Question On The C2 A.O. Smith body Trim Tags

[Larry E.]

I assume the A.O. Smith body C2 Trim Tag was applied to the body in Mich. Correct?
If it was all the info must have been known for the trim tag when the body was made.
Now we know that there was some time involved for getting that Body to St. Louis.
We all know that things can change in a hurry when making cars. Here is my question:
If something changed> let's say in the Interior; I'll give an example>Car was originally ordered with
Leather Seats(402) on the trim tag. But when the car arrived at St. Louis there was a
shortage for that color Leather Seats. Rather then waiting the customer give the OK
to substitute Vinyl Seats instead THUS making the Trim Tag inaccurate. WAS A NEW
TRIM TAG THEN MADE AND APPLIED AT ST.LOUIS TO MAKE IT CORRECT??
Thanks in Advance>Larry

[Larry E.]

Re: Question On The C2 A.O. Smith body Trim Tags

Don: Thanks for correcting the spelling. As far as the "Red" words I did a "cut and paste"on a short phrase
which was in Red but unknown
why when I continued it stayed in Red. I am no cyber expert by any means why it did that. Larry

[Mark F.]

Re: Question On The C2 A.O. Smith body Trim Tags

I assume the A.O. Smith body C2 Trim Tag was applied to the body in Mich. Correct? Yes, see what John Hinckley says below...If it was all the info must have been known for the trim tag when the body was made. Yes Now we know that there was some time involved for getting that Body to St. Louis. We all know that things can change in a hurry when making cars. Here is my question: If something changed> let's say in the Interior; I'll give an example>Car was originally ordered with Leather Seats(402) on the trim tag. But when the car arrived at St. Louis there was a shortage for that color Leather Seats. Rather then waiting the customer give the OK to substitute Vinyl Seats instead THUS making the Trim Tag inaccurate. WAS A NEW TRIM TAG THEN MADE AND APPLIED AT ST.LOUIS TO MAKE IT CORRECT?? Thanks in Advance>Larry

Per John Hinckley's C2 Assembly Process Presentation (available in the Database of Restoration Documents [DoRD] Sticky Post), here's what he says about AOS Trim plate attachment:

	Hard Trim Line (HT):
HT1	VIN Plate and Trim Plate (aka tag) created and affixed (only the VIN Plate was attached on A.O. Smith bodies because the Trim Plate was attached in Ionia MI where AOS bodies were made). Car data sent electronically to teletype printers throughout the plant, creating the Broadcast Copy the car was built from.

He made no comment about the scenario you mention...

But, as an observation...the same could have happened to a St. Louis body. Granted the time from Trim Plate attachment to Final Line was probably no more than 24 hours in the St. Louis Plant vs up to 2 weeks in transit from Ionia. Dunno and pure speculation on my part, but I think it highly unlikely that a plate would be removed; retyped on the addressograph machine; and re-riveted...just my 2 centavos...

[Jack M.]

Re: Question On The C2 A.O. Smith body Trim Tags

I assume the A.O. Smith body C2 Trim Tag was applied to the body in Mich. Correct? If it was all the info must have been known for the trim tag when the body was made. Now we know that there was some time involved for getting that Body to St. Louis. We all know that things can change in a hurry when making cars. Here is my question:
If something changed> let's say in the Interior; I'll give an example>Car was originally ordered with Leather Seats(402) on the trim tag. But when the car arrived at St. Louis there was a shortage for that color Leather Seats. Rather then waiting the customer give the OK to substitute Vinyl Seats instead THUS making the Trim Tag inaccurate. WAS A NEW TRIM TAG THEN MADE AND APPLIED AT ST.LOUIS TO MAKE IT CORRECT??
Thanks in Advance>Larry

I could be mistaken, but I believe Larry Galloway indicated the seats were in the car, when shipped from AO Smith. If there was some unforeseen parts delay, it could have sat a while in St Louis, before being scheduled for the final build. If you were to track AOS trim tags, those Corvettes were NOT completed at StL in any trim tag body numerical order. I seriously doubt anyone bothered to look at those body numbers... so they had a mix, when completed. For example, AOS convertible body #456, could be finished long before AOS convertible body #123. The final build sequence, had nothing to do with the trim tag. Also remember, AOS trim tags had no ECL codes... only St Louis.

[Owen L.]

Re: Question On The C2 A.O. Smith body Trim Tags

I've no direct knowledge of GM's production inventory and timing. In my opinion, there was a fair bit of lead time from the date the production order was received to estimated finish date. My St. Louis body '67 tank sheet shows 24 days between. Do AOS bodies have similar or longer spans? I would suppose this offered some heads-up for ensuring colors were in stock when the time came to install them.

[Mark F.]

Re: Question On The C2 A.O. Smith body Trim Tags

I've no direct knowledge of GM's production inventory and timing. In my opinion, there was a fair bit of lead time from the date the production order was received to estimated finish date. My St. Louis body '67 tank sheet shows 24 days between. Do AOS bodies have similar or longer spans? I would suppose this offered some heads-up for ensuring colors were in stock when the time came to install them.

Owen,

If you're talking about the date the order was received vs expected date of production, based on review of 14 legible Dow-Smith Tank Sheets I had available, it seems pretty clear to me they built in the longer lead time needed for Ionia bodies because of the shipping involved.

As Jack Morocco pointed out to me a while back, note that all the Exp. Date of Prod. dates are Fridays. Hence, that probably translated to "we expect to produce this vehicle the week ending Friday XX XX, XX"

Date Received	Exp Date of Prod.	Days
Wednesday, July 13, 1966	Friday, September 30, 1966	79
Tuesday, December 27, 1966	Friday, February 10, 1967	45
Tuesday, January 17, 1967	Friday, February 24, 1967	38
Thursday, January 26, 1967	Friday, March 3, 1967	36
Tuesday, February 28, 1967	Friday, June 2, 1967	94
Monday, March 20, 1967	Friday, April 21, 1967	32
Wednesday, April 5, 1967	Friday, April 28, 1967	23
Thursday, April 6, 1967	Friday, May 26, 1967	50
Wednesday, April 26, 1967	Friday, May 26, 1967	30
Thursday, May 4, 1967	Friday, June 16, 1967	43
Friday, May 5, 1967	Friday, June 16, 1967	42
Tuesday, May 9, 1967	Friday, June 23, 1967	45
Wednesday, May 10, 1967	Friday, June 16, 1967	37
Thursday, May 25, 1967	Friday, July 14, 1967	50
	Average	46

[Larry E.]

Re: Question On The C2 A.O. Smith body Trim Tags

I'm getting the impression that the trim tags for the C2's where NEVER R&R with the correct
info on it for ANY reasons. (For the above or body repair work with wrong dates-previous post)
These things are rare BUT did indeed happen to the Corvettes. JMHO> Larry