[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by SWEETJUDGE

its amazing even today 40 years later we are still finding stuff to decifer.......

I'm more amazed that after 40 years we are able to decipher anything...



This is an actual quote from a guy that worked in the "switching office" at Pontiac Assembly: "Actually, it's not too amazing that we build cars here...it's more like a miracle!"

[Thunderkiss65]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Just a quick comment on the "seniority" system at General Motors:

Look at the workers setting the front end in Thunderkiss' photo. They are JUST KIDS!

That was back in the day when you graduated from high school and, if you wanted, you could just hire into "the shop" and assume you would retire from there 30 years later.

Low seniority guys got the icky jobs, on the line, in the pit, the dirty jobs. Higher seniority employees opted up to the better, higher paying jobs: repair, driving out back, inspection.

Check out this guy pinstriping GTOs out back. Higher paying job off the line = not "a kid". He looks like somebody's Grandpa:

Young guys assembling the front end



Old guys painting the front end. Imagine painting all day without any protective equipment.

[SWEETJUDGE]

this is incredible stuff...... still would like to know what they mean...

[Eric71T37]

This is probably not the answer to these mystery hand-stampings on the data tags, but my first thought was of Saab's use of these hand-stampings on cars by dealer techs. We were instructed to hand-stamp a "campaign plate", which had a grid of A-B-C and 1-2-3-4 and was riveted to the body of the car, with a number "8" stamp. The location to stamp on this plate was determined by the campaign or recall bulletin ("upon completion of recall RC-705 stamp location A-2 on the campaign/recall plate.") Some cars would have 4 or 5 stampings on the plate as multiple service campaigns and recalls were performed over the years.

These stampings on Pontiacs sound more likely to be QC stampings at the factories. Did they even have recalls back in the '60s? I'm sure they had technical service bulletins/campaigns to improve specific items.

Just another perspective on this...

Eric H.

[hobi]

That is possible

[Keith Seymore]

We can state conclusively now (...six years later...) that the stampings represent the body side gate (weld fixture) which was used to hold the body together while being welding in the body shop. As an aid in problem tracking and resolution.

K