DATA PLATE decipher fun
 

Hi everyone.

Little fun for you all. Would you kindly break down this 1972 data plate?

Thanks.

1972 TA Lucerne Blue with custom Ivory bucket seats/ interior, 5th week of Feb build date
Not sure about the body #, pretty big - 2224137

Looked at a few 72 cowl tags and it seems to be after the beginning of the year the tag changed to where the NOR is changed to N and the numbers are 7 digit?


:confused:

John, he is talking about the body tag having a 02E (Tuesday, Feb. 29th, 1972).

I guess 5th week of Feb would be unusual.


:D

1972 was a leap year.... so the 5th week being February 28th a Monday or Tuesday the 29th

Yup a March built car most likely

...didn't the GM strike start the first week(end) of March? So could be a March 1st, 2nd, or 3rd built car.

How about 222 for trim - I have seen 212 for Ivory buckets...

...didn't the GM strike start the first week(end) of March? So could be a March 1st, 2nd, or 3rd built car.

How about 222 for trim - I have seen 212 for Ivory buckets...

222 is for custom interior, 212 is standard interior
Should have the grab handle on dash.

:)

This car could have been finished by NON Union employees like a bunch near the finish line were. This would have been in March, BUT. the Data plate date was " projected finish" week based on speed of production and Wasn't put on car as it left Assy plant. I would guess the plate had a 2 week lead time Anyway. Yes, its a Guess.

The data plate was installed by Fisher Body at body build. This usually led final assembly by a few days. There were large banks for body storage where painted bodies dried for a day or two before trimming. Interior and exterior trim got installed then the body headed to final assembly.

The strike was in April. Last body tag date was 04A. Lots of 03E dates.

Nice car...4-speed? AC?

Auto

Car pictures?

Don't have any. Buddy has the car stored away for decades

Not seeing anything unusual here date-wise. As an 02E, the VIN should start with number 526 or 527 if it was built in typical sequence.

526 it is

Found out it was built on March 8, 1972.

Interesting... even with finding an original Norwood build sheet, & being able to clearly read the top LH corner w the scheduling date, that doesn't necessarily mean the car was built on the scheduling date.

Know my '72 T/A (low N529xxx) is one of those 03E body builds. Next time have my safety deposit box out will confirm ached date. Believe its sheet notes a 3/31 schedule date (Friday), but w what was coming down the Pike @ the plant, would not surprise me if the T/A was assembled the following Monday, April 3rd.

The 167 day Norwood UAW strike began Thursday Aoril 7, 1972. There's at least one account that near 200 F-bodys were final assembled by Norwood salaried supervisors, then donated to Tech schools. Not being able to deliver those sold F-body's to dealers, but instead, taking a tax write off makes a lot of sense

PHS noted 221 for ivory custom vinyl bucket seats - so then why would data plate show 222 for trim? How does that all relate and translate?

How to translate it. Drop the #1 at the end, and add a #2 at the begining.
Examples:
Blue custom .... 211 becomes 221 on Cowl tag
Ivory Custom....221 becomes 222 " "
Saddle Custom 231 becomes 223 " "
and so on.
For some reason the data plates were done this way, could be to provide further separation between std and custom, but that's just opinion.
Ivory Std................121 Becomes 212 On Cowl Tag
and so on..