[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by north

Some doubles I've seen are because one of the numbers are off by a digit and the others because the first was stamped too crooked (the top or bottom portion of the numbers are not stamped deep enough).

Off by a digit is another story.

For those we would have to make a repair. Different division names (ie, Chevy/GMC, or Buick vs Olds vs Pontiac) may have different VIN sequence numbers, requiring different stampers hanging there, so if the operator stamps a Chevy VIN on a GMC, for example, then not only is that particular vehicle wrong but you are out of sequence on every job after that.

The assembly line repair person and/or the "quality man" (the foreman's right hand man) follow the vehicles down the line with an "X" stamp and a 5 lb hammer and correct the VIN sequence number as required. Repairs were "X"d out, never repaired by grinding.

Usually it's not just one vehicle. It normally takes several builds before somebody notices, especially if things have been up to that point running smoothly and you are "in the zone". That means you'll have five or six vehicles that have to be fixed - all without the line stopping - so it's quite a scramble for a few minutes while you figure out what went wrong and what has to happen to make it right, especially at 60 or 70 jobs per hour (= one completed vehicle off the end of the line every minute). You pray nothing else goes to crap while you've got your two best guys otherwise unavailable.

At one time I would have said that we caught all the mistakes, being a federal regulation and all, but I have seen enough mis hits in my time as a hobbyist to believe some (...many...) got out.

K