#1  
Old 06-24-2022, 07:53 PM
Terry M. Hunt Terry M. Hunt is offline
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Default Build date question

Data plate on my 66 GTO shows 03A 2. I read the 03A as first week of March, but what does the 2 refer to?

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Old 06-24-2022, 10:21 PM
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Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
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Dunno.

I've seen both numbers and also alpha characters.

Been studying it for about 40 years but haven't come up with anything conclusive.

K

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Old 06-25-2022, 12:00 PM
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Which assembly plant?

Is the number hand stamped or pressed?

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Old 06-25-2022, 07:40 PM
Terry M. Hunt Terry M. Hunt is offline
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Default Build date question

Pontiac assembly plant. All the characters on the plate were created the same way(debossed/raised above the plate surface)

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Old 06-26-2022, 12:53 PM
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The Chevelle Stuff website has a section that decodes the data plates for the different years and different assembly plants. Of course Fisher Body at Pontiac isn't among them.

They do describe how some assembly plants would hand stamp a number on the top line or elsewhere.

http://www.chevellestuff.net/qd/tags/1966/index.htm

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Old 06-26-2022, 05:50 PM
younggto younggto is offline
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Keith, what all numbers/letters have you seen; both of my 67 Pontiac-built GTOs have a “2” also; 09A 2 and 10A 2.

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Old 06-26-2022, 06:32 PM
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Numbers: 1, 2 are most common.

Alpha characters: A, B C, and X.

My car is "09A X".

K

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Old 06-26-2022, 06:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OG68 View Post
The Chevelle Stuff website has a section that decodes the data plates for the different years and different assembly plants. Of course Fisher Body at Pontiac isn't among them.

They do describe how some assembly plants would hand stamp a number on the top line or elsewhere.

http://www.chevellestuff.net/qd/tags/1966/index.htm
Hand stamps sometimes indicate the production shift, or the "gate number" for the mobile fixturing used to square the body sides in the body shop.

The numbers Terry is asking about are stamped in the same direction as the option information, not from the front.

K

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Old 06-27-2022, 09:29 PM
John V. John V. is offline
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Just a couple thoughts.

First, this is something that Fisher Body at the Pontiac Plant or the Car Assembly Plant thought would be useful beyond the simple Time Built code info (in this case the 03A). Wasn't done at other Plants.

So what added info might have been useful at the Pontiac Plant?

Keith has been logging the use of the "X" on the '65 Data Plate for a long time . IIRC, the "X" was only used on very early builds.

Perhaps the "system" was not yet in place (it was not used in '64) or perhaps the nature of the builds during early production did not match to orders that came later.

Keith points out that "1" and "2" seem most common.

So here is my theory.

"1" may have applied to orders that were "sold", in other words customer spec'd orders submitted by the Dealers.

"2" may have applied to unsold orders placed by a Dealer for his own inventory.

These would have been the most common order types.

Other nos. may have applied to less common orders, such as Co. Car orders.

My thought is that the added no. would help determine schedule sequencing, believing that "sold" orders would be built before "unsold" orders and that non-revenue co. cars would be scheduled after revenue producing orders.

I'm guessing my theory can be tested fairly easily by matching up builds that were known to be special ordered by a customer to see if they all are coded "1" (or alternately all could be "2".

I also believe that the info coded on the Data Plate was a regurgitation of info on the Build Manifest, hard to imagine that the line workers had time to check Data Plates, even the schedulers who might have been charged with figuring out the assembly sequence based on the order "type".

So I would expect the code on the Data Plate should be found on the Build Manifest too.

Keith has a copy of his. You could check for the "X" somewhere on the Manifest although, if none is found, have to consider that may be due to the coding missing early year and the "X" reflected that?

So I'd want to see other '65 and '66 (I think it was still used at the Pontiac Plant in '67 too) Manifests to see if anything that could have driven the code on the Data Plate is on the Manifest.

Just a theory. But nobody else seems to know why it was coded so I figured it was worth floating the idea.

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Old 06-29-2022, 03:59 PM
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My '67 GTO was built in Pontiac. My date code is 06D, indicating June 1967. The invoice date from my build sheet is June 29, 1967.

The number "1" appears to the right of 06D. I don't know what it designates.

Relative to speculation about customer-ordered cars versus cars ordered for dealer inventory, some knowledgeable GTO folks I know speculate that my car, based on options, etc. was likely a dealer inventory car. I don't know of any way to know that for sure.

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Old 06-29-2022, 04:42 PM
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My Pontiac built '66 also has the extra number, in my case it's "06B 2".

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Old 07-07-2022, 02:52 AM
jeff chmura jeff chmura is offline
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I have a hand stamped "12" on the upper right side....
'65 GTO Fremont built...
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  #13  
Old 07-07-2022, 10:04 AM
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Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
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That's probably the "gate" number.

K

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'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
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