Author Topic: body panel numbers  (Read 10446 times)

GIBSTER

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body panel numbers
« on: February 18, 2006, 03:15:59 AM »
Maybe I have missed this in other areas, But what if anything do the numbers mean that are stamped on some of the body panels?
The latest ones I have found are in the left side of trunk, just under and to the left of the tail light.   Thanks  
« Last Edit: February 18, 2006, 03:18:05 AM by GIBSTER »

JohnZ

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Re: body panel numbers
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2006, 07:26:12 PM »
Those are "run numbers" from the Fisher Body stamping plants that supplied the panels; there's a letter that identifies the plant, followed by the week of production when the panel was stamped.
'69 Z/28
Fathom Green
CRG

GIBSTER

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Re: body panel numbers
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2006, 04:00:06 AM »
So would you be able to compare these dates with doors and hood to tell if the were replaced,or would they be pulled at random from there current stock at that time?

project69

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Re: body panel numbers
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2006, 04:07:00 AM »
the vin is stamped under the inner cowl/lower cowl/ whatever you wanna call it..lol

JohnZ

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Re: body panel numbers
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2006, 03:13:32 PM »
So would you be able to compare these dates with doors and hood to tell if the were replaced,or would they be pulled at random from there current stock at that time?

There wasn't a lot of inventory between the stamping plants and the assembly plants - racked stampings took up a lot of floorspace, and were racked so the parts didn't touch each other, so there were only about ten pieces per rack. There wouldn't be more than a couple of weeks' spread from one major panel to another on the same car.
'69 Z/28
Fathom Green
CRG

GIBSTER

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Re: body panel numbers
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2006, 04:17:30 PM »
Thanks for the info

rich69rs

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Re: body panel numbers
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2006, 05:31:45 PM »
Under the outer heater box/blower cover stamped on the firewall of my 69RS were the following.  The partial VIN is well understood.  I was informed from CRG membership that the K 49 is, as JohnZ has indicated the stamping number.  The following is part of an e-mail exchange that I received on the topic.

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.


Build date on my car is 01C.  Subsequent to the information that I received above, I was told that perhaps the K stood for Kalamazoo, M stamping plant.

Firewall pic attached.
 
Richard Thomas
1969 RS