Build Date Confusion 66 425 Coupe

[Thomas Cheairs]

The Vin Tag on my 66 Coupe says the car passed by (that station) C-12 (March 12
1966 I assume). But my judging manual says that my vin# 1943676S105626 is between 104384 (last one produced in Oct.) and 107186 (last production number in Nov. 66).. I'm sure the answer is simple but I am confused. This all got started when I began trying to locate corredtly dated 858 heads...I'd appreciate some help knowing what head dates I should be looking for..

[Wayne M.]

Everything looks OK

Trim tag (if S-body #) C=November 1965; if A-body #, C=October. So I would say you have an A-body car.

[Dick W.]

Re: Build Date Confusion 66 425 Coupe

Thomas, I believe that you are confused as to how the dates are assigned. "A" is for the first month of production, "B" for the second month, so on.
Your car should have been built on or about November 12, 1966

[Tom C.]

Re: Still Confused

If a car has a build date of C, is that not March???, ie..A B C Jan Feb Mar??

[Dick W.]

Re: Still Confused

Build date code starts with the beginning of model year production, not calendar year. This is the only exception to the A=Jan coding that is normally used. This was/is used from 1963 to at least 1982 and maybe beyond as I cannot spell C-4, C-5, and C-6. Them must me furrin cars, I dunno

[Michael H.]

Re: Still Confused

Tom,

As Dick mentioned, the production of 1966 Corvettes began in the fall of 1965. The first month of production would have been "A", the second, "B", and so on. The chart below should help clear things up. You will notice that there is a "one month" difference between in house/St. Louis built bodies and those produced by the A. O. Smith facility. Hope this helps.

Most other alpha dated components of your car will use A=January.

[Tom C.]

Re: Still Confused

So as far as heads for my 66 car which was assembled in production month C Nov 65 are concerned I should be looking for a date code on the heads of anything prior to K (nov) of 1965...In other words, date codes for heads produced in 1965 follow the A=Jan rule?? To put it simply, if you were looking for heads
for your 66 produced in Nov of 65, what cylinder head date code would you accept as being correct?? and I suppose the same thing goes for other drive line components of the car..I PROMISE IF YOU CAN HELP ME FIGURE OUT THE HEAD DATE CODE THING I WILL LEAVE YOU GUYS ALONE! But I really do appreciate the help..

[Michael H.]

Re: Still Confused

I think you have it Tom. Once you get past the confusing body date/component date difference issue, it all becomes clear as mud.

Typically, or ultimately, dated components are about one to two months ahead of the final assembly date of the vehicle. In many cases, they are the same month. However, NCRS allows a six month time span which would cover lags in shipping time for components and long storage time etc etc.

If you have A November final assembly date for the car, any component dated Sept or Oct would be prefered.

Then there's the much more confusing A O Smith body build time issue.......... (it's not a Smith car, is it?)