Mine went to the "Pontiac Retail Store", which was the corporate dealership in Pontiac. I don't have the Protect-O-Plate or original invoice, but it likely was an exec car as loaded as it is. It does have a notation on the invoice C M D and a date 2/11/69 with a dollar amount. Retail on the car was $4949.88 and the dollar amount written in is $2045.98.
Vikki 1969 Goldenrod Yellow / black 400 convertible numbers matching
Jim, It's all different now. With Delphi spun off, plants fighting to stay open and the Delphi bankruptcy, nothing is predictable. Back in the 80's and 90's, when things were a little more predictable, it wasn't quite two weeks, more like a week to ten days. Always depending on when Christmas falls. This year, with Christmas on Sunday, we get the week between Xmas and New Years and then Monday(New Years Day) and Tuesday. So it's like 7 paid Holidays. That's just for production people. Skilled trades works straight through, triple pay .
Mine went to the "Pontiac Retail Store", which was the corporate dealership in Pontiac. I don't have the Protect-O-Plate or original invoice, but it likely was an exec car as loaded as it is. It does have a notation on the invoice C M D and a date 2/11/69 with a dollar amount. Retail on the car was $4949.88 and the dollar amount written in is $2045.98.
This makes a lot of sense because the GM exec cars, nowadays, get sold for a lesser price depending on how many miles get put on them by the exec. They call them 'Program Cars'. The time frame between the first and second deliveries is typical for a program car.
my car was shipped to Schappe Pontiac dealership in Madison ,Wis. on 0/24/68 retail price was $3875.48 , including the $785.48 worth of options*...added to the"base" price at $3090.00 plus dest charge $62.00 of coure mine was made as a 350 car...
"decor group" 324 $57.93 350 V8 w 3 spd 343 $110.88 TH tranny 359 $205.92 radio push button 382 $61.09 dual horns 414 $4.1 de luxe seat belts 431 $36.86 (says F&R &shldr-F) did mine come with shoulder belts? now gone...also no deluxe belts now, I replaced w std.. console 472 $53.71 p/s ,var ratio 501 $105.32 sooft ray glass w/s 532 $22.12 custom trim 554 $ 78.99 head restaints 571 $16.85 F70x14 WSW tires TMD $31.60
That makes sense about the interior code sequence. Mine is a standard black #208 and the tag in question is a deluxe black #218.
Jim, yours is # LOR516525, standard int. built 11D. Mine is # LOR500278, standard int. built 11C. Seem like a high number (16247) of cars to be built in a week’s time.
Vikki, what were the codes on the car you documented. And as I recall your VIN was not to far off from my convertibles.
TOTAL RETAIL PRICE $4306.10 SOLD UNDER SPECIAL CONSINED BULLETIN AGREEMENT DATED JULY 30,1968
BLOCK#014535 YT HEADS CAST DATES RIGHT G128 100001 1 1 LEFT G118 BLOCK CAST DATE GO88 NIGHT SHIFT INTAKE MANIFOLD 9794235 CAST DATE G098 ALTERNATOR 7D19 TRANSMISSION 100001
BODY # UNDER WIPER COVER FRONT COWL 9L60001 BODY # HIDDEN BEHIND HEATER BLOWER MOTOR FRONT COWL 100001
THERE WERE A FEW OPTIONS THAT WERE ADDED TO THE CAR, AM/FM STEREO RADIO WITH CONSOLE MOUNTED 8 TRACK TAPE PLAYER, TILT WHEEL, F70X14 FIRESTONE REDLINE TIRES. THE REMOTE MIRROR WAS DISCARDED WHEN THE RESTORATION TOOK PLACE SINCE THERE WASN'T A REPO ONE AVAILABLE TO BE PUT ON. BUT, THAT'S ALL THE INFO WE HAVE ON THE CAR IS WHAT THE PREVIOUS OWNER GAVE US.
************************************************************** The last six of my LOR VIN is 115638.
Last edited by Yellowbird; 11/28/0609:18 PM.
Vikki 1969 Goldenrod Yellow / black 400 convertible numbers matching
My 11D LOR Vin is 115553. It looks like our vins are in line but our sequence is mighty long for one week. It's like they jumped 5000 numbers. I would think I had a misstamp BUT it's on my broadcast sheet.
Can of worms, or whatever you call it, there is some explaining to do and that means learning. The mysterious forth week of Nov. 68. A clue or coincidence is that the sequence numbers of the other plants are closer to mine on that given week. If we only had a Dec. 68 tag.
I did a little math and I come up with an average of 1450 cars produced each week between Sept. 1st 1968 and the second week of March 1969. That's if every number in the sequence represents a car.
Cars built in Lordstown in '69 included Caprice, Impala and Bel Air. All high production vehicles. Did assembly plant issue Body Units by line, or by plant?
VIN: 166479U156713 1 66 47 9 U 156713 Make (Chevrolet) Model (Caprice) Body Style (5 passenger custom coupe) Year (1969) Build Location (Lordstown, OH) Sequence Number
Vikki 1969 Goldenrod Yellow / black 400 convertible numbers matching
You shot it down. I was looking at all the 1's and 6's in fourth from the end column. Just like the 1's and 6's in the vin for 6 and 8 cylinder cars. I was focusing on that column because Yellowbird's and my car were really close on the line but that one column seems to be 5000 units off. If it were to be a 1 and 6 thing, they would have had to start it in Nov. 68. I was thinking it had something to do with standard and deluxe interiors.
My new theory is that right after Yellowbird's car was built they were going to run into the sequence numbers from other plants so they jumped up 5000 units to get away from repetitive sequence numbers from other plants. It looks like they may have done it again in March 69.
My conv VIN is U113551. I Have my PHS docs somewhere. I'll try and dig'em up. Give me a day or two, work at the Parcel has gone full tilt. In the next few weeks I have little time for me.
I've seen several similarly dated LORs (white convert at the Dream Cruise) that were within just a few hundred of mine.
That was the gentleman from the Carolinas. Cameo White w/Red deluxe interior. He also custom painted the centers of the Pontiac letters on the tail panel red so they would show up better. He gave me a biz card. Finding that will be like a finding a needle in a haystack.
I do recall that bit of info as Vikki said. It was within a hundred or so.
Tom, it looks like your car's tag is out of sequence. Do you have PHS to correlate?
I finally found my PHS docs. I couldn't find'em because they were still in the trunk of the convertible. The last place I thought to look...duh!
My convertible VIN # 223679U113551 and it has all the listed options the car still has, with the exception of the Safe-T-Track. Heck, I still have one of the original backseat floor mats.
It was shipped 11/27/68 to Regester's Pontiac Inc. in Upper Darby, PA outside Philly. The day before Thanksgiving back in '68.
Would they run a series of numbers due to what the cars drive train is, i.e. 4spd v auto trans equipped? Mine is a documented 4spd. (code 354)
I wish we could find someone who worked at the Lordstown back in the day.
I've heard that paint was sequenced to control waste. I don't have it in print from an authoritative source, but I worked for an auto supplier and they did the same thing. One paint line, three finishes, they would run all the pallets regardless of customer or part number that got one finish, clean the system and change the finish, then run the next color lot, then the last. When done, they'd redirect the bins back into the job lots.
Vikki 1969 Goldenrod Yellow / black 400 convertible numbers matching
I was told that when they had a black car ordered that they would watch for the straightest sheet and use it on the black car. I heard this from an 80 year old collector. He was at my house looking at a GTO vert I had for sale. It was when I was getting ready to paint my black vert. I was 'toying' with the idea of painting it red. He about jumped out of his skin when he heard that I was going to paint an original black car red. He wouldn't leave until he had me convinced to paint it the original black. The guy drove all the way from Washington state. It seemed like he drove a long ways to convince me about the color. Didn't buy the GTO but changed my car.
The following is true for the Chevrolet world and I'm pretty sure it's true for Pontiac too. In 69, all body #'s were the order confirmation #'s. That is, the confirmation # assigned to an order when it was placed was then used as the body #. Obviously cars were built in a different sequence than the orders were placed. VIN's and build dates are the only things that you can compare between cars.
So, why would some orders sit? Supply issues and line balance issues. Most often, the shortage of a component (anything from an AC seal to an engine model) would cause the order to sit. The scheduler would put the order in the build queue when the components were all in-house.
That does explain things. For example, the two 11D cars below(Vikki's and mine) built the same week but 5000 apart in the series. Did they have to wait for a straighter body to paint black? Or were they waiting for parts? We both have similar options except for deluxe and standard interiors. Mine has cruise which could have been the snag too. 09A LOR500727 conv 09C LOR503170 conv 200 paint 53C 10D LOR509325 conv 216 10E LOR508670 conv 212 11C LOR500278 conv 11D LOR511257 conv 218 11D LOR516525 conv 208 12B LOR521567 conv 207 01B LOR526844 conv 212 paint 65A 03A LOR536805 conv 206 03B LOR541331 conv
I see I have my thinking backwards. With Kurt's logic Vikki's car was order around 5000 units before mine but built the same week as mine. It seems it was her original owner that was waiting for the car to be built.
No, I don't believe they waited on black cars. It could be a minor thing like floor mats or more major like axles. Also, customer orders always had priority over dealer stock or fleet orders.
No, I don't believe they waited on black cars. It could be a minor thing like floor mats or more major like axles. Also, customer orders always had priority over dealer stock or fleet orders.
AH HAH!! You nailed it again Kurt. Vikki's car was going to a GM store and mine was ordered by the customer.