Vin stamp whoops?

[chris slawski]

Can of worms. I have a 69 Norwood built camaro. Engine vin stamp is xxxx9x....the vin is identical except xxxx3x. Is it a possibility that that occurred at the factory? Yes correct casting date and correct engine 2 letter code for application.

Thanks for your expertise!

[Rsconv68]

While entirely possible, I would upload a few close up detailed pictures. The sleuths here know their broaching.

[Keith Seymore]

Typically sequence errors occur in the last digit, not in the "tens" place.

Knowing the process, I'm a little at a loss as to how that would happen.

K

[70 copo]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Typically sequence errors occur in the last digit, not in the "tens" place.

Knowing the process, I'm a little at a loss as to how that would happen.

K

The worker at that element has to take a wizz and cannot hold it waiting for an ARO to come to replace him. The worker leaves the position on the line and multiple unit drivetrains pass by unstamped.

If the ARO then arrives the Foreman is notified of the discrepancy in totals and then a repair team is sent up to catch up with the car later either on the long lines or in the repair lot. Same deal if no ARO arrives at all.

The repair stamper is then used. That's how I was told it happened at Norwood.

Repair stamper is the long slim bar on the right side.

It all boils down to simple human error.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 70 copo

The worker at that element has to take a wizz and cannot hold it waiting for an ARO to come to replace him. The worker leaves the position on the line and multiple unit drivetrains pass by unstamped.

If the ARO then arrives the Foreman is notified of the discrepancy in totals and then a repair team is sent up to catch up with the car later either on the long lines or in the repair lot. Same deal if no ARO arrives at all.

The repair stamper is then used. That's how I was told it happened at Norwood.

Repair stamper is the long slim bar on the right side.

It all boils down to simple human error.

Ok - I guess I could see that. Hate it when that happens.

It would be an amazing coincidence that they would be off by ten units - but - I've seen some amazing coincidences.

By the way - it's not just the one car that would need repair. It's all the ones between when the discovery was made back to the VIN stamp operation, too.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 70 copo

The worker at that element has to take a wizz and cannot hold it waiting for an ARO to come to replace him. The worker leaves the position on the line and multiple unit drivetrains pass by unstamped.

If the ARO then arrives the Foreman is notified of the discrepancy in totals and then a repair team is sent up to catch up with the car later either on the long lines or in the repair lot. Same deal if no ARO arrives at all.

The repair stamper is then used. That's how I was told it happened at Norwood.

Repair stamper is the long slim bar on the right side.

It all boils down to simple human error.

Uh oh. You guys have opened the floodgates of memories now....

...but I don't want to hijack here.

So here's a link about breaks and relief men ("mass relief" vs "tag relief") , post #110:

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...ef#post7317733

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

This is absolutely correct.

I had 27 or so production operations with about 35 hourly employees. I could do every one of those jobs, and could do more than one for a short period of time, so if things were really (really!) desperate I could hop on and keep the line going.

I do not recall stopping the line myself in 40 years, even though it was pretty lonely at 5:55 am. Often it was me, my quality man and a couple of your "good" guys waiting around with me wringing my hands. When the line started at 6am it would chug about one job length and stop (somebody else would have pulled the cord because they were short staffed). Usually while everybody was getting situated I'd see the rest of my guys quick stepping down the aisle, tying their aprons on and catching up.

By the time the line started back up my guys had done the vehicle they missed, the one directly in front of them, plus one more, and were sitting on their stool reading the newspaper.
K

The other thing I just remembered is that we would "trade" operators in order to get the line going; so if I had a couple extra then I would loan them out to a guy that needed a couple.

If the operator was not trained for the temporary job he was about to do, then we would put two guys on that job. Since it would normally take them about ten minutes to learn the job then that was fertile ground for them to double up and work any deal they wanted for the rest of the day.

If it was a trained utility man or relief man placed on the job then he would have to do that job by himself.

I will say the foreman would normally reserve his best people for the toughest/most critical jobs, and then cover the lesser jobs with more expendable folk.

K

[70 copo]

UAW 674 was the meanest union in the entire auto industry. "Doubling Up" as it was called would get you on the wrong side of the UNION real fast.

This was because of the adversarial relationship that existed on the lines in the late 1960's that intensified through to the longest strike in GM history at Norwood in 1972.

Every time it was tried by supervision the union said no-- DLA's were threatened by Management and the Union simply filed grievances against supervision and then organized work slow downs which created havoc in AGR and also in the exterior repair lots.

By 1970 for three shifting there were a massive number of ARO's in plant on the Chassis side alone and they gamed the system by "getting lost" on the job meaning foremen could not find them when needed and there was competition between supervisors for ARO's to support individual sections.

[jer]

My '66 vette has the digit one off in the hundred position, a 0 instead of a 9. The odds of that happening vs. someone finding that block from another car??? This is just part of the saga imo. I can imagine if I ever sold it some would walk away, but others won't.

[TimG]

I've posted these pictures before. Here is the engine pad from my 1967 427 Corvette VIN 350, made the third day of production. Here is the transmission stamp from the same car, VIN 349. Neither component has ever been out of the car.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by TimG

I've posted these pictures before. Here is the engine pad from my 1967 427 Corvette VIN 350, made the third day of production. Here is the transmission stamp from the same car, VIN 349. Neither component has ever been out of the car.

That's what I'm saying - off by one is easy to do.