Production differences and anomalies you've found!

John- Thanks! I have been working on it a couple hours at a time several times a day, give or take a little (in between my feedings and sand box breaks!). I have managed to get rid of the "parchment" tint and regain the white background and blue font and border. I can only stare at my screen for so long before everything, including my brain, turns turns to mush. It's going well, I still need to straighten out the curvature of the "weathered" copy I am working with. So far so good! I was able to "find" and undamaged section of the blue and narrowed down the shade. My modified program has about 50 different parameters to work with when it comes to tinting and color shade variations, not to mention about 25 "tool" drop downs to work with. I constantly save and re-save, just in case the inevitable happens. I have approx. 40 versions I've saved so far and I haven't even got to the back yet!! I shall not give up! Thank goodness for Coffee and Circus Peanuts! If you wanted to snail mail me or send a scan, send an email to me....Chad

Chad.....Don't trust a scan or fax to recreate the colors. After I got the sticker from PHS, I made several copies and lamitated one for shows. These copies came out with the exact colors as the original. At least as far as my old eyes can tell. PM me your address and I'll send one to you......John

I have moved the MSRP to it's own Topic.

The Window Sticker MSRP has been moved to it's own Topic.

I was looking through some of my 1959 literature and noticed something interesting. I have a dealer mailer that is about 41/4" by 61/2", that folds open to four pages printed on both sides. The purpose is to invite perspective customers to come in and test drive a new Pontiac with WONDER TOUCH POWER STEERING AND BRAKES. Inside it talks about the ease convenience and safety of these two options. There are several sketches and three of those Art Fitzpatrick type renderings that you typically see in the brochures and advertisements. Like the ones at the top of this forum. One painting is a partial front view of a Bonneville convertible. Another is a 3/4 view of a Star Chief Vista. The other one, which I thought was strangely interesting, was a 3/4 view of a Star Chief Sports Coupe. This isn't a misprint as the car is clearly labeled as such. I wonder, if at some point, there were plans to market this body style in the Star Chief series, but was canceled before production......John

I know this may be a stretch, but has anyone found a broadcast or build sheet hidden in their cars? Depending on the person, shift, or model, they could be just about anywhere! Restoring Camaros and old Chrysler's, I have found them under the back seat, carpet, stuffed in the back seat springs and even on top of the gas tank, sandwiched against the floor. In the headliner is another spot. Sometimes they were just tossed in the glove box. I guess they didn't supply garbage cans for the assembly workers!

I remember a '67 Camaro that had about 2 dozen of the sheets wadded up and stuffed inside the C- pillar by the back window! I found them when I took a torch the lead line where the roof meets the upper quarter panel and I set them on fire! Bummer because we never found the one that goes to the car..probably up in smoke with the rest of them. Like a mini bonfire that we could not put out with anything on hand. After that, there were fire extinguisher's everywhere!

Chad.....I think wydtrac has one that I deciphered for him on another forum. I have a Fisher Body one that I found tucked in the springs of the rear seat. It's a small (1.5"X4") card with not much information on it. It has the body number, body style code, interior trim code, body paint code, and convertible top code. Nothing like the build sheets and broadcast sheets for later year cars. There must have been more than one for each car, as this one has nothing mechanical that final assembly would need......John

Hmm- Interesting! I might have to investigate and see if I can find mine, never really looked for it, but doubt it's there. I have found faint grease pencil/ crayon markings of 1545, the Fisher body number on the underside of the roof and on the firewall of mine. Do you know what color the pencil is supposed to be? There are yellow "X" 's on the frame, rear axle and red hash marks on the original rear shocks. I also found "BK" in yellow, on the heater box inside. I know BK was the Fisher designation for Kansas City.

Chad.....Those markings could be any color and almost anywhere on the car. They probably varied from plant to plant, and whatever the purchasing department happened to get. Since the firewalls were body color, they used light for dark cars and vice-versa. Mostly they were used as identifiers for the line workers to get the right part for the right car when there was two or more possibilities. Sometimes they were used to communicate down the line that a particular job had been done, or needed to be done. They also could be inspection markings made by line forman etc. The only ones that I know for sure, are the paint dabs that were on the centers of the rear axel shafts. The color indicated the differential ratio for the complete rear assembly. There were also rubber stamps used, usually for final inspections.

I'm not sure who it was, but I decoded a build sheet for someone over on the "Hardcore Pontiac" site a couple years ago. It was a Sunset Glow Starchief belonging to someone form New England. That's why I thought it might be "wydtrac." It was similar to mine, but had the mechanical options and accessories on it. Everyone who has a car that they think is mostly original, or know the history of, should at least pull the back seat and look for theirs. That is the most common place that they are found......John

John- All the markings are still on the underside of the dash, since nobody has been stupid enought to screw with anything under there, fortunately. Not sure why the "BK" is on the heater box, maybe it was sent from another facility, not sure. A fw years a go, I was helping a friend prep his '70 Plymouth RoadRunner for a show where it was to be judged. We had every chalk, hash, crayon, paint and inspection tag down to the letter on this car. The show seemed to go off without a hitch and looked like he was going to take the top trophy, which was the best of show/ originality class. One of the judges noticed what we missed: 1 single locking lug nut! Boom, Bam, Done! Instant DQ! This car was dressed to the nines, tires and tits perfect. ONE single freakin' lugnut! This was not Pebble Beach, mind you, but this car was damned near like it rolled off the assembly line that morning. Man was he pissed. I guess kicking his lawn chair across the parking lot helped! What the judge didn't notice was the hollowed out Mopar battery with an Optima stuffed inside! My point is, I will never get Grandpa Jig's car this correct, I prefer it the way he owned it, with the history I know and it's little quirks, like the re-skinned front pass. door or the dent on the right corner of the hood. I had a guy picking the car apart at a show last summer. I was just about to tell him where to go, but stopped myself and walked away.

I'm all with you there. Although i definetly respect the 'original', i still fell that some improvement is OK - unless ofcourse the car is sitting in a museum. What is the point of having the right marking on your fanbelt, or having to worry about burning out those 'last of their kind' NOS headlightbulbs, or whatever. I sincierly think that back then NOBODY gave a damn - as long as it worked !. I also think that oldschool mods - like extra meters in old style, and a little discrete is also OK - especially when it is all reversible. Although i am now going 4BRL i would not deram of getting rid of the original parts- they stay with the car.
I am not into blue light meters in the dash or monster crome wheels, but i guess it is always a matter of taste, and nobody should tell you what to do.
A trick like the hollowed out battery is cool. What is the point of a original battery if it won't start. If the battery is a remake, i am sure that the internals have been 'optimized' a little too, right ? - i don't belive that someone has a 40 or 50 year old leadbattery that still works - in that case it is one in a million !.
I am currently restoring a 55' Rockola jukebox for someone (wish it was mine, though) - the caps are worn out, but modern caps of the same rating are far smaller - the answear is obvious : leave the original in place, and hide the 'modern' caps in the chassis. If you want to keep it working there is no way around it - and it's the same thing with cars. Once i get my car back up running i plan on making a few of these tricks - like a old generator with new internals, so that i can run a descent (hidden) stereo. A few extra relays to take the load of the old switches...

I dont' have a problem with modernization. What I do have a problem with, is when cars are "rebuilt" to the point that they are so far removed from what they are intended, they don't even resemble a classic or restored car. There is nothing wrong with adding, say a pertronix ignition or rebuilding the engine and transmission with "modern" parts for reliability, but the car at the very least, looks in and of itself stock, but cannot be seen from the outside. I know and have seen cars that were virtually stock and almost in original condition, only to be stripped, turned into a "restomod" that looks more like a toy than car. This is just my crusty opinion. The hollowed out battery is nothing new, nor was it my original idea. It works for show purposes, but will not pass judging. There is a couple companies that make battery toppers that look like the yellow capped Delco batteries of the 50's and 60's, but these will not pass judging either. They are just what the name implies, a top cover that fits on any group 24 maintenance-free battery. The options of the hollowed battery (if you can find an original to do this!) or topper are a cheaper alternative to a correct Delco battery in the $200-$350.00 range. In my opinion, Optima batteries are the best battery on the market as far as longetivity. The one I have is going 14 years old! Okay...enough with my rants..I think it's nap time.

For anyone who has been holding their breath waiting for the next installment of this thread.....I was looking around for some more information on the assembly of our cars. I stumbled on an interesting site. It seems that "LIFE" magazine, in 1959, sent a photographer to the Tonawanda N.Y. final assembly plant, and produced 100 or so pictures of what was going on there. Although these were 1959 Chevrolets, what is shown was very close to how our cars came together. Google "chevrolet factory sourcelife" Please please someone with more computer skills than me (any four year old,) could you link that site to this thread so all can click on and enjoy right from here......John

Unfortunately it's not an actual article, but a series of photograph's, like I thought it was. But, the cool thing is that they are in vibrant color and great shots to boot. Here it is:http://images.google.com/images?q=chevrolet+tarrytown+factory+source%3Alife


Thanks to CATBIRD for the suggestion! Enjoy the wonderful pictures of an era gone by.

We will never see factories or production lines like these ever again. Another note: Go to youtube and watch some of the old films taken at GM, Chrysler and F@rd. I get a kick out watching those guys swinging engines, tossing parts, and even painting with out masks! The creepiest part is some of those lived long enough to retire!

Now those guys don't even have to climb into a car to install the dome light....they ride on something called the "super seat"! Lazy? well, you be the judge!