[cpu]

I want to confirm the date ranges of Fisher Body weeks in 1970 on the Trim Tags.

March 1970 started in the beginning of a week. I figure these are the date ranges on the Trim Tags:
March 02 ~ 06 = 03A
March 09 ~ 13 = 03B
March 16 ~ 20 = 03C
March 23 ~ 27 = 03D
March 30 began the week of 03E.
Did 03E week include April 01 ~ 03?

If Fisher considered April 1970 as starting on April 06:
April 06 ~ 10 = 04A
April 13 ~ 17 = 04B
April 20 ~ 24 = 04C
April 27 ~ 30 = 04D
Did 04D week include May 01?

I think I've heard of 03E 1970 cars, but never an 04E 1970 car. Please confirm or correct my understanding of the week assignments.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

The build week followed the line by line of the calendar
(or row by row)
Some rare months in certain years produced an F build week , is how we know for sure.
Have seen less than a handful of _ F trim tag dates

A build week won't cross over into another month
Hope that helps.

[cpu]

Thanks Baron. If I follow, 04C week is Sunday April 12 to Saturday April 18.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Yes
That is correct.

[Singleton]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

A build week won't cross over into another month

So, using the 1970 calender above, 03E would be march 29-31, ending on Tuesday, and 04A would be april 1-4 starting on wednesday?

Was the work week at Norwood mon-fri, no weekends?

[johnta1]

No, the 03E would go through to the weekend.
(through to Apr1-4)

[johnta1]

04A would be starting Apr 5 possibly not sure if their week started on Mon or the Sunday.

[johnta1]

The week must have started on at least Sunday.
I looked for a 1970 05E cowl tag and found a Firebird with it!

N1207xx - 05D
N1214xx - 05E

Not enough tags to see if a Pontiac plant had one.
P287xxx was a 05D. All my others were 06A or higher. (and lower)

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Singleton

Was the work week at Norwood mon-fri, no weekends?

No way of knowing now; scheduled overtime would vary based on the immediate economy or production needs. Back then I would guess the Pontiac plant was running 6 days, two or three production shifts. I don't remember ever working production on a Sunday (only product repair or plant maintenance).

Incidentally - unscheduled overtime could vary by day and by shift. It was common to be planning an eight hour day, but the word come down in the last few minutes that we would go "8.1" or "8.2", or "9" or whatever, so that lost units from that day could be made up, or to fill accumulators/body banks in preparation for the next shift start up.

Usually the word would arrive informally, via shouts down the line, well before the official word would come from management.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by cpu

I want to confirm the date ranges of Fisher Body weeks in 1970 on the Trim Tags.

March 1970 started in the beginning of a week. I figure these are the date ranges on the Trim Tags:
March 02 ~ 06 = 03A
March 09 ~ 13 = 03B
March 16 ~ 20 = 03C
March 23 ~ 27 = 03D
March 30 began the week of 03E.
Did 03E week include April 01 ~ 03?

If Fisher considered April 1970 as starting on April 06:
April 06 ~ 10 = 04A
April 13 ~ 17 = 04B
April 20 ~ 24 = 04C
April 27 ~ 30 = 04D
Did 04D week include May 01?

I think I've heard of 03E 1970 cars, but never an 04E 1970 car. Please confirm or correct my understanding of the week assignments.

One other observation is that we know that the letters correspond to the varying weeks - but we really don't know what that means in terms of production.

Was that start of body build? When the cowl was set? A prediction of the completion of body build? A particular "pay point" where financials were reconciled or material availability assessed? We really don't know. We just know it was something to do with the body.

I would also add there's a lot of float in these "dates", any of them. The application and the reporting was simply not that rigorous, nor was it kept with the needs/desires of future historians in mind. For example, the build information on my Chevy pickup is incorrect on the vehicle invoice, provided by the GM Heritage Center archive, which I only know because I drove it to the shipping building myself.

K

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

The weeks ran line by line - or row by row.
The handful of _F week cars we have found prove this out.
Just think about that a little deeper, best I can suggest.

Doesn't matter if there was only one day in that "week"
And no crossing over into another month.
Another month is another month , and another numeral.

It was just a loose measure or tracking.
Guessing it must have just been a form of monthly data of some sort.
They could have made it more exact if they had wanted to or needed to.
For instance swapping the alpha and numeric around - making alpha the month , and numeric the day.
Still only 3 digits and it would have been exact .... but , must not have been necessary.
Its weird no matter what. lol

I tend to think the trim tag was made before the body started . Or at the start.
We see some with additional hand stampings added to them.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Pull up (google) the calendar for May 1965
There is your answer
6 "weeks"
05A
05B
05C
05D
05E
05F

An 05F 1965 GTO from PMD was the first ice breaker for me , is why it sticks in my memory.
The rest of the small amount of "F" builds have found are stuck in the cobwebs somewhere.

[Singleton]

Then there’s this 03F 1965 GTO, even though there were only 5 weeks in March ‘65
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...&highlight=03f

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Can't answer to that March 1965 - no idea
But May 1965 did have 6 rows

When I find an F , I check it out
The ones I have found have checked out.
They are very few and far between , but they are out there.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

dunno if this will work , but here goes

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

From what I have found over the years ,
the simplest form of these build weeks works best and fits best ,
with the very least amount of exceptions.

The oddball that Singleton posted was probably human error.
And the first exception I have seen on an F.

But keep your eyes open for more F's as you go along.
And even investigate the E's against that month/year calendar.

[Singleton]

In the interest of number crunching, my 1970 Formula is a 5A build. Which, using the May calendar in post #1, would be the 1st or 2nd, fri or Saturday that Fisher began building the body.
The air cleaner has an ink date on the inside of 5/7/70, (Thursday the 2nd week), and a invoice date of 5/11/70, (Monday the 3rd week). So, 5A cowl date with 5C completion date

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by Singleton

So, using the 1970 calender above, 03E would be march 29-31, ending on Tuesday, and 04A would be april 1-4 starting on wednesday?

Sorry I missed this.
Answer is Yes

Don't let the name of days , or any conventional criteria be a distraction.
Line - by - Line
and let the chips fall

Over thinking it only makes it wobble more and more.

You have to have a basis that accepts E's and the occasional F
Simple works
Complexity is just a mess that needs constant adjustments.
I've already scienced and mathed this out years ago.

If the numeral is the month
Why would you have a system that let's 05 mean May or June , depending on Monday.
That's not a system , its a mess

Hope that helps

[Ramairnacho]

I'm still learning this stuff and it's fun to try to. Date code and find missing parts but time consuming and expensive. I learned from The group that the actual cowl tag was made on assembly date and that's the beginning of the assembly that could last months if there was a defect. Is this still correct ? And the day before shipping date is is the end or cut off on a date code car. Is this correct too? So if a car had a bad engine then engine date may be a few months off cowl tag. Or maybe find a part on car a few weeks after cowl tag too I guess. I'm still learning this stuff you guys teach me. I'm not 100% date code but it's ok. Don't plan on selling my car but love learning. Please correct me if im.wrong.

[cpu]

Then my 04C Formula's Trim Tag is referring to this week:
April 13 ~ 18 1970 = 04C

April 13: Apollo 13's oxygen tank burst.
April 17: The spacecraft returned to earth safely.