'67 Corvette Coupe, #s 427/435hp, Silver Pearl

[TimG]

One interesting note is that in 1968 Chevrolet no longer used AO Smith as an independent contractor so Ford contracted with them for assistance in building a car for them called a Shelby. The went from producing the Corvette to the Shelby.

[RPOLS3]

Pic of subject cars referenced tag with the A in the body number.


Tony referenced VIN #194377S117929 in his original post for future searches

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by TimG

Beginning in 1964 AO Smith in Iona, MI was contracted to help build Corvette bodies due to high demand that the St. Louis plant couldn't keep up with. The completed and painted bodies with interiors were shipped to St. Louis by rail to be mated with chassis and engine to form a completed car. These AO Smith built bodies carried a trim tag with an A in front of the body number. St. Louis trim tags carried an S in front of the body number on the trim tag. As noted, for streamlining reasons, St. Louis was deemed the plant that built the bodies for cars ordered with side pipes and in 1967 St. Louis was deemed the plant that built bodies with the big block hood stripe. This is the very short answer.

Wow. Thank you very much!

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by TimG

Beginning in 1964 AO Smith in Iona, MI was contracted to help build Corvette bodies due to high demand that the St. Louis plant couldn't keep up with. The completed and painted bodies with interiors were shipped to St. Louis by rail to be mated with chassis and engine to form a completed car. These AO Smith built bodies carried a trim tag with an A in front of the body number. St. Louis trim tags carried an S in front of the body number on the trim tag. As noted, for streamlining reasons, St. Louis was deemed the plant that built the bodies for cars ordered with side pipes and in 1967 St. Louis was deemed the plant that built bodies with the big block hood stripe. This is the very short answer.

And I thought building Buick bodies on the north end of Flint and shipping them to the sound end of Flint for completion was a stretch!

K

[seventieshow]

If you scroll through these links there are pictures of bodies being shipped to St Louis from Michigan.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-with-car.html

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ody-427-a.html

It's too bad more people from this era, who actually worked in these plants aren't around to offer their memories.