[1969] Body Tag Dates

[Chris Mann]

  CORSA Communique
    Volume 14 Number 10
  October 1992
  STOCK IS

  by: Larry Claypool
  Let me start this installment with a thanks to all of you who have been so helpful by responding in a timely fashion to the owner surveys. It would be great to know all the answers, but the clues are the cars themselves. The time you’ve spent completing surveys seems to be the only way we’ll get those answers!
  I’ve gotten a marked increase in the amount of letters and calls I receive with “can you decipher this code?” questions. Please note that each year Corvair has its own meanings for the Fisher Body Tag. Trying to apply ‘63 survey results to your ‘64 will simply result in confusion! So, please hold off on the decoding questions until after we’ve surveyed the year in question! All the results of the surveys will appear right here in the Communique.
  Since the publication of the ‘63 owners survey results back in April, it appears more likely that the number “2” in the accessory code may indicate a front an tenna rather than the comfort and con venience group I’d speculated upon be fore. Careful inspection of the assembly manual showed no necessary changes at the Fisher Body Plant for any of the in cluded comfort and convenience items. All the items were bolt-on in nature, and holes for bracket bolts were done on the assembly line rather than at Fisher. Scru tinizing of the radio section implies the antenna hole in the fender was made by Fisher Body; the antenna itself however; was not installed to prevent damage to it during shipping; it was placed in the trunk for the dealer to install after the car arrived at its destination. A rear antenna would have a different code, but none of the survey respondents reported having one. The whole radio issue is complicated by the fact that dealer-installed radios and antennas
 duplicate the factory instal lation so, even though a car may now have a radio and antenna, it may not have the code for same on its body tag. Research continues! Also still unknown are the letters Y and L, as reported in April.
  Moving along, we come to the 1969 surveys. Up to now, 53 surveys were received. Three of the ‘69s were still in the possession of original owners. Several had extremely low miles with Fred Elstrod’s convertible registering a mere 91 miles since assembly. Members also seemed to collect ‘69s; Mike McKeel of Gaston, Indiana submitted not two, not three, but ten surveys!
  Because of the relatively small number of ‘69s built, we also had many cars built in close sequence responding: 5986, 5988, 5989, 5992, 5996 and 5999 were a close batch that come to mind.
  Since all ‘69s were built at Willow Run, all the body tags contain similar information; we don’t have to worry about other assembly plants. So, on with the results.
  1969 tags vary from other years in the information they provide. Top left is “ST” for style, followed by “69” (the model year) and then the body style: 10137 = 500, 10537 = Monza coupe, 10567 = Monza convertible. Results were gathered from 14 500s, 25 Monza coupes, and 14 convertibles.
  To the right of that is “WRN” which means Willow Run; the assembly plant where all ‘68 and ‘69 models were made. Just after “WRN” is the body sequence number which starts at 100,000. This is actually a serial number for the body as it was produced at the adjacent Fisher Body plant. More about this one later.
  The second line has “TR” which means trim and “PNT” which means paint. Trim codes are few in ‘69, so we’ll cover them here. 700 = black 500; 701 = black Monza; 703 = blue 500; 704 = blue Monza; 707 = green Monza; 708 = green 500;.
  Of the responses, more than half had black interiors (six 500s, 11 Monzas, and 11 convertibles), 29% had green interiors (six 500s, 8 Monzas, and one convertible), and the remainder were blue (two 500s, six Monzas, and two convertibles).
  We’ll not decipher all the paint codes, as they’re well documented elsewhere, but on convertibles, the two number paint code is followed by the letter A (white top) or B (black top). One unusual car was reported by Mike McKeel: #3 625 was factory painted in a Buick gold color not used otherwise by Chevrolet. The paint code on this car’s tag is blank.
  Under the trim number is the body build date. Although the location of this code is unique to the ‘69 tag, it deciphers the same way as other tags: the first two numbers are the month, followed by a letter A through E indicating 1st to 5th week of the month.
  About halfway across the tag is a single letter. Surveys sent in used A, D, or G. There was no pattern to these letters; they were used regardless of body style, options, or standard equipment. Your guess is at least as good as mine as to what they mean.
  Unlike other years, there is no “ACC” or accessory code so I’m not about to make any startling revelations on what sort of goodies your car came with.
  Back to the sequence number. As Elmer Fudd would say, “There’s something mighty funny going on around here!” Normally, the sequence number is for that particular body style at that plant. Not so in ‘69; the number is for that body in the order it came down the body line amongst other Corvairs of any kind and more importantly, volume- wise, along with the Chevy II that was also made at the Willow Run Plant. So the 6,000 Corvairs that were completed shared sequence with 283,039 Chevy IIs built during the same time period.
  And then there is the relationship between the VIN and the sequence number. Normally, a car finished by Fisher Body continues right down the conveyor line to Chevrolet assembly where it is finished and the actual VIN is assigned. The Corvair line was moving so slowly that it was impractical to operate an assembly crew full time. Corvair bodies were ware housed until a sufficient number had been stockpiled to make a production run worthwhile. Bodies sent from Fisher were apparently moved on to assembly in no particular order. In reviewing the relationship of VINs to sequence numbers, there are innumerable instances where a car first down the assembly line actually had its body built weeks after the car behind it. For example, the “newest” Corvair we know about is car 5999. Its sequence number is 388605; but car 5988 has a sequence number of 388696 and, by the date codes, 59 88’s body was built two weeks after 5999’s.
  Then there are cars that seemed to have gotten lost in the twilight zone. 3375 has an assembly date of the third week in January. But its sequence number should have put it in the first or second week in October. About a half dozen very “wrong” sequences or dates showed up in the results. Exactly what happened to these cars whilst in the confines of Willow Run would certainly make for some interesting conjecture. One theory is that the sequence number was assigned as the body began life at the Fisher Body Plant and was given a date code as it graduated to the assembly line of Chevrolet. For what ever reasons, some bodies seemed to have had a longer gestation period than others.
  And then there is the body that never made it to assembly. A red Monza coupe with a first week of May date code currently resides in a Texas museum. It’s minus every part the assembly line would have installed such as the powertrain, suspension, wiring, etc. There is no VIN either; but the body sequence is stamped “WRN XXXXXX.” What was the real intention for this car? Why would Fisher have gone through the trouble to make it if it was never intended to be completed? More fuel for conjecture!
    As for other questions on the survey, the phase-in date for the angled headrest supports on Monzas is only slightly clearer. The earliest angled headrest appeared on a November car. Most cars were equipped with them by March but an occasional straight headrest was still re ported throughout the run. It is assumed, of course, that our respondents accurately assessed which style they have. The cigarette lighter question was much easier to determine. Only cars built during the last six weeks or so reported having a round lighter knob instead of the flat blade style used since 1968. Apparently Chevy ran out of the earlier lighters and just appropriated ones from the Chevy II.

  

Geoffrey A Johnson <geoffj at unm.edu> wrote: Trying to figure something out on date codes.   IS the body tag on page 
146 of the figner tip facts real or made up?

Why?
Because it has the same date code as mine.  09E.   So that means 5th week 
of september 1968.   In the fifth week, only working day in september 
1968, was 
Monday the 30th.


Another '69 vert I was looking at has a much lower vin (13**) or so, and 
has the same (09E) date.

All the body numbers are quite different though.  Mine is 121340, The 
other one 131***, and the one in the book 140280.   Even counting other 
cars (novas etc) that is a big difference if they were all done the same 
'week', even though the 9E translates to only one working day.

By Vin though my car (3260) was not completed untill ~Jan 18th.

Thanks
Geoff Johnson
Albuquerque NM
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