69 VIN's

[Philip A.]

Does anyone know how and when the VIN's were assigned? Did they go down the line in order or could vin# 725453 be built on July 21st and 725452 be built on July 26th.

[Terry M.]

Re: 69 VIN's

I will tell you what I was told by a retired plant manager from St Louis when I asked him that very question: "We generally built them in serial number order, but we didn't have to."

[Philip A.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Terry, thats funny and prob the answer i'd expect but hoped for a more specific one.
I found the guy on the registry who has the car with the VIN number before mine, 725452, he says his is built on July 26. My My VIN is 453 and the trim tag says July 21 so thats the reason for the question.
Thanks.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 69 VIN's

July 21 Trim Tag suggests it came off the line on the 22nd, possibly 23rd.
It would be interesting to know the Trim Tag date on 5452 to compare.

Body build date is not the same as production date.

[Philip A.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Okay, didn't think of that and dont really know when they apply the trim tag in the process. What makes you think/know the production date was a day later than trim tag/body date? Is it because of the time it took to build, or started late in the initial workday? Is the production date when it leaves the line?
I have the owner of 5452 calling me tomorrow I'll ask him what his trim tag says and get back to ya.
Thanks.

[Terry M.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Okay, didn't think of that and dont really know when they apply the trim tag in the process. What makes you think/know the production date was a day later than trim tag/body date? Is it because of the time it took to build, or started late in the initial workday? Is the production date when it leaves the line?
I have the owner of 5452 calling me tomorrow I'll ask him what his trim tag says and get back to ya.
Thanks.

He may be miss-reading the date. Get the letter and number from his trim tag Your L21 is correct, and his should be about the same.

The trim tag was applied to the body after paint, but before the body was mated to the chassis. Given all that had to be done from that point it is likely the car reached the end of the line the next day. Then there was the water test and interior install to complete the car. If it was built near a weekend that they didn't work, there might even be more time before it was a complete car.

[Larry M.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Also possible body had to be repaired or reworked to remove blemishes or some damage prior to being inserted in final production line for car build.

Things like that happen in production facilities every day.

Also possible that an unexpected shortage of some part(s) occurred and a car had to be sidelined to wait for the right parts or colors.

Larry

[Mark F.]

Re: 69 VIN's

...The trim tag was applied to the body after paint, but before the body was mated to the chassis...

Also possible body had to be repaired or reworked...Things like that happen in production facilities every day. Also possible ...shortage of some part(s) occurred and a car had to be sidelined to wait for the right parts or colors. Larry

I know your car is a ’69, but you should probably read John Hinckley’s C2 Assembly Process presentation available on Rich Mozetta’s Restoration Database Sticky Post – also linked here...https://www.forums.ncrs.org/attachme...3&d=1499375207

I’m sure there were changes during ’68 and up to the time your car was built, but the sequence he presents was probably very similar in ‘69. If I counted right, he identified that the St. Louis Corvette Assembly Plant had 15 “operations categories” involving ~278 work stations (or steps) for C2 production as follows:

1. Body Shop (BS): 27 stations
2. Paint Shop (PS): 28 stations
3. Hard Trim Line (HTL): 63 stations (1^st station attaches VIN and Trim Plates)
4. Frame Upside-Down Line (FUDL): 14 stations
5. Engine Dress Line (EDL): 26 stations
6. Chassis Line (CL): 25 stations
7. Body Drop (BD): 2 stations
8. Final Line (FL): 54 stations
9. Roll Test & Toe-In (RTTI): 5 stations
10. Water Test (WT): 3 stations
11. Final Paint Repair (FPR): 3 stations
12. Final Trim Line (FTL): 11 stations
13. Headlight Aim 1 station
14. Final Inspection 1 station
15. MSO, Invoice, Car Shipper, etc. 1 station

As noted above, if ’69 sequencing was the same as it was for C2s, the VIN Plate and TRIM Plate was attached at the 1^st station on the Hard Trim Line, which immediately followed the last station on the Paint Shop Line (like Terry McManmon indicated). Here’s what John said about that station, “VIN plate and trim tag created and affixed….Car data sent electronically to teletype printers throughout the plant, creating the Broadcast Copy the car was built from.”

218 stations later, the car gets it’s paperwork. Here’s what John said about that station, “The MSO (Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin), the Dealer Wholesale Invoice, and the dealer’s copy of the Car Shipper are created and mailed to the dealer, and the unit is reported to the dealer and to Chevrolet-Central Office as “produced”.

So, you can see there are a lot of stations after the VIN and Trim Plates are attached…plus as Larry Mulder states, repairs/rework, parts shortages, etc. could also extend that roll-off-the line time.

And occasionally (yes, unfortunately I’ve seen it and it’s true) some cars were wrecked before they left the plant or somewhere on their way to the shipping yard!

Good luck on your search and Happy Holidays!…

[Harry S.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Mark, just clicked on your link.....

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The requested URL was not found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[Mark F.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Mark, just clicked on your link.....Not Found The requested URL was not found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an Error Document to handle the request.

Sorry, Harry...try the repaired link now...

[Harry S.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Sorry, Harry...try the repaired link now...

All is well!

[Terry M.]

Re: 69 VIN's

I know your car is a ’69, but you should probably read John Hinckley’s C2 Assembly Process presentation available on Rich Mozetta’s Restoration Database Sticky Post – also linked here...https://www.forums.ncrs.org/attachme...3&d=1499375207

I’m sure there were changes during ’68 and up to the time your car was built, but the sequence he presents was probably very similar in ‘69. If I counted right, he identified that the St. Louis Corvette Assembly Plant had 15 “operations categories” involving ~278 work stations (or steps) for C2 production as follows:

1. Body Shop (BS): 27 stations
2. Paint Shop (PS): 28 stations
3. Hard Trim Line (HTL): 63 stations (1^st station attaches VIN and Trim Plates)
4. Frame Upside-Down Line (FUDL): 14 stations
5. Engine Dress Line (EDL): 26 stations
6. Chassis Line (CL): 25 stations
7. Body Drop (BD): 2 stations
8. Final Line (FL): 54 stations
9. Roll Test & Toe-In (RTTI): 5 stations
10. Water Test (WT): 3 stations
11. Final Paint Repair (FPR): 3 stations
12. Final Trim Line (FTL): 11 stations
13. Headlight Aim 1 station
14. Final Inspection 1 station
15. MSO, Invoice, Car Shipper, etc. 1 station

As noted above, if ’69 sequencing was the same as it was for C2s, the VIN Plate and TRIM Plate was attached at the 1^st station on the Hard Trim Line, which immediately followed the last station on the Paint Shop Line (like Terry McManmon indicated). Here’s what John said about that station, “VIN plate and trim tag created and affixed….Car data sent electronically to teletype printers throughout the plant, creating the Broadcast Copy the car was built from.”

218 stations later, the car gets it’s paperwork. Here’s what John said about that station, “The MSO (Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin), the Dealer Wholesale Invoice, and the dealer’s copy of the Car Shipper are created and mailed to the dealer, and the unit is reported to the dealer and to Chevrolet-Central Office as “produced”.

So, you can see there are a lot of stations after the VIN and Trim Plates are attached…plus as Larry Mulder states, repairs/rework, parts shortages, etc. could also extend that roll-off-the line time.

And occasionally (yes, unfortunately I’ve seen it and it’s true) some cars were wrecked before they left the plant or somewhere on their way to the shipping yard!

Good luck on your search and Happy Holidays!…

Mark:

I doubt there are significant differences between the mid-year build process and the early C3 process unless we get down to specific work stations. And even at that, there is probably little difference.

Your quantification of the build process fails to note that the work on the chassis, beginning with the Chassis Upside Down Line, occurs concurrent with the work in the body and paint shop. This would have been true for both the C2 and C3 St Louis builds. I am not going to do the math, but I suspect it may change the number of work stations you cite between the application of the VIN & Trim Tags and the completed car station.

One of the reasons I made no attempt to get into the details of the St Louis car build is for just such complex reasons. I believe it is sufficient to state that SOME time passes between when the trim tag is attached and the complete car exits the assembly line. Put another way: I prefer to deal with horseshoes and hand grenades rather than pool balls. :-)

[Philip A.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Talked to John, the owner of 5452, and his trim tag is the same as mine, L 21. He thinks he may have a typo on the registry when he stated July 26th. He thinks he may have some docs to look into.
Thanks.

[Philip A.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Thanks Terry,
Just spoke to him and he verified his trim tag is L 21, the same.

[Philip A.]

Re: 69 VIN's

Absolutely true.
Thanks Larry.