NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

[Richard L.]

Regarding the "GM Official production date" stated on NCRS shipping data reports. I have two reads on what this date relates to in the production process.
-I think this is the date the auto reached the end of the production line, and became available for shipment to the assigned dealer.
-The second possibility (given emphatically to me at a car show) is that this date is some other milestone in the production process, such as the date the auto entered the paint booth??

Does anyone know exactly what this date relates to in the production process?
Makes a big difference in dating of components.
Thanks

[Michael J.]

Re: NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

The report you get from NCRS says: "The Official GM Production Date was:...... " I have always thought that means the date it was produced, or finished and ready for shipping.

[Harry S.]

Re: NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

There is a good deal on this in the archives.

Summary: At the end of the day GM was looking to turn this thing called a Corvette into revenue. To understand the revenue stream GM produced a computer report as to what cars were to be built that day. There was lots of other reports that dealt with the cars options, one example is the build sheet. I believe the only reports that was saved was the shipping data report and that was saved on Micro-fiche. NCRS has the Micro-fiche. Some are damaged and some are missing thus not all VIN numbers can be researched.

Another report that was created was the Regular Commercial and Truck report. This was created at a station on the assembly line. Most of the data on the form was pre-printed by a computer. When a car got to the station where that form was produced the person on the line typed the date produced, VIN, key code. engine pad code and differential code. If the car passed the station after midnight the typed date produced would be one day later than the shipping data report. The car now hit the books as revenue as it was essentially shipped.

The Regular Commercial and Truck paperwork went with the car and the truck driver. I'm not sure what happened to all of the carbon copies but all the ones I have seen are carbon copy 5. Most were thrown away by the dealer, some went into the glove box and thrown away by the owner and very few were saved. It's the holy grail of birth certificates for any corvette. My Shipping Data Report has the car produced 4-19-1963. This is my after midnight example.

Others will chime in but this is essentially what the process was.

[Bob D.]

Re: NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

Richard

As Mike said, the "Official GM Production Date" is just that. It is the date that the car came off the production line and was ready for shipment to the receiving dealer. The Official GM Production Date may differ from the build date on the trim tag because the vehicle may have taken more than one day to complete. Also if the vehicle was sent back for a problem then the Official Production Date could have a difference of several days from the trim tag.

Bob

[Duke W.]

Re: NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

I agree with your analysis, Harry. I have copy 5 of the production order (and lots of other rare origination documents) for my SWC that was built about a month before.

For everyone else you can see that all information other than at the bottom was printed by a line printer. Note that the estimated production date is 4-26, but the actual production date, 4-20, was later typed on the form along with the VIN, key number, and engine code.

And as you say, once the car was complete, as indicated by the typed data at the bottom of the order form, the corporation could claim the dealer invoice as revenue. Since the plants are the primary source of revenue, meeting production quotas was a primary objective and the plant managers were responsible for making their quotas and subsequent revenue consistently or else they might be looking for another job.

Duke

[Bob H.]

Re: NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

rare document. A lot of information. Mine had the dealer info too. I had mine for my 62

[Richard L.]

Re: NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

Harry, and others,
Thanks so much form the info.
As "suggested" by Harry, I've read a bunch of the archived material here.
What I get, was that the NCRS shipping data report was the projected "end of production, and ready for shipping to dealer" as estimated at the beginning of that day.
The Regular Commercial and Truck report, that Harry talks about, was the actual "end of production, and ready for shipping to dealer".
The two dates could be the same, but the Regular Commercial and Truck report might be later by a day, or I suppose more based on : repair/retrofit needed at the end of the line, strike, weekend.
Since the Regular Commercial and Truck report is not available for most cars, the NCRS shipping date would be used for the required pre-dating of component castings and stamps.
Thanks,
Dick Lorenz

[Tom R.]

Re: NCRS shipping data report and "GM Official production date"

Just to tag on and clarify during the late model C3 era when the factory began its use of the GMAD buildsheet (landscape format), a few other date, data points. Remember...factory methods and processing engineering worked to improve production...so, later production was not the same as early, mean late model C3 was different than either early C3 production as well as C2. It is important to clarify the periods posts are discussing.

• Expected date of production - this is a date projected by zone and printed on the GMAD buildsheet. It was communicated to the dealer along the until assembly began, typically a month out.
• Trim tag date code - date (as noted above) when body assembly was complete and painted. Perhaps same day as expected date or day later...dependent whether it was pulled for repairs.
• NCRS shipping date - date (as noted above) when invoiced and ready for shipping. Date typically a day or two after trim tag date code.

I looked at a 1973 in Greenville with a trim tag date of October 11 and the NCRS shipping date was October 12...rather on time.