[gtoric]

Inspected a friend's '59 Cat convert a short while back. I found on the Fisher Body trim tag that this particular body was produced at the Lansing, MI (LA) Fisher Body plant. I was unaware that Pontiac bodies were welded together at the Lansing plant and then trucked (?) to Pontiac for final assembly. Perhaps this only occurred with the convertible bodies.

Anyone else have a '59 built in the Lansing Fisher plant?

[CATBIRD]

gtoric.....not just convertibles. Station wagon bodies were assembled in Euclid, Ohio, and sent out to the various final assembly plants. I believe this was because these bodies needed different fixtures (jigs) than the sedans and coupes that were used by Fisher Body at those BOP plants. It was probably more economical to have only one setup at one plant, and to ship the bodies, than have a setup for each of the 8 BOP final assembly plants and all the Chevrolet plants, since these were relatively low volume body styles.

I'm not sure when this practice stopped, but it was sometime after 1960. I do know that by 1965 convertible bodies were being made at the final assembly plants......John

[Safari Larry]

See http://www.pontiacsafari.com/PlantCodes/Observed.htm for more info. I haven't updated that page for some time. Catbird John sent in one of the last entries, '59 convertible built at LA Fisher Body and assembled at Kansas City Pontiac plant... Larry

[gtoric]

Originally Posted by CATBIRD

gtoric..... Station wagon bodies were assembled in Euclid, Ohio, and sent out to the various final assembly plants....John

Many, if not all, of the immediate post-war (late '40s) Pontiac station wagon (woodie) bodies were assembled in Ionia, MI by a company called Ionia Manufacturing, a division of Mitchell-Bentley Corp. of Owasso, Michigan. Ionia Mfg. also built station wagon bodies, both wooden and all-steel, for Buick (1946-1962) and Olds (1957-1962), as well as for Mercury, and Dodge well into the fifties.

Mitchell-Bentley also produced roughly 1,600 Lincoln Continental Mk II bodies for Ford, and bodies for Studebaker Golden Hawks, Packard Caribbean, and Chevrolet Corvette.

[gtoric]

Originally Posted by Safari Larry

See http://www.pontiacsafari.com/PlantCodes/Observed.htm for more info. I haven't updated that page for some time. Catbird John sent in one of the last entries, '59 convertible built at LA Fisher Body and assembled at Kansas City Pontiac plant... Larry

The Fisher trim tag I have imaged shows a 1959 Catalina convertible, STYLE 59-2167, BODY LA 13043, TRIM 16 (Red and Ivory) PAINT L.

No color code for the top was impressed. No month/year date code is included on this tag. However, I would guess that this is a very late body from the 13,043 body number as only 14,515 were built for '59.