1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

[John M.]

I am currently looking at a 1967 Corvette with a St. Louis trim tag that has a B30 body build date which I believe is Friday Sept 30th 1966. The Vin on the car is 194677S102158. The NCRS Judging manual states that the last VIN off the assembly line in Sept. 1966 was 194677S102110 and that all VIN's after this number should have a body build date of C for the month of October 1966. My question is would it be acceptable to figure this car was assembled the first week of October 1966 with a B30 body build date?

[Mark F.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

I am currently looking at a 1967 Corvette with a St. Louis trim tag that has a B30 body build date which I believe is Friday Sept 30th 1966. The Vin on the car is 194677S102158. The NCRS Judging manual states that the last VIN off the assembly line in Sept. 1966 was 194677S102110 and that all VIN's after this number should have a body build date of C for the month of October 1966. My question is would it be acceptable to figure this car was assembled the first week of October 1966 with a B30 body build date?

Hi John,

The Trim Plate is attached to the body at about the 59^th St. Louis assembly step (after Body Shop [BS] and Paint Shop [PS] steps were completed) at the 1^stst

[John M.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

Mark, Thank you very much for all the detailed information. I really appreciate it!! My only concern is that if I decide to bring this car up to a standard for NCRS Top Flight judging could it be a problem with the judges or will our assumptions for the first week of October 1966 be accepted.

[Mark F.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

Mark, Thank you very much for all the detailed information. I really appreciate it!! My only concern is that if I decide to bring this car up to a standard for NCRS Top Flight judging could it be a problem with the judges or will our assumptions for the first week of October 1966 be accepted.

You're welcome, John,

If your VIN and TRIM Plates are verified and judged TFP (Typical Factory Production) by the NTL (National Team Leader) I seriously doubt there would be an issue with the span you are indicating.

However, a GREAT deal of experience and knowledge is required to determine non-TFP Plates and nobody who knows how to do that will do it only using photographs on this site (unless of course there are GROSS deviations obvious).

Sounds like you already have the TIMJG, so get it judged and maybe before that to answer your own questions, order the NCRS shipping data to find out when and to what Dealer your car was originally shipped.

Good luck!

[David H.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

...only using photographs on this site (unless of course there are GROSS deviations obvious). ...

Mark

Quite right. Using a photograph, you can call it bad. But, you can't call it good.

Dave

[John M.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

Thank you Mark! Great advise!

[James M.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

What was the approximate total build time? Mine is a very late car (July 3, 1967) and probably sat uncompleted over the 4th of July holiday.

[John D.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

There should be no problem as there was a strike in St Louis around that timeframe which would explain the delay

[Mark F.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

What was the approximate total build time? Mine is a very late car (July 3, 1967) and probably sat uncompleted over the 4th of July holiday.

Larry Galloway's book states 22 hours (2 shifts +) as the approximate build time, start to finish at St. Louis.

Are you saying your body build date (BBD) is "L3" or "L03" (July 3)?
The last BBD for '67 was "L12", well past the July 4th holiday

[John D.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

According to the book "Birthplace of Legends" by Peter J. Licastro the entire St Louis assembly operation was shut from October 4, 1966 through October 25, 1966 due to a strike. My 67 in the 2300 VIN range displays the same date ranges.

[James M.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

That is correct, Mark, it's an L68 roadster. The original owner purchased it on July 25. Given the adage about cars built on a Monday I'm surprised the wheels didn't fall of this one since the build could have begun on Monday, July 3 and been completed on Wednesday, July 5. A definite hangover build!

[Mark F.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

That is correct, Mark, it's an L68 roadster. The original owner purchased it on July 25. Given the adage about cars built on a Monday I'm surprised the wheels didn't fall of this one since the build could have begun on Monday, July 3 and been completed on Wednesday, July 5. A definite hangover build!

LOL, yes the "Monday build thingy" is truly an "adage"...more like a fairy tale.

Except for some horrible assembly plant paint jobs I personally witnessed, at the risk of oversimplifying things, Assembly plant operations were fairly bulletproof in terms of major screw ups.

"Take this part on the side of the line or from another feeder line and bolt it to the place where it belongs as it goes down the line", repeat process many times, etc..

The hangover days I worried more about were for casting, machining, assembly and testing of engines, trannys, differentials, etc....worn or broken tooling, cast melt quality, voids, etc. probably contributed more to "Lemons" than how something was bolted to the car in an assembly plant (regardless of what day of the week it was).

Statistically speaking, I think it would be extremely rare indeed, if not impossible that all of the many subassemblies required to build a car were built on a Monday or hangover day in their respective build locations...

[John D.]

Re: 1967 Body Build Date verses final Assembly Date

I worked in assembly plants for over 20 years and can say all this monday morning build stuff is simply urban legend...