Question re 1967 Trim Plate Info

[Paul L.]

This is the trim plate in my 1967 coupe. In looking at the Judging Manual (p. 21) a question comes to mind. Much of the info is straight-forward: a 1967 coupe with saddle vinyl interior and Goodwood Green paint. And that is how the car remains.

Body build date is February 1, by A.O. Smith. But the body build number is only four digits. It would seem this body is #597 coming out of Smith, a small number for the month of February. Or was production at Smith limited? Also, given that 22,940 1967s were produced, what happened when unit #10,000 came off the line (five digits)?

[Joe R.]

Re: Question re 1967 Trim Plate Info

Others on this board may need to correct me, but I believe there were four series of body numbers, each starting at 0001:

AO Smith Coupes
AO Smith Convertibles
St. Louis Coupes
St. Louis convertibles

A total of 8,504 coupes were built for the 1967 model year, so if production was evenly divided between AO Smith and St. Louis (which it may not have been) I would think that a February AO Smith coupe, at about the middle of the production year, would be numbered higher than 597.

Hopefully some other owners of January/February AO Smith coupes can tell us what their body numbers are.

[Wayne M.]

AO Smith strike in late '66

Noland Adams Vol 2 discusses this and gives the approximate breakdown of the four year-end totals, as Joe explains. Normally the body build agreement between St.Louis and Ionia was to equalize production, and this is the case in 1965 and 1966 (within a hundred body types, if I recall correctly). But in 1967, A-body coupes were only 36% of S-body coupes; the A- body convertibles were slightly more even at 52% of S-body convertibles. Because convertibles are roughly twice as popular (then) as coupes, the St.Louis production came close to exceeding the 4 digit space on the trim tag.

[Donald M.]

Re: AO Smith strike in late '66

Paul, FWIW, my coupe is #1038, for a March 21st car.
Don

[Barbara S.]

Re: Question re 1967 Trim Plate Info

Paul. My A. O. Smith coupe body was stamped May 18, '67 (J18) and it is body number A-1967. Yours seems right. The better question is, how does your body build date compare to your car's birthday?

Tony

[Paul L.]

Re: AO Smith strike in late '66

Thanks Don. I was beginning to worry about a #0597 in February. The rivets look OK (aside from my polishing) and do not suggest tampering but that low number somehow did not seem to make sense. Perhaps it is just fine.

Everytime I read the judging manual I find surprises. Some are very positive.

[Paul L.]

Re: Question re 1967 Trim Plate Info

Tony,
As noted, the body build date is February 1 and the production date is February 10 according to the Wisconsin NCRS web site I accessed a couple of years ago.

[Robert T.]

Re: Question re 1967 Trim Plate Info

Paul,

My A. O. Smith Cpe Body #A-0561 with a F30 build date. 2 days before yours. Yours looks good to me.

Rob T.

[Robert T.]

Re: Question re 1967 Trim Plate Info

Paul,
How does your passenger door fit at the bottom rear? Mine has a good 3/4" of the door jamb showing. The car has never been repaired and still has the original paint. Just wondering if yours has the same condition.

Rob T.