1969 Norwood Firebird introduction.

[William]

I have been logging production data for decades. There are several sources.

Chevrolet ‘End of Month’ VIN reporting.

At the end of 2nd shift on the last day, a worker recorded the VIN of the last car off at the Final Line station. The info is on the CRG site. This served as the basis for my production calendar, a perpetual work in process. The info is slightly compromised by the fact that cars were not built in VIN order. While they were usually not far apart, it was possible for a body to remain in the bank for an entire shift. Remember, the last six digits of the VIN were assigned as completed bodies were received from Fisher. They were then moved to staging lanes in the body bank, based on option content.

Body and Chassis Broadcast copies [aka BBC and CBC].

Useful for Van Nuys only as Norwood did not fill the PROD. DATE box in the upper LH corner. Additionally, that portion of the sheet is often weathered away as the fuel tank copy was exposed to the elements. The Prod. Date is a day or two prior to final assembly.

Factory to Dealer invoices

Never found in a car, usually found in old dealership records. There are various dates listed; the most useful is Date Shipped. It appears to generally be 1-2 days after final assembly. Early in the ’69 model year, it was often longer.

NCRS Shipping Data Report

By far, the best source. Somewhere in here, a car with both an invoice and NCRS turned up. The NCRS date was one day prior to Date Shipped on the invoice.

Using all this information, I developed the calendar. As new information becomes available, adjustments are made as needed. Over the years, adjustments are becoming fewer and fewer. It is usually one day, bearing in mind cars were not built in VIN order.

While compiling the production calendar, I struggled in developing an April calendar that made sense. There are several Camaros final-assembled mid-April with 03E release dates so I suspected something was up. I asked John Hinckley about it. John worked for Chevrolet in Production Engineering and had occasional assignments at Norwood. It was his recollection production was delayed when Firebird tooling was transferred from Lordstown. So, I structured the calendar for no Camaro production April 4 – April 13. The rest of the April data now fit well. Over many years, I have not seen information that contradicts the existence of a production gap. I have seen NCRS data that supports it.

N626223 NCRS GM official production date 04/03/1969
N626575 NCRS GM official production date 04/14/1969

That is a gap of 353 units spanning 6 production days, at a time when Norwood was building 800+ Camaros per production day. N626223 may not have been the last Camaro built April 3rd; N626575 may not have been the first Camaro built April 14th. To get to the End of Month VIN N637106, Norwood had to produce 837 Camaros every production day through the end of the month.

Is it possible Norwood built some Camaros during that period? Sure.

[70 copo]

Originally Posted by William

Is it possible Norwood built some Camaros during that period? Sure.

Well we are getting someplace. You are now pivoting to a view that acknowledges what literally everybody in plant that remembers about the Firebird production integration.

Over several threads I have spent considerable time researching how the information processes that controlled plant production could fail (and why) and how those failures contributed to production data anomalies moving forward.

The data you and others collect and rely upon is generally only as good as the data produced by GM in that time period.


Just please do not run around claiming that Norwood stopped building Camaro's, that just did not happen-- until August 26th 1987 on the second shift and the last vehicle at the end of the line was a Camaro also.

[William]

Originally Posted by 70 copo

Well we are getting someplace. You are now pivoting to a view that acknowledges what literally everybody in plant that remembers about the Firebird production integration.

Over several threads I have spent considerable time researching how the information processes that controlled plant production could fail (and why) and how those failures contributed to production data anomalies moving forward.

The data you and others collect and rely upon is generally only as good as the data produced by GM in that time period.


Just please do not run around claiming that Norwood stopped building Camaro's, that just did not happen-- until August 26th 1987 on the second shift and the last vehicle at the end of the line was a Camaro also.

I didn't say I was convinced it didn't happen. Known NCRS data has no Camaro production April 3-14. April 3 was a Thursday; they could easily have consumed the 353 unit gap by working all week, including Friday the 4th. The shipping data can't be that far off; Norwood had to queue finished cars away from the plant and space was tight. The cars were invoiced by GMAC the instant they left the plant. We have 200 dealer invoices for 1969 Camaros from one dealership. There is also a gap in shipping data:

N625818 shipped 4/3/69
N626468 shipped 4/14/69
N626665 shipped 4/15/69

The average build-to-ship queue 1/1/69 - 11/10/69 is 2.03 days. Not unusual to ship same day or next.

If you're dying to know, I have 15 complete VINs in the gap that are known to exist. Pick one in the middle and get NCRS for it.

[70 copo]

Originally Posted by William

I didn't say I was convinced it didn't happen. Known NCRS data has no Camaro production April 3-14. April 3 was a Thursday; they could easily have consumed the 353 unit gap by working all week, including Friday the 4th. The shipping data can't be that far off; Norwood had to queue finished cars away from the plant and space was tight. The cars were invoiced by GMAC the instant they left the plant. We have 200 dealer invoices for 1969 Camaros from one dealership. There is also a gap in shipping data:

N625818 shipped 4/3/69
N626468 shipped 4/14/69
N626665 shipped 4/15/69

The average build-to-ship queue 1/1/69 - 11/10/69 is 2.03 days. Not unusual to ship same day or next.

If you're dying to know, I have 15 complete VINs in the gap that are known to exist. Pick one in the middle and get NCRS for it.

I get it. We routinely fall into the trap of overthinking things. That is a habit I had to force myself to break. The reality is that things are often simple if you factor in the human element.

[x33rs]

Originally Posted by William

The info is slightly compromised by the fact that cars were not built in VIN order. While they were usually not far apart, it was possible for a body to remain in the bank for an entire shift. Remember, the last six digits of the VIN were assigned as completed bodies were received from Fisher. They were then moved to staging lanes in the body bank, based on option content.

I've always found this interesting William. I may have talked to you about this in the past on my 69 Z with a 12D build time frame on the data plate, and how the 1st ZL1 has a 12E tag, yet the serial number is about 400 units earlier than mine. In other words, my tag is a week sooner than the 1st ZL1 but about 400 units after the ZL1 according to the serial number.
We all know the 1st ZL1 was delivered at the end of December 68 too, close to new years. I think you mentioned my car according to it's serial number probably wasn't final assembled until mid to late January.

I originally figured they were on the assembly line the same day given only 400 units apart and knowing how many per day they were doing, but not sure if that is even possible knowing final assembly of mine vs when the 1st ZL1 was finished and delivered.
Something held my Z up for quite some time. Probably not the only one I'd assume. Norwood must have had a place to store cars waiting so long for final assembly?? No telling what they were waiting for. Anyway, sorry for steering off subject, it's just interesting to me.