Part Number help needed on 1950's Break in Card

[Dave S.]

From about 1950 to 1957 Chevrolet placed a CAUTION TO OWNERS - Breaking in your engine pamphlet in all it's passenger cars including Corvette. It is a pale yellow 1/2 fold piece that is 4" X 5 1/4" when folded. It contained information on break in speeds, tire pressure, radiator draining and key knockouts.
There are 3 versions of it that I have found and I'm hoping the part numbers will tell us when they were issued. This would assist me in determining the approximate introduction of each of the 3.

Part numbers are as follows:
3694128 - I have seen this piece as early as 1950
3697081
3711019

Any help is appreciated.

[Joe L.]

Re: Part Number help needed on 1950's Break in Card

From about 1950 to 1957 Chevrolet placed a CAUTION TO OWNERS - Breaking in your engine pamphlet in all it's passenger cars including Corvette. It is a pale yellow 1/2 fold piece that is 4" X 5 1/4" when folded. It contained information on break in speeds, tire pressure, radiator draining and key knockouts.
There are 3 versions of it that I have found and I'm hoping the part numbers will tell us when they were issued. This would assist me in determining the approximate introduction of each of the 3.

Part numbers are as follows:
3694128 - I have seen this piece as early as 1950
3697081
3711019

Any help is appreciated.

Dave-----


The 3694128 and 3697081 are close enough that it would be hard to pin down a date of release. I would say that the 3694128 was released sometime around late 1949 to mid 1950. The 3697081 was probably released sometime from early 1950 to late 1950.

The 3711019 is probably from the period of late 1954 to mid 1955.

All of the above are just "guesstimates", though. I've never really studied these very early part numbers. 1955 and earlier is almost like the "dark ages" to me.

[Dave S.]

Re: Part Number help needed on 1950's Break in Card

Dave-----


The 3694128 and 3697081 are close enough that it would be hard to pin down a date of release. I would say that the 3694128 was released sometime around late 1949 to mid 1950. The 3697081 was probably released sometime from early 1950 to late 1950.

The 3711019 is probably from the period of late 1954 to mid 1955.

All of the above are just "guesstimates", though. I've never really studied these very early part numbers. 1955 and earlier is almost like the "dark ages" to me.

Joe,
I knew this would be a "needle in a haystack" question. Your answer gives some excellent help. Thanks.

[Gary C.]

Re: Part Number help needed on 1950's Break in Card

Joe, just curious as how you derived at the usage years? Know Dave is also as we've tried to come up with what was used when for along time. Thanks, Gary....

[Joe L.]

Re: Part Number help needed on 1950's Break in Card

Joe, just curious as how you derived at the usage years? Know Dave is also as we've tried to come up with what was used when for along time. Thanks, Gary....

Gary-------


Part numbers were generally issued sequentially. There are SIGNIFICANT exceptions that always need to be considered, though.

I have sort of made an informal study over the years to correlate part numbers to date of release. It's far from an exact science, though. However, for Chevrolet part numbers, I can usually get it down to about a year, or less. These are strictly estimates, however.

[Gary C.]

Re: Part Number help needed on 1950's Break in Card

Joe, many thanks for the info and all you do for the hobby. Asked my Chevy Engineering friend several years ago if there was a part number index available. He told me they assigned blocks of numbers to different GM organizations. Gary....

[Joe L.]

Re: Part Number help needed on 1950's Break in Card

Joe, many thanks for the info and all you do for the hobby. Asked my Chevy Engineering friend several years ago if there was a part number index available. He told me they assigned blocks of numbers to different GM organizations. Gary....

Gary------



Yes, that's definitely how it was/is done. There were several blocks assigned to Chevrolet. The most common block for 1953-72 parts releases is from about 3680000 to 3999999.