Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

[John L.]

I realize records kept for early production of the 1954 models may be scarce or non existant but I was wondering if it is possible to estimate when my 1954 #68 was built in January 1954. My understanding is production of the 1954 models begun on Monday December 29th with 15 cars being built in the 1953 calander year...perhaps 4 a day for the short week before New Years. With 15 cars built at the end of 1953 that would leave 52 cars built before mine. So if daily production was quckly ramped up from 3-4 units per day to lets say 5 cars in the early weeks of 1954 then perhaps on the 11th working day of January is when my car came to be.

Looking at the calander for 1954 January 4th was on a Monday and counting out 11 days would put the production of #68 on Monday the 18th or if production exceeded the 5 day average then perhaps the car was produced the end of the 2nd week of January lets say Thursday the 14th or Friday the 15th.

Would anyone have a better idea on the early production stats? So will the restoration of #68 be completed on its 60th birthday? Well I may need every day I can get

thanks,
John Lanning

[Troy P.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

Can't cite a source, but I believe way more than 5 a day were built on average. Also I've heard from others in the know that 54 production started and stopped a few times for some reasons. Perhaps later in the year when it was found they were not selling fast enough?? If so the flow was not continuous.

[Gary H.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

According to the Corvette Birthday Calculator #68 was produced on approx January 8, 1954.

[Peter R.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

And according to the 7th edition of the NCRS Corvette Birthday Book, #68 was produced on approximately January 11, 1954.

Pete

[John L.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

Interesting information gentlemen. From the date of production of #68 response provided by Gary (Friday January 8th 1954) and Peter (Monday January 11th 1954) average production was more than the 5 cars per day as I thought but more like an average of 10 cars per day the first week.

Cannot imagine what it may have been like for this group of assembly line workers who, in their newly set up production line, in their home town of St. Louis were charged with building this unique car with the only prep being in a makeshift pilot plant in Flint with 300 units before them. Perhaps far different than the high volume production line for trucks they left before the holiday so they could be part of this new-yet to be tried assembly of fiber reinforced plastic typically realized in cafateria trays at that time. Ha did they talk about the New Year holiday or were they so focused on how are we going to get this line up to 50 cars per day?? Were there Monday morning line meetings were key staff assembled with coffee and donuts to brainstorm on making changes to line efficiency. Did they have all the tools and equipement they needed and were accustomed to on the assembly lines they left? Did they know each other from previous assignments or was a whole new team brought in. Those wrench turners sure needed to be flexible I am sure to keep up with daily changes. How I would love to be a fly on the wall so to say but yes that was 5 years before me and my dad was more interested in customizing his 49 Ford than a new sports car.

if these workers only knew! Men and women who were able to take the designers and developers dreams and turn them into a reality dispite the hardships and on-the-line fustrations they may have experienced. You know the saying .... "do those upper management designers up there really know what they are doing"??


So here we are 59 years later critiquing the 7th generation Corvette....if these workers only knew!
I think about these sort of things as I have taken this car down to it bare components - though many have been changed there were still many that were laid together by these nameless individuals doing what they needed to draw a paycheck and build a car...did they know this would someday lead to a hearitage of of world class sports cars in only a few short years - probably before many of them retired.


End of narration

I have Nolands technical bible on the C1 as well as the fine vidio offered through NCRS on the beginnings of the Corvette. Any other good resources on the first 2 years of production - line photos and details are my passion if anyone has recommendation.
Thanks for the information as I enjoy my coffee,
John Lanning

[Joe R.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

John,

You might want to check out the C1 registry web site:

http://www.c1registry.com/

It has a birthday calculator and much more.

Joe

[Troy P.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

I've been told not to trust the Birthday Book as it was developed assuming a constant flow of car being peoduced, which was not the case. Still better than nothing to get an approximation. But don't count on it being exact.

I've seen at least one car with an intact chassis stencil with a date that contradicted what the the Birthday Book indicated for final assembly. As mentioned before, assembly was apparently interrupted more than once in 54. Parts shortages, strikes, built too many cars?

[Rob M.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

I've been told not to trust the Birthday Book as it was developed assuming a constant flow of car being peoduced, which was not the case. Still better than nothing to get an approximation. But don't count on it being exact.

I've seen at least one car with an intact chassis stencil with a date that contradicted what the the Birthday Book indicated for final assembly. As mentioned before, assembly was apparently interrupted more than once in 54. Parts shortages, strikes, built too many cars?

would the chassis stamp not be much (and sometimes) very much earlier than the final assembly date?

[Troy P.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

Yes, the chassis stencil date has to preceed the final assembly date.

[Gary H.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

Not always so. In 2009 I judged a 54 that Dave Ferguson had. Very original car, chassis stencil date was 30+ days AFTER the accepted assembly date.

[Troy P.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

Gary, that's my point exactly. You can't trust the Birthday Book to be accurate when determining the assembly date. The chassis stencil doesn't lie...unless of course someone screwed up when making the stencil or the chassis was replaced.

[John L.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

Thanks everyone for this insightful information on early C1 birthdates. Understanding there were a lot of factors affecting everyday output and then with little or not records available we are speculating. Probably more difficult for those cars built later in production.
appreciate the information.
John

[David B.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

The 54 owned by Dave Ferguson that is cited by Troy and Gary above is one of the several cars from the April-May 1954 period that led us to recognize that the Birthday Book is somewhat inaccuarate in the Spring of 54. However, I have found no evidence that the BB is not reasonable for the early car (#68) that started this thread. Remember that the BB uses a mathematical extrapolation for 1953, 54 and 55; no records exist.
DB

[Mike E.]

Re: Calculating the January Birthdate of My 1954

The bottom line is that all of us can just speculate and extrapolate away! No records, no trim tags, no one who worked on the line and remembers. As I suggested to Noland; we care for more about how these were built than those who were building them did.