Figuring out a possible date code range for my car.

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SirFartsALot

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A while back I sent my vin number off to the Fiat Chrysler Historical Society to receive the production date of my 1966 Plymouth Valiant Signet.
The set of micro fish that would have my car on it was missing so they could not provide me my build date.
Are there aspects of my vehicle that I can look at that would give me clues on the possible date code range of my vehicle.
For example my car has the Plymouth horn button instead of the Valiant V horn button. Didn't they change over some time in production of the 1966 cars?
Any help or guidance in figuring this out will be appreciated, so that I can try to get as close of a true date code correct part when wanted...

V/r,
 
Actual build dates were not recorded on fender tags or broadcast sheets.

You can try to get into a within a week or two range by starting a spreadsheet for every part you can find with a date code.

Any date coded part actually original to the car will predate the cars actual build day which can not be determined for sure.
 
Do you have the data plate?
Post your VIN and maybe others can help bracket you.


Alan
 
Other cars do not help - no way to know when they were actually built either. ;-)
 
Alaskan_TA said:
Actual build dates were not recorded on fender tags or broadcast sheets.

You can try to get into a within a week or two range by starting a spreadsheet for every part you can find with a date code.

Any date coded part actually original to the car will predate the cars actual build day which can not be determined for sure.
Click to expand...
Whereas that may be true the Scheduled build date on the Data Plate and broadcast is the commonly accepted date and generaly what people are referring to when they ask about the Build Date.


Alan
 
It did not worth that way though.

With the advent of the Mylar door stickers, that helps with this some.

My 1970 Valiant has a SPD (scheduled production date) of 403 for April 3rd, 1970.

The SPD is the date they HOPED to build the car when the order was first entered into the system.

My Valiants Mylar indicates it was finished in March of 1970, so at the very least, it was built 4 days earlier than 'hoped for'.

My T/A was similar, but built late. 417 SPD but the final assembly date on the engine assembly was April 22. It would have taken some time to be loaded up in Windsor Ontario & moved by rail to Hamtramck to be assigned to a car. The cars door sticker did show April though, so the T/A was completed after April 22 but before May 1.

Tracking dates can be fun, but getting it down to an exact day did not come into play until the Mylar door stickers came into being later on, they required a MDH code of completion. (Month, Day, Hour)
 
Cuda Al said:
Do you have the data plate?
Post your VIN and maybe others can help bracket you.


Alan
Click to expand...
I have been able to gather this information on my Vin Number from several different sites. But want to try to figure out more to get the correct date code parts when wanted. Will not be a complete date code correct car.
VH23D62538412 = VIN Number
V - Plymouth Valiant
H - High
23 - 2 door hardtop
D - 273 1-2BBL 8 Cylinder "LA" engine OR 235 HP 1 – 4bbl 8
6-1966
2 - Hamtramck, Michigan
The remaining six digits indicate the sequence number (serial number)
538412 = 438411th Vehicle
Build Date:____________________________________________________________________

Thanks,

Ben




 
The only way to keep a car 'date code correct' would be to note the date on any part that had to be replaced & then find one with the exact same date code to replace it.

Not easy to do. If anything has been replaced with no record of the date on it, then it becomes impossible.
 
SirFartsALot said:
538412 = 438411th Vehicle
Click to expand...

438412th VIN assigned maybe, but not the 438412th vehicle built unless it was a totally random occurrence.

These cars were built way out of VIN order all the time.
 
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I do try to do my research, the last article you posted was just up'dated' a few days ago.

Pun intended. ;-)
 
Alaskan_TA said:
438412th VIN assigned maybe, but not the 438412th vehicle built unless it was a totally random occurrence.

These cars were built way out of VIN order all the time.
Click to expand...
Not all the time. D/Darts were built in sequence. Not all the SO numbers were correct though.
On your fender tag, the first 3 numbers of the SO Number is the scheduled production date. Should be close to, but it's not the day it was built..
On the front of the engine, driver side, just below where the head meets the block, there is a stamped number. The one on my D/Dart is B-273-4-27 which equates to being built on 4-27.
My SO number is 417 or 4-17. So the body was built and stamped for a 4-17 build but the engine wasn't built until 4-27. Ted picked it up from the plant on Friday 4-29. It was the first one delivered.
A little info and history at the same time.
 
Are you saying all the D/Dart VINs are sequential or that they were all built in VIN order one right after the other?

Proof of them being built one right after the other in VIN order with no other cars built in between them would truly be awesome to see.
 
Alaskan_TA said:
Are you saying all the D/Dart VINs are sequential or that they were all built in VIN order one right after the other?

Proof of them being built one right after the other in VIN order with no other cars built in between them would truly be awesome to see.
Click to expand...
They were built in sequence. The last 3 of the vins were 888 thru 937. The SO numbers were sequential also - 41771120 thru 41771169. Of the 11 that are still around, there is onethat has no SO number stamped on it and one that has a non-sequential SO number. That one is Phil's car.
 
That in itself tells me the orders were specified at the same time with the numbers assigned, but not necessarily built in VIN order or by SO number.

So is there any proof they were actually built in VIN order?
 
And is there any proof that they weren't?

Per historical, all the SO and VIN numbers are sequential. All the shipped dates vary from 4-29 thru 6-23. Ted's car being the first in the VIN sequence , SO numbers and shipped on date. Ted Spehar picked up the first car at the plant on Friday 4-29. He didn't want anyone blowing it up on the short trip to the dealership.

I believe that all the bodies were built and stamped for the 4-17 build date. I believe the engines didn't arrive at the plant until at least 4-27. I have number on 3 engines and 4-27 was the latest one.

With all the bodies being built on or around 4-17, some of them could have been used during the normal production run since no engines were available and that must have been sitting around for a few days or weeks. Thus the "no SO number" being stamped on the one car (shipped on May 1) and an incorrect number on the other (shipped on May 16).

My first D/Dart had an engine build date of 4-26 and it was shipped on 5-13 to Banning Dodge.

So I would say that the bodies were assembled, stamped and painted in sequence. Then stored (pushed around) the paint shop until the engines arrived. Then finished assembly took place.
 
SirFartsALot said:
A while back I sent my vin number off to the Fiat Chrysler Historical Society to receive the production date of my 1966 Plymouth Valiant Signet.
The set of micro fish that would have my car on it was missing so they could not provide me my build date.
Are there aspects of my vehicle that I can look at that would give me clues on the possible date code range of my vehicle.
For example my car has the Plymouth horn button instead of the Valiant V horn button. Didn't they change over some time in production of the 1966 cars?
Any help or guidance in figuring this out will be appreciated, so that I can try to get as close of a true date code correct part when wanted...

V/r,
Click to expand...
So SirFartsALot, do you have the fender tag? The SO number would be really close to the date it was built. And the number stamped on the engine (driver side- front of the engine)? There is a casting number on the engine below the passenger side exhaust manifold where number 4 piston is. That should also give you a time frame of when your car was built.
Alan
 
my 2 cents... My 67 dart, engine 12-1966, production date from fender tag 2-08-67, Sequence number from build sheet 1|080911, shipping order from build sheet 208|03603, Approx delivery date from sales receipt 2-6-67, First entry in my Dads log book 2/18/67 with all the punch list items needing to be addressed, Car was built in Hamtramck, MI and delivered to Santa Monica, CA... for what ever its worth!
 
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Alaskan_TA said:
It did not worth that way though.

With the advent of the Mylar door stickers, that helps with this some.

My 1970 Valiant has a SPD (scheduled production date) of 403 for April 3rd, 1970.

The SPD is the date they HOPED to build the car when the order was first entered into the system.

My Valiants Mylar indicates it was finished in March of 1970, so at the very least, it was built 4 days earlier than 'hoped for'.

My T/A was similar, but built late. 417 SPD but the final assembly date on the engine assembly was April 22. It would have taken some time to be loaded up in Windsor Ontario & moved by rail to Hamtramck to be assigned to a car. The cars door sticker did show April though, so the T/A was completed after April 22 but before May 1.

Tracking dates can be fun, but getting it down to an exact day did not come into play until the Mylar door stickers came into being later on, they required a MDH code of completion. (Month, Day, Hour)
Click to expand...


Check out the build info on your T/A and the D/Darts. Both 417 SPD's and both had engines built after that date. Plus shipping dates within 2 days but 4 years apart. There were 3 shipped out on May 1st which would have been the second day cars were shipped.
 
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