[SWEETJUDGE]

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.

[gloryrestoparts]

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.

[The Boss]

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.

[71 lemans sport 455]

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

[GTO JOHN]

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

[robz]

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

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by robz

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

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

[robz]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

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?

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by robz

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?

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

[gloryrestoparts]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

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

K

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.

[SWEETJUDGE]

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

[SWEETJUDGE]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[CDN2PLS2]

I 've seen it on '69z

[JLHarper]

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.

[Matt Meaney]

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

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

[Held for Ransom]

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

[RicksGTO]

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

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by RicksGTO

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....



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

K

[Ram4king]

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.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Ram4king

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.

Nnnnnyyeaahhh.....respectfully, I don't think that's it, either.

Random quality checks are done after the total vehicle is completed. These are the vehicles that are pulled off to the "audit area", for a full vehicle audit. We wouldn't mark the vehicle itself (particularly by marking a completed vehicle on the data tag), other than to maybe throw a preprinted note in the glovebox indicating why the vehicle has more miles on it than normal (if a vehicle drive was done as part of the quality audit).

Similarly, body checks would be done on every vehicle, on the line, in the trim shop. Again, there would be no need to mark the vehicle as done, particularly with something as permanent as a stamp on the data tag, when each and every vehicle would pass through that point. The buy off indicating the vehicle had been inspected would be done on the traveling work ticket, usually with a specific hole punch.

The only, only (only!) time I can think of that a body would be pulled off the line, for a unique test, is if it was pulled after the body shop but before trim (ie, not a trimmed out body) to be checked dimensionally (on a surface plate). Today we would do that with a CMM; I'm not sure they even did that back then (it would be quite labor intensive) and even if they did it would be much more infrequently than what we are seeing here.

If we ever do figure this out we may be disappointed in what these digits were actually used for. I'll keep quiet now and in the meantime keep my eyes peeled for more clues.

K

Disclaimer: I should mention that my interest and "expertise" focus primarily on the Pontiac facility; I really don't know as much about the other assembly plants, so I'm speculating just like everybody else.