 1969. Everything else has correct 1969 dates and engine codes which align with the 1969 car.

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Old 01-26-2020, 07:17 PM
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That's correct.
Your block is a 70 casting block used for the 69 Bird. Probably because the run of 69 Birds went longer than it should have and they used the 70 casting blocks.



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Old 01-26-2020, 07:19 PM
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BTW, if the block is original, it should have the partial VIN of the car on the block.

(29N1xxxxx)



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Old 01-28-2020, 03:15 PM
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All the evidence is that it is the original block, however doesn't have the vin stamped, and clearly hasn't been milled or molested in any way. Date and engine code are correct for the car.

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Old 01-28-2020, 04:09 PM
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I have read that late model year, for a conventional model year run, cars (eg: late june to july) getting parts with casting numbers for the following model year (eg: block casting number) is not totally outside of ordinary;
Considering that the 1969 Firebird model year was extended to see them built as late as (iirc) December 1969 and being sold as "1970" cars, I wouldn't actually consider a June built car to be a "late" production car.

That's just my two cents worth though.

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Old 01-28-2020, 04:11 PM
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I looked on my PHS docs, they only give a shipping date. Does it come down to getting date codes off the block, cylinder heads, etc to date your car's build?

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Old 01-28-2020, 04:17 PM
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your cowl tag should give you the week of your car's build.

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1970 Formula 400
Carousel Red paint on Black standard interior
A no-engine, no-transmission, no-wheel option car.
Quite likely one of few '70 Muncie three speed Formula 400's left.


1991 Grand Am: 14.4 @ 93.7mph (DA corrected) (retired DD, stock appearing)
2009 Cobalt SS: 13.9 @ 103mph (current DD; makes something north of 300hp & 350ft/lbs)
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Old 01-28-2020, 05:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unruhjonny View Post
your cowl tag should give you the week of your car's build.
Ok, checked my cowl tag with a decoder list.

08E...so that's the fifth week of August, 1969?

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Old 01-28-2020, 06:56 PM
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/\ correct

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1970 Formula 400
Carousel Red paint on Black standard interior
A no-engine, no-transmission, no-wheel option car.
Quite likely one of few '70 Muncie three speed Formula 400's left.


1991 Grand Am: 14.4 @ 93.7mph (DA corrected) (retired DD, stock appearing)
2009 Cobalt SS: 13.9 @ 103mph (current DD; makes something north of 300hp & 350ft/lbs)
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