1967 jack

[Kenneth B.]

When did GM start dating jacks. My 67 is 8706 a late January build.

[Keith B.]

Re: 1967 jack

Starting in January of 67 jacks where dated starting with the letter A then 7.

[Owen L.]

Re: 1967 jack

Starting in January of 67 jacks where dated starting with the letter A then 7.

So, are you saying all cars made in January and after have a dated jack or that the during jack manufacturing dating was begun in January '67? If the later, do we have an idea as to when the cars started receiving them and at what point all cars should have a dated jack?

[Keith B.]

Re: 1967 jack

After they ran out of undated jacks the dated ones would be used. Not sure when the phase in happened. Maybe after the first week of production in January?? I have no clue. If I was judging a car built in January I would not take any points of it had a undated jack.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: 1967 jack

Thanks I see where the confusion came from for January build Corvettes.

[Joe R.]

Re: 1967 jack

After they ran out of undated jacks the dated ones would be used. Not sure when the phase in happened. Maybe after the first week of production in January?? I have no clue. If I was judging a car built in January I would not take any points of it had a undated jack.

Don't forget the "6 month rule" that the NCRS uses for most dated parts. A part can be "dated" up to six months before the car was built. So, if jack dating began in January 1967, a '67 Corvette made as late as June 1967 should not get a deduction for having an undated jack.

[Mark L.]

Re: 1967 jack

Don't forget the "6 month rule" that the NCRS uses for most dated parts. A part can be "dated" up to six months before the car was built. So, if jack dating began in January 1967, a '67 Corvette made as late as June 1967 should not get a deduction for having an undated jack.

I tend to agree with Joe (without any hard data). The change documented to begin with jack manufacturing in January however there had to be a lag time before cars actually had dated jacks. Maybe someone with a late 67 Bowtie car could comment.

[Owen L.]

Re: 1967 jack

All of this begs the question: Why begin dating jacks anyway? It's not like it's a precision part or used frequently enough to identify failures back to a specific manufacturing date. What problem did earlier Corvette jacks have that prompted the change?

[Mark F.]

Re: 1967 jack

All of this begs the question: Why begin dating jacks anyway? It's not like it's a precision part or used frequently enough to identify failures back to a specific manufacturing date. What problem did earlier Corvette jacks have that prompted the change?

Owen, My guess (I have no proof of this) is Product Liability Law Suits...scissors jacks (and bumper jacks BTW) can be fairly unsafe (IMO) if not used exactly as designed and all instructions are followed to the letter. In addition to some QA tracking potential, my guess is Ausco was probably also trying to protect themselves in the event particular defects in materials supplied to them and/or their construction ended up in court. Granted, the date code covers a full month in a given year, but I guess that might be better than nothing at all - Anyhow, this is all speculation on my part...

[Joe R.]

Re: 1967 jack

Hi Mark:

My comment was not based on data, other than the consensus that dating of Corvette jacks began in January 1967, based on multiple known-original jacks.

What I was commenting on was my understanding of the NCRS judging rules for the dates on parts. As I recall, the judging guideline is that parts can be dated up to six months prior to when the car was assembled. I think the judging guidelines acknowledge that typical dates will be within a much shorter period of time, but the six month interval has been adopted to cover unusual cases caused by the fact that there was no first-in-first-out inventory control system in place in St. Louis.

So, a jack that has no date would be assumed to have been manufactured prior to January 1967. The absence of a date stamping gives the jack a "date" of "prior to January 1967." So, under the judging guidelines, an undated jack could appear in cars manufactured up through June 1967.

The thing that prompted me to make this observation was my own experience. I have an April car that had an undated reproduction jack during the period of several years that I had the car NCRS judged multiple times, all the way up to the National level.

On one of those judging occasions, a judge remarked to me that the lack of a date on my jack would not result in a deduction because of the "six month rule." That application of the rule had never occurred to me, but it made sense when I thought about it. Interestingly, no judge ever took a deduction for the lack of a date on the jack.

[Jeff B.]

Re: 1967 jack

My '67 is a 390 w/air, #8902, with a build date of F23 (Jan 23rd). The jack is date coded A7.

[Mark F.]

Re: 1967 jack

FWIW...the end of page 44 / beginning of page 45 of the latest '67 TIMJG states the following: