Hand stampings on data tags???
 

i looked at a basket case judge over the weekend, on the data tag there was a hand stamp of a 2 in the upper left & a 10 in the upper right. these were hand stamped.
Ive never seen this before... i had to scape a ton of paint off the tag to read but there they were....

any info on stamped data tags & what they mean? car was a framingham car.

Hmm, I've only seen them on Fremont built cars. my current GT-37 and the 66 GTO I used to own had this. I don't recall it on the 71 LeMans I parted and the 69 GTO parts car I had, the vin and data plate were removed before I got it. I think Held For Ransom was gathering info on these but it may only relate to Fremont built cars.

There is a 4 in the upper right hand corner of my Baltimore Built 68 GTO tag, but it is stamped from the back like the rest of the figures.

My 69 has a 3 in the same location, Baltimore Built, but same thing, stamped from the back.

I have a hand stamped 4 on the upper right corner of my 70 GTO Baltimore plant stamped from the back also.still wondering what it means

I have several Atlanta built cars with this hand stamping. Numbers range from 1 to 12. What they mean is unknown to me.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a hand stamping and what's different than the rest of the tag's stampings??:noidea::noidea:

The data tag is stamped by machine, all of the digits and letters at the same time.

Hand Stamping is when someone else has come along after the fact and manually (ie, perhaps with a hammer and a "punch") wacks it one more time to add these additional digits.

I am familiar with hand stamping with respect to VINs, on the frame or engine block, to correct a mistake made by the automated equipment (usually the offending characters are "X"-ed out and the correct numbers hand stamped back in). I am not familiar with hand stamps on data tags and would only be guessing if I offered an explanation.

Sweetjudge - the ones you were looking at; were they stamped from the front or from the back?

K

Thanx Keith...May be my eyes/monitor, but that 4 doesn't look that different stamping-wise than the rest of the tag, does it?:ranger:

excellent point. The ones I'm referring to are stamped from the front and are completely different in style and font from the regular data plate stampings we are used to seeing.

yes these were stamped after the fact with a steel stamp & a hammer from the front.

It doesn't to me either, it's just on an angle and in a location that should have nothing.

I've got some Service News somewhere that has some info on stampings for certain years.

But seems most of them had a hole punched or something.

I know that some 68 (I believe) had a stamped tag if it came with shoulder belt mounts. ( but may not have the belts themselves?)

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I 've seen it on '69z

Some info on accessories codes below from a site with 68 info for information purposes. Also picture of 68 data plate: from GTOALLEY, and not mine.
Think they (PMD) may have changed this practice at some point (or this info is wrong) and they only used group numbers? Not much room on these so this may be the spot.


If there are accessory codes on the data plate, these codes primarily identified equipment or options installed. Some codes only identify option and not specific equipment. The accessory codes are made up of a number (except 1) and followed by one or more letters. The number in front of the code identifies which group the accessory belongs to.
5 groups make up the codes:
(1st Group) T = power bucket seat, etc.
(2nd Group) S = rear manual antenna, etc.
(3rd Group) N = roof reading lamps, etc.
(4th Group) F = remote mirror, etc.
(5th Group) O = decor group (Le Mans only), etc.

i hope this thread can bring some answers. the one i started didn't go anywhere.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...ht=trim+tag+69

'70 Fremont tags are hand stamped (indented). I've seen numbers up to 14, but don't have a clue, yet.

I saw this post on Chevelles.com to a similar question, the poster that replies is pretty knowledgable in the Chevelle world and it sounds like a reasonable theory if it is the same type of added number talked about here:

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/show...t=data+numbers

If I understand him correctly he is saying that is the tracking number of the body "gate", so the body can be traced back in case there is a problem.

It sounds like it is/was very plant specific. I've never done anything like that in any of the plants I've been in; back then we wouldn't typically "proactively" solve a problem that didn't exist yet - volume was king and we would address a problem after it came up.

His explanation didn't really resonate with me - but - I can't really come down too hard on him because, again, I don't have anything better to offer....

:o

Now that I'm aware of this mystery I'll keep my eyes open for any clues I might come across.

K

Those stamps are nothing more than quality control. Cars are picked at random and checked and stamped. The number is probably the one assigned to that person. Nothing more nothing less.