Author Topic: What the heck is this stamping  (Read 11807 times)

GS STAGE 1

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What the heck is this stamping
« on: September 05, 2006, 08:29:11 PM »
Just found these 2 stampings, are they manufacture stampings. I cant even read the firewall stamping?
« Last Edit: September 05, 2006, 08:41:43 PM by GS STAGE 1 »

GS STAGE 1

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2006, 08:30:28 PM »
rear body panel

KevinW

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2006, 11:00:39 PM »
They are panel manufacture codes.  No one has decodede them yet.  But you can tell original panels by them.

rich69rs

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2006, 11:57:39 PM »
Attached photos show a similar stamping under the partial VIN on the firewall under the blower motor on my '69 RS.  The first pic, for reference, shows the bottom of the hole on the RH side of the firewall for the blower motor, the partial VIN, and this stamping:  K 49 2 under the partial VIN.  (Both are upside down in the first pic.)  The second pic shows a close up of the K 49 2 stamping.

I asked the same question to two CRG members via e-mail, not through this forum, a couple of years ago.  Following is the responeses that I received.

It's the date and factory code that indicates when that piece of sheetmetal was stamped.  In this case the 49th week of 1968.  We have not figured out which sheetmetal plant is which, but I've seen H's, K's, and T's on various parts on the cars.  The most obvious one is right in the center of the trunks inner stiffener.  Those usually begin with a T.  If there is a third digit, I don't think it would be a shift number since the stamps only changed weekly.  May have indicated which machine or which mold it was stamped in.

The K is a code for the stamping plant.  49 is the 49th week of the year - mid-December, which relates well to your car build date.  The meaning of any suffixes isn't sure, but could related to the shift as you note.


I have been subsequently told that the K may have meant a sheetmetal stamping plant in Kalamazoo, MI.
 
« Last Edit: September 06, 2006, 12:02:59 AM by rich69rs »
Richard Thomas
1969 RS

GS STAGE 1

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2006, 02:13:44 AM »
Wow, ..............interesting Thanks for the reply
BTW,  I found my VIN under the cowl panel, after I had taken the a/c box off and looked there for a couple hours ::)
I was bummed and delighted to find the VIN in all of about 2 minutes, after spending all that time around the a/c unit, I even scraped some of the caulking off ;D ;D

JohnZ

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2006, 08:39:15 PM »
Those stampings are called "Fisher Body Run Numbers", which identify the stamping plant and the week of production. The stamps were an insert in the bottom of the upper (female) 1st-stage draw die, and also served as a proof mark that the draw die had fully bottomed-out.
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firstgenaddict

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2006, 05:51:20 AM »
Hey with those we should be able to determine REBODIES very easily...
James
Collectin' Camaro's since "Only Rednecks drove them"
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RamAirDave

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2006, 06:15:35 AM »
Hey with those we should be able to determine REBODIES very easily...

Would be nice, but I'm willing to bet that there are some savvy bodymen out there that can splice in the stamped areas and be very difficult to notice.

I've heard of it having been done.
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Tinkerr

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2006, 06:32:46 AM »
The stamping merely shows when the part was produced, not when it was assembled to build the body, although one would expect the numbers to be within a reasonable time period with the build date of the car, but one has been known to be wrong.

firstgenaddict

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2006, 11:37:25 AM »
I was more referring to the Dynacorn bodies...
James
Collectin' Camaro's since "Only Rednecks drove them"
Current caretaker of 1971 LT1's - 11130 and 21783 Check out the Black 69 RS/Z28 45k mile Survivor and the Lemans Blue 69 Z 10D frame off...
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camaro cat

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2006, 01:10:51 AM »
I have a question for JohnZ: How were the hidden vin #'s applied? Was it a gang holder with individual digits that had to be changed by 1 as the line moved? Did an assembly line employee hold it with one hand and "smack" it with a big hammer? Was there a block used on the back side to absorb the impact? I notice on Rich's picture above that it looks like the holder was hit twice and turned slightly between blows. I really think it couldn't have been that unsophisticated as there would be room for all kinds of error.

Thanks

Loren
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rich69rs

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2006, 01:48:07 AM »
Loren -

There is definitely a double stamp of the first part of the partial VIN.

9N58 is double stamped as seen in this enlargment

1767 was only struck once

Perhaps two holders?
« Last Edit: September 08, 2006, 01:51:44 AM by rich69rs »
Richard Thomas
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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2006, 01:12:59 PM »
Looks like it was hit 2x and it moved a little on the first hit which may have  been a glancing strike and the reason to hit it again.

We would use the same type dies to stamp out brass survey marks and I have done this more than once. 

Here is an example of the survey marks.
Mike
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JohnZ

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Re: What the heck is this stamping
« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2006, 06:34:47 PM »
I have a question for JohnZ: How were the hidden vin #'s applied? Was it a gang holder with individual digits that had to be changed by 1 as the line moved? Did an assembly line employee hold it with one hand and "smack" it with a big hammer? Was there a block used on the back side to absorb the impact? I notice on Rich's picture above that it looks like the holder was hit twice and turned slightly between blows. I really think it couldn't have been that unsophisticated as there would be room for all kinds of error.

Thanks

Loren

No hand-held stamps or holders. The hidden VINs were done with an auto-indexing "egg-stamper" made by the George T. Schmidt Co. in Chicago; it was suspended from overhead, and had two air cylinders on it - one clamped the stamper on one side of the panel with the anvil on the other side, and the other one cycled the segmented "egg" with the dies on it. It cycled in one direction for the stamp on the cowl, was relocated to the heater hole, and cycled the other way for that stamp. The operator then pushed a lever and the last digit segment indexed ahead one character for the next unit. The one in the photo was hit twice.
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anything