CRG Discussion Forum
Camaro Research Group Discussion => Decoding/Numbers => Topic started by: william on June 25, 2021, 02:03:33 PM
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/304040971253?hash=item46ca410bf5:g:xccAAOSwwllg0Oar
124379N553571
From the ad:
1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 "X77" code car.
N553571 was final-assembled on or about December 3, 1968. X77 tag has an 03D date, 4th week March 1969. One or both tags are not original to the car.
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/304040971253?hash=item46ca410bf5:g:xccAAOSwwllg0Oar
124379N553571
From the ad:
1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 "X77" code car.
N553571 was final-assembled on or about December 3, 1968. X77 tag has an 03D date, 4th week March 1969. One or both tags are not original to the car.
What is the maximum allowable time difference between body cowl date and the on or about assembly date? I was told it can be as much as 120 days apart from each other. Is this not the case?
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No definitely not 120 days! That’s 4 months.
I believe there are verified cases of a week or two.
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Order lead time for most cars was 4-6 weeks. There was an internal vetting process for dealer orders prior to confirmation. Orders that were incorrect or specified equipment that was not available were not immediately confirmed. Also, dealer status could delay an order. Beyond that, there were typically far more orders than the plants could build. For the normal '69 model year, Chevrolet cancelled 77,000 confirmed orders.
The date on the tag is when the body production order was released. It is only a general indicator of final assembly; for some reason Fisher occasionally skipped weeks when stamping the tags. The tag was stamped and placed with the order; the order could remain in queue for several days. There is no way a released production order remained in queue for 17 weeks.
The last six digits of the VIN was assigned in sequence when the completed body transferred to Chevrolet final assembly. That establishes the final-assembly date. Bodies were then staged in the body bank. Cars were not built in exact VIN order; they were scheduled to maintain line balance. But, unusual for a body to remain in the bank for any significant time.
The VIN in question was final-assembled 4 months prior to the 03D body tag. Either the VIN tag or the body tag is not original to the car.
We know all this thanks to the late John Z's excellent article on Camaro assembly process. He was an incredibly valuable source of information and will be missed.
http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml
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Beyond that, there were typically far more orders than the plants could build. For the normal '69 model year, Chevrolet cancelled 77,000 confirmed orders.
Were these dealer orders or customer orders? If there were 77,000 more customers than cars, I suspect there would have been bidding wars or price gouging or ADM and no cars on the dealer lots, but I have never heard of any of that happening back then.
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I don't think GM (or any other auto manuf) canceled customer orders; certainly not without a valid reason. If 77000 orders were canceled, then they were almost guaranteed to be 'dealer orders' .. (and possibly even GM originated 'dealer orders', as sometimes manufacturers generate dealer orders to keep the manufacturing pipeline running...
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Sounds like a lot but that works out to about 12 cancelled orders per dealership in 1969. Camaros sold well, dealers wanted deep inventory to sell from. So they ordered more than the plants could build. This is from a Zone letter dated November 6, 1968.
There were of course other reasons; incorrect orders, customer cancellations. The data I have to work with reveals several large gaps in body numbers, which was also the dealer order confirmation. Appears on several occasions, they cancelled thousands of confirmed orders. I believe a similar situation occurred with the C8 Corvette launch.
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Sounds like a lot but that works out to about 12 cancelled orders per dealership in 1969. Camaros sold well, dealers wanted deep inventory to sell from. So they ordered more than the plants could build. This is from a Zone letter dated November 6, 1968.
There were of course other reasons; incorrect orders, customer cancellations. The data I have to work with reveals several large gaps in body numbers, which was also the dealer order confirmation. Appears on several occasions, they cancelled thousands of confirmed orders. I believe a similar situation occurred with the C8 Corvette launch.
Upon receiving this notice, every dealer in the country immediately orders 25 more Z28s!!
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Cars were not built in exact VIN order; they were scheduled to maintain line balance. But, unusual for a body to remain in the bank for any significant time.
The body bank was just a buffer - all 6 lines (one for RS, one for A/C, one for SS and Z/28, and three for high-volume standard cars) were continually added to and continually fed into the assembly line. There was no way to take a body offline in the body bank.
The cars were in a content order from Fisher - the body bank just allowed the cars to be released in a different content order for Chevrolet.
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Interesting. If a car was ordered with both RS and SS equipment, did it go on one line or the other, or were they split between the SS and RS lines?
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They would have a rule about which line it would go into and to make sure it was released properly to keep the line balanced.
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Sounds like a lot but that works out to about 12 cancelled orders per dealership in 1969. Camaros sold well, dealers wanted deep inventory to sell from. So they ordered more than the plants could build. This is from a Zone letter dated November 6, 1968.
There were of course other reasons; incorrect orders, customer cancellations. The data I have to work with reveals several large gaps in body numbers, which was also the dealer order confirmation. Appears on several occasions, they cancelled thousands of confirmed orders. I believe a similar situation occurred with the C8 Corvette launch.
Thanks, that's very interesting. The new Bronco launch is having problems as well, but they are not cancelling orders, just delaying based on what parts they are short of.
Is there any data on how many Z/28's where made per month? I suspect when they increased the supply of engines for that option, the orders followed and production numbers increased. I have also noticed over the years of DZ engine stamping posts, that they seem to be made in batches with the same or close dates.
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Certainly engines were made in batches. There would have to all available parts for the particular engine combination ready for the engine assembly line in queue (piston/rod assemblies, cranks, cams, main caps,oil pump, oil pan, distributors,etc) much like the feeder lines to the assembly line at the assembly plant. There would also have to be a different setup for block drilling, 2 bolt of 4 bolt. Quantities were probably based upon demand for the next week or month.