1970 engine vin number decode
 

Has anyone heard of issue with vin numbers not matching from the Van Nuys plant?

what model should this vin decode: 20L102173

2 = Pontiac
0 = 1970, in this case
L = Van Nuys
102173 are last 6 of the VIN

Fairly early production '70 Bird engine originally installed Van Nuys plant. Most YZ's & WS's I've had out of that plant were cast much later D's & E's for date castings.

I believe that there are some documented vehicles with the vin number one-off, or with a number punch not set properly...

I think I have one of those mis-stamped vin's

My VIN is 228870L102173

my WS block is stamped 20L102773

I'd say it's just a mis-stamp?
Probably grabbed a 7 by accident, looked like a '1' ?


:confused:

I believe the numbers were all stamped in one hit. I've seen many VIN numbers stamped in blocks that were deeper on one side than the other, most likely because the device used to stamp the VIN numbers was not perpendicular to the block surface. I've seen double stampes, almost on top of ech other. I have seen vehicles where the last digit was off by one, most likely because the person responsible for stamping the VIN forgot to increment it for the next stamp.

It would be interesting to find the engines just before and after this one to see how long it took him to see his mistake?


Probably beginning of day shift after a Holiday.


:D

I’ve seen on more than one occasion on van nuys Firebirds the # 7 stamp used for a #1 , this is common . Someone probably lost one of the number 1 stamps and they substituted a 7 for it.

Normally there is an inspection station at the end of the Foreman's production area. Anywhere from a couple to several job stations away.

He shoulda caught it.

If he didn't then several folks were having (or about to have) a very bad day.

K

This is how it worked on the chassis line:

You could send in to PHS for that alternate VIN and see if there even was such a car.
Or how it might have been equipped on the drivetrain.
Could help in future days about documenting your mis-stamp to even the shrewdest sceptics.

Warning: Long sidebar -

We’ve talked in various threads about the variation between plants, and the variation within an assembly plant due to different operators.

What I never see talked about is how many different operators might be on the same job, even within the same day.

Some assembly plants shut down for “break times”. The UAW required 6 minutes of break time for each hour worked, distributed into a break in the morning and a break in the afternoon (not counting unpaid ½ hour for lunch). If that operator never takes an additional break (to use the bathroom, or for a medical issue) then you might only have one person on that job per shift. This is probably what you would expect.

However – some plants use a “rolling” break technique called the "tag" system. Said differently: the line doesn’t shut down for break, and there is a staff of “utility men” or replacement workers who go to each job and give that worker a break individually. After that assembler comes back the relief man goes to the next job and gives that assembler a break, until everybody in the area has been covered - all this while the line keeps rolling. If you had a different relief man covering the morning break vs the afternoon break then you are up to three operators per shift; times the number of shifts (two or three); so you could have as many as 9 people touching those parts for a three shift productive operation.

That assumes the person doesn’t need a quick respite, covered by a different utility man, quality man (the foreman’s right hand man) or the foreman himself (in some cases) at some other point during the shift.

I say all this to say: there could be between 1 and 8 or 9 people performing the same job in the same assembly plant within a given 24 hour period.

Each one of those handoffs is an opportunity to drop the baton.

K

Do you mind sharing your build date on the body tag? Probably 02B or 02C.