Grease Pencil Markings

[Steve Shauger]

On my 67 L78 RS/SS this is a marking I found on lower valance R-SS 508.

R-SS = Rallysport /Super Sport and 508 is likely a job or sequence #

The car was just delivered so its still quite dusty and needs some careful cleaning.

[Canuck]

Hey Steve
There is a program at a big car show in Chicago every November,The show is called the Muscle Car something. They have another program there called Vehicle Certified or something like that,you should bring your car there, someone from that program should be able to decode what 508 means, you will be amazed at what they do.

Paul Martin
Oldsmobile For Forty Two Guy

[Steve Shauger]

Hey Steve
There is a program at a big car show in Chicago every November,The show is called the Muscle Car something. They have another program there called Vehicle Certified or something like that,you should bring your car there, someone from that program should be able to decode what 508 means, you will be amazed at what they do.

Paul Martin
Oldsmobile For Forty Two Guy

Thanks, I'd like to know more about it :haha:

[mockingbird812]

:naughty:

[Canuck]

Nice bunch of guys but car knowledge is a little shallow!

[m22mike]

That was some funny S%$t right there ....:naughty:

[x77-69z28]

My 67 had similar markings in orange crayon. I will send you a pic Steve. Not smart enough to post here.
Buddy

[Canuck]

On a serious note, Steve ,is the 508 the last three digits on your cowl tag sequense #. On Olds mobile lines in Lansing the last three digits were written on the frame, upside down on the left front apron and left rear rail,It was also noted on the firewall and under the hood for visual id as the assemblies came down the line.

[Steve Shauger]

On a serious note, Steve ,is the 508 the last three digits on your cowl tag sequense #. On Olds mobile lines in Lansing the last three digits were written on the frame, upside down on the left front apron and left rear rail,It was also noted on the firewall and under the hood for visual id as the assemblies came down the line.


No Paul, 508 doesn't match the body #...

BTW it looks like we have a few Olds lined up for MCACN.:beers:

[70 copo]

At Norwood The front end called the "dog house" by employees was built on a separate conveyor and then lowered through a hatch via crane shortly after body drop. That number will match the number on your firewall in 1967. That number is the final assembly sequence number or as known in plant that day as unit #508.

R-SS is as Steve said- which was a visual aid to insure the correct grill was selected during the doghouse build.

[Keith Seymore]

At Norwood The front end called the "dog house" by employees was built on a separate conveyor and then lowered through a hatch via crane shortly after body drop. That number will match the number on your firewall in 1967. That number is the final assembly sequence number or as known in plant that day as unit #508.

R-SS is as Steve said- which was a visual aid to insure the correct grill was selected during the doghouse build.

Phil - do you know how they handled it if they happened to get out of sequence?

That was the beauty of building pickup trucks: if something wasn't right you could just throw the offending parts in the box and keep on going. They would catch it out back in stationary repair. Pretty sure you couldn't do that with a Camaro (lol).

I followed my pickup down the line in Flint when it was being built. I didn't notice until 30 years later but it must have been "#87".

K

[m22mike]

Very neat finding a sequence # on various parts.
Mike

[70 copo]

Out of sequence was identified almost immediately based upon a paint mismatch. When this happened the build continued and the sequence issues were corrected on the 2nd floor feeder conveyors and units that were built out of sequence were then sent on to AGR- there they were repainted to match the intended build configuration this was scuff and shoot Earl Schieb style.

In the case of a "nightmare unit" (after mid 1969) a Firebird front end was lowered onto a Camaro body (or the other way around) by mistake. Again affected units would be sent to AGR and the entire front end would be changed out by hand and then painted to correct the issue.

[SS427]

Just to add so there is no confusion when sometimes seeing these grease pencil markings, over the years of restoring Chevelles I have seen many 3 and 4 digit grease pencil markings on the undersides of hoods, on the air cleaner snouts, radiator top plates, door jambs, etc. After looking through the paperwork on several of these cars when they had it I found these numbers to often times match the dealer inventory or invoice sheets. I suspect that upon a cars arrival and entry into their inventory system they marked the car with their inventory number in a place easy to spot.

[m22mike]

X2 Rick, once I had a 69 L78 Camaro with the 4 digit dealer stock # on the fan shroud in yellow paint parker. Looked at for months during the restoration, then one day looking over the dealer bill of sale there it was in a box called dealer stock #.
The best one was in AZ at the Pavillions one year. Guy had a 100% survivor 70 Chevelle . I think he thought I was nuts for spending so much time around his car soaking up all the details . He also shared all his factory paperwork with me, he had it all.
As I was leaving he ask me to look at some #'s on his driver door jam above the dome light sw. There were 4, 5/8'' #'s stamped into the metal vertically that actually broke the paint. He say's, have any idea what that is ?
I got up and said lets go look at that dealer bill of sale in the your trunk one more time, and there it was in the box marked dealer invoice.
Mike

[SS427]

Wow! Stamping numbers into the paint. Not one of the dealer's better ideas when a grease pencil would work wonders. LOL

[x33rs]

Very cool. Ford did similar things. My survivor 69 SCJ has grease pencil numbers on the core support which matches the Marti Report, it's the rotation number as it's coming down the assembly line.

[roger1308]

Steve this is the location on the firewall of those numbers and what they looked like on my RS/SS. I also found that number on the back side of my original spare tire and rim.

roger