Where were the mid-year clusters made

[Joe L.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

Terry -

In the 60's, assembly plants managed material flow by having 3-4 days' worth of stock in the plant, with racks and containers stacked to the trusses; assembly plants today have four HOURS worth (or less) on hand.

Even with the plants literally stuffed with material 22 feet high in the 60's and 70's, expediting shipments for a whole host of reasons was big business; during bad weather in the winter, GM literally had the worlds' largest air force under charter to keep the plants running.

A friend of mine was the Logistics Manager at Chevrolet Central Office Material & Production Control; he was in charge of chartering all the airplanes and helicopters, and had stories you wouldn't believe (BTW, that's how Connie Kalitta got rich) .

John------



Yes, Kalitta Air currently operates a fleet of 26 Boeing 747 freighters and a lot of their hauling is done for the automotive industry. Kallita Air also owns but does not currently operate some of the last surviving Boeing 747-SP aircraft, the ultra long range but shorter fuselage version of the 747 of which only a small number were ever built.

[Domenic T.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

Joe,
I think it was Kilitta back in the days that I flew sub contracted Lear 23&24s.
When they gave us a contract to fly parts and we needed 3 lears to do it they bought a larger plane and did it themselves and we would loose the contract.

DOM

[James S.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

Interesting.

Conrad "Connie" Kalitta (born February 24, 1938, in Michigan) is the CEO of Kalitta Air and a retired American drag racing driver, once known as "The Bounty Hunter".
He grew up in Mount Clemens, Michigan, and was a 1957 graduate of Mount Clemens High School.
He raced from the 1950s through the 1990s. He was the first driver to hit 200 mph in an NHRA sanctioned event. He also helped Shirley Muldowney get started (in the "Bounty Huntress" car). Kalitta won 10 NHRA national events between 1967 and 1994.
He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1992. On the 2001 National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000, Kalitta was ranked #21.[1] He was played by Beau Bridges in the Muldowney biography film Heart Like a Wheel.
He is the father of racer Scott Kalitta, killed in a fiery crash in Old Bridge Township, N.J.[2][3] in 2008, and uncle of racer Doug Kalitta.

[John H.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

John------



Yes, Kalitta Air currently operates a fleet of 26 Boeing 747 freighters and a lot of their hauling is done for the automotive industry. Kallita Air also owns but does not currently operate some of the last surviving Boeing 747-SP aircraft, the ultra long range but shorter fuselage version of the 747 of which only a small number were ever built.

And he started with one Cessna 310; he's done well.

[Don G.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

Joe
All of the buildings in the AC Flint complex have been torn down. All filters sold under the AC-Delco brand are made by various manufacturers to Genera Motors specifications as are all other AC-Delco replacement parts. Some cluster components may be produced in what use to be the Delco Electronics Division in Kokomo, Indiana but I don't know if that is the current sourcing. In today's world, a GM or AC-Delco part only means it has been approved by General Motors, will perform as intended by GM and will fit on the vehicle but may vary in appearance from the original part.

[Joe R.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

If the original question was "Where were the mid-year clusters made?" The answer would be the casting was made by "Wolverine Casting" and they still have the original dies. They may also be out of business. Wolverine made many castings for GM including tail lamps, parking lamps as well as most of the other "pot metal" cast parts.

How do I know this? Well a fellow named "Dick" (rip) who started "Trim Parts" picked up his cell one day in Florida and called "Wolverine". He knew the owner well and asked if they still had the dies. Yep, was the answer. The rest of the conversation is history!

JR

[Joe L.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

If the original question was "Where were the mid-year clusters made?" The answer would be the casting was made by "Wolverine Casting" and they still have the original dies. They may also be out of business. Wolverine made many castings for GM including tail lamps, parking lamps as well as most of the other "pot metal" cast parts.

How do I know this? Well a fellow named "Dick" (rip) who started "Trim Parts" picked up his cell one day in Florida and called "Wolverine". He knew the owner well and asked if they still had the dies. Yep, was the answer. The rest of the conversation is history!

JR

Joe------


Wolverine is still very much in business. Their full name is Wolverine Bronze Company and their headquarters is in Roseville, MI. They mainly do aluminum and bronze castings now but perhaps they used to do zinc diecast, too. Their logo is the "WBC" within an oval which is often seen on Corvette and other GM zinc diecast and aluminum castings of the period.

[Ronald L.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

The AC legacy is one that someone should write a book on. Incredible amount of parts, all before the desk-top computer age. And all gone for a lower wage, lower piece price. Wolverine is real close, probably driven right past 1000 times not knowing this, and might just have to say hello just because but I doubt there is much demand for cluster shells with those parts being inside and well protected. Given low demand, most people have theirs in good shape, we now know more about how these were put together.

One of the earlier posts talked about the numbers on the back. To augment what John mentioned, you should be able to find - for mid years - those 2-digit broadcast codes seen on the back of the cluster - in the AIM. For unrestored and very un molested cars this is helpful in understanding who has been where. Your cluster code should match for engine configuration, HP and certian other options. When you get to C3 - it gets complex.



John & Dom, missing the earlier comments on air freight, lots of stories, the most memorable was flying 2 737 out of Willow Run on a Saturday night into KCI both "full" where full was determined by weight - not size of rear axle end parts, rotors and calipers essentially - you don't get many on a plane! And in these days of precisely timed material flow all it takes is an ILVS semi to go off the road. When I was in a now closed St Louis blue oval plant - and I have to say it because they did not dump their debt on the tax payers that have not seen the effects yet - an icly road meant multiple planes flying. We were NW of the air port and would watch from the rooftop window as the trucks left and drive into the docks, fun times.

Cost - yes, but you can't buy time, when you are building a truck a minute 24x7 each job lost can NEVER be recovered.

[John H.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

One of the earlier posts talked about the numbers on the back. To augment what John mentioned, you should be able to find - for mid years - those 2-digit broadcast codes seen on the back of the cluster - in the AIM.

Ron -

Only the part number of the cluster assembly as received from AC is shown in the AIM; the 2-letter broadcast codes aren't shown, but the guys like JR who restore them have the Captain Marvel secret decoder ring to match them up.

[Ronald L.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

John, I have seen these codes somewhere recently, Steve Lavigne posted those earlier this year for 67.

[Ray G.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

John, I have seen these codes somewhere recently, Steve Lavigne posted those earlier this year for 67.

Hello Ron;
Think Long Island Corvette has the dash cluster labels.
Ray

[Ronald L.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

Ray,

We are looking for the chart. 67 was posted, 66 and prior years of interest. LIC probably has this in some form then to be able to make the labels.

[Ray G.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

Ray,

We are looking for the chart. 67 was posted, 66 and prior years of interest. LIC probably has this in some form then to be able to make the labels.

Hello Ron;
Attached is licorvette catalog listing. They don't publish the actual letter combinations.
Hope this helps. Ray

02-18A Dash Cluster Sticker (65 250-300hp) ___________________________ 65 1 5.00

02-18B Dash Cluster Sticker (65 350hp) _______________________________ 65 1 5.00

02-18C Dash Cluster Sticker (65 365,375,425hp) ________________________ 65 1 5.00

02-18D Dash Cluster Sticker (66 300hp) _______________________________ 66 1 5.00

02-18E Dash Cluster Sticker (66 350hp) _______________________________ 66 1 5.00

02-18F Dash Cluster Sticker (66 390hp) _______________________________ 66 1 5.00

02-18G Dash Cluster Sticker (66 425hp) _______________________________ 66 1 5.00

02-18H Dash Cluster Sticker (67 300hp)(NO Speed Warning) ______________ 67 1 5.00

02-18J Dash Cluster Sticker (67 350,390,400hp)(no Sw)__________________ 67 1 5.00

02-18K Dash Cluster Sticker (67 430-435hp)(no Sw) _____________________ 67 1 5.00

02-18L Dash Cluster Sticker (67E 300hp)(speed Warning) ________________ 67E 1 5.00

02-18M Dash Cluster Sticker (67E 350,390,400hp)(sw) ___________________ 67E 1 5.00

02-18N Dash Cluster Sticker (67E 430-435hp)(sw)_______________________ 67E 1 5.00

02-18P Dash Cluster Sticker (67L 300hp)(speed Warning)_________________ 67L 1 5.00

02-18Q Dash Cluster Sticker (67L 350,390,400hp)(sw) ___________________ 67L 1 5.00

02-18R Dash Cluster Sticker (67L 430-435hp)(sw) _______________________ 67L 1 5.00

[Ronald L.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

Hi Ray, what I was looking for to this extent is the letter code correlation as that helps us verify originality. We probably could get that from LIC in one form or another given they have pictures but the real parts are prefered.

[Gary J.]

Re: Where were the mid-year clusters made

I see the post the LICS have the stickers for '65 - '67 but were there sticker for the '63-'64 years?