Hectic Day at the Factory?

[lee64]

So finally got down to cleaning the front frame up and noticed something unusual about the VIN. Before and after lunch break? Anyone else have anything like this?

[LostMy65]

I'm not sure what you see that you consider odd.

[LT1 Burb]

The guy stamped an 8 and couldn't erase it so put a 9 underneath, nice.

[yelmer]

what is the vin on the cab?

[lee64]

Uh, stamping an X over the 8 and putting a 9 underneath seems a little out of the ordinary to me. The X over the 8 is a little hard to see in the pic. The VIN tag has the 9 on it. Were they hand stamping the VIN then?

[LT1 Burb]

I believe they were hand stamping, if the rest of the numbers are the same I wouldnt worry about.

[jayoldschool]

That's a Friday night or Monday morning truck.

[slaminum69]

I guess we had the same person stamping my truck, must have been hung over..

[markeb01]

That certainly is interesting. I've never seen anything like it before. I just don't think VIN numbers were considered all that critical until the last 20 years or so. From the factory standpoint it was likely most important to make sure the right body ended up on the correct chassis.

In my youth VIN numbers and body tags didn't seem all that important to anyone. It was like the time before zip codes. When zip codes first came on the scene, nobody cared and many people didn't use them. Now mail delivery depends on them. Many of my early cars were identified by the engine number. I swapped motors all the time and never had anyone at the DMV or insurance people care at all. Once the car was registered in your name that was it.

It seems to me VIN numbers started taking center stage when 60's and 70's vehicles became collectable, and having the right numbers could add an extra zero or two to their value. And stolen cars and parts are such big business, the importance of VIN identification has become a primary tool in theft recovery today.

[slaminum69]

Yeah its Odd, The rest of the numbers match up identically, just the one in the engine compartment, spoke with a guy from the local chevy dealer and he was amazed as well never seen it, tried to do some research but couldnt find anything on it for the mistake at the factory.

[yelmer]

is it a fremont truck by chance? they had major problems at that plant .

[lee64]

Small world Dennis. I've owned 5 60-66 trucks over the past 33 years and never saw this. But like Markeb01 said, few people really gave much importance to the numbers. If you had title in hand, good enough.

[VictoriaHardware]

The frame number stamps were loaded by hand into a fixture that kept them aligned. Then that was taken to the frame and stamped. The Operator hammer struck the stamp set with one blow. It may even been a hydraulic tool that pressed the stamps into the steel, which may be the case with these, since it is large and the top of the frame rail could deflect (in fact I think that was the case since the original stamp is much deeper than the repair stamp). So the answer to the question were they done by hand is yes and no. The Operator was reloading the stamp set for each job, but usually only changing the last digit. With human error, distractions, the fast line rate, and jobs that were "kicked in" or kicked out" of the sequence it is easy to see how this could happen. And it did happen... more often than anyone wants to admit.

Fortunately in these two cases it was caught and corrected in the plant. If you'll notice, the font in the 2nd nine is different from the original nine. The Operator (or Area Repairman) likely had a second set of individual stamps to make such corrections. The "X" , the 2nd "X" and the 2nd "9" were each struck by hand with a hammer.

The second VIN stamp in the frame likely looks the same. It may also be that other trucks before or after this one have similar stampings. If an Operator gets off by one and doesn't notice, they can mis-stamp quite a few before anyone notices.

The engine block stamps were all done by hand using a fixturing tool. Those can have similar oddities. The Corvette guys have many documented cases of that since they are so keen on numbers. It causes a lot of heartburn when an original owner is showing their car and the "know-it-all" judges tell them it's not the original engine. I love Corvettes, but it's another reason I enjoy these trucks so.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by VictoriaHardware

The frame number stamps were loaded by hand into a fixture that kept them aligned. Then that was taken to the frame and stamped. The Operator hammer struck the stamp set with one blow. It may even been a hydraulic tool that pressed the stamps into the steel, which may be the case with these, since it is large and the top of the frame rail could deflect (in fact I think that was the case since the original stamp is much deeper than the repair stamp). So the answer to the question were they done by hand is yes and no. The Operator was reloading the stamp set for each job, but usually only changing the last digit. With human error, distractions, the fast line rate, and jobs that were "kicked in" or kicked out" of the sequence it is easy to see how this could happen. And it did happen... more often than anyone wants to admit.

Fortunately in these two cases it was caught and corrected in the plant. If you'll notice, the font in the 2nd nine is different from the original nine. The Operator (or Area Repairman) likely had a second set of individual stamps to make such corrections. The "X" , the 2nd "X" and the 2nd "9" were each struck by hand with a hammer.

The second VIN stamp in the frame likely looks the same. It may also be that other trucks before or after this one have similar stampings. If an Operator gets off by one and doesn't notice, they can mis-stamp quite a few before anyone notices.

The engine block stamps were all done by hand using a fixturing tool. Those can have similar oddities. The Corvette guys have many documented cases of that since they are so keen on numbers. It causes a lot of heartburn when an original owner is showing their car and the "know-it-all" judges tell them it's not the original engine. I love Corvettes, but it's another reason I enjoy these trucks so.

I think we are generally in agreement.

I was the production supervisor for this area at Flint Assembly for a few years. A large hydraulic press is used to "stamp" the numbers into the frame (it is actually more of a smooth squeezing action, not a violent "hit").

In the event of a miss stamp or getting out of sequence the offending digits are "X"d out and the correct digits stamped by hand. You are also correct that usually it wasn't just one vehicle that got messed up; if the vehicles were stamped out of sequence then several vehicles were normally built incorrectly before anybody would notice.

Things get very hectic at that point....


K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by markeb01

From the factory standpoint it was likely most important to make sure the right body ended up on the correct chassis..

Negative.

In the factory the PVI ("Primary Vehicle Indicator") or CSN ("Carrier Seqence Number") are the primary tracking tools in Body Shop and Paint - the VIN is not even established at that point (typically); the General Assembly sequence number takes over that role once the vehicle enters final assembly.

The VIN is just another component to be assembled, like a tune up label, Mulroney window sticker or SPID label.

K