Neither of Truman's cars nor the one that Pete McCarthy campaigned were originally built as II's. One of Truman's was a I as was Pete's.
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Yes, all RA II VINS are known....
Assuming of course you have unfettered access to all Pontiac billing histories...
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Yes & no - all of the II Firebird's were back traced in the mid/late 80's by Fred Simmonds and that is where the mid May date came from - I'm not sure if Fred kept track of the VIN's or not and if there is indeed a list - Gary, do you know for sure?
That same date has been used regularly as the date when
ALL II production began, but I don't believe that to be the case. It has long been a fact of GTO Billing Cards that the April & May RA cars had all zero's in the EUN and TUN boxes, I've since learned that Firebirds shared this too - this tells me that the cars went into production without anybody knowing truly what motor they would get, but since it was a no cost option/mid year change, nobody seemed to care. I have heard of a late April, Baltimore built II car that has a numbers matching block, although I have never seen it - it's in NY.
I'm the second owner of a mid May Baltimore built Verdoro Green auto hardtop that I believe is a II, and a December Pontiac built 4spd Burgundy hardtop that is a I. The original motor on the green car went to the junk yard in 76 when it was blown (4:33 gears are brutal.) I've since bought two XW motors, one who's PHS I have (and JM has traced to find that it was crushed) and the other which I have not PHS'd for that reason. I also have the correct XS NOM for my 4spd I car which has no VIN number on it. All 3 of the blocks are "as-cast" 2506 blocks with the 2 XW's having C118 casting dates.
Some day we may have all the VINs and be able to document these like the IV cars, but I doubt it.