Do GM Records Exist?

[robber6910]

Joe, what is the name of that website this guy has in regards to the build sheets/vins?

[William]

And the work is boooooring. A friend owned a dealership, sold it in the '80s. We went through thousands of file folders with shipper's copies for Bel Air wagons, trucks, Chevelle sedans and a few Camaros, very few Corvettes. Chevy built around 2,000,000 vehicles in 1969 - imagine keeping track of that.

ZL1 VINs are known because a Chevy exec kept a hand-written file. Much of the Yenko documentation to date was also handwritten. Just recently some shipper's copies have surfaced.

[x44d80]

Over at www.camaros.net a guy by the user name JohnZ who worked at GM said no records exist. He points out just how many cars were built and the warehouses GM would need to keep the paper. I often wondered if GM didn't transfer records to microfiche and store off site. I worked for a grocery chain in the early 80's and everything from mag tape was transferred to fiche and sent to a storage facility....

[69L89396]

Why would GM even spend the money and effort to keep records on cars that were sold? From their side it doesn't make sense to keep old records. What would be the purpose?

[JoeC]

Chevy did not keep the records on purpose but there may be some records that were put in storage and still exist simply because they were never thrown away. There may still be old storage rooms all over the country in old plants. Al Colvin found all the records for M22 transmissions shipped out of Muncie from 1965 to 1974. The records were in an area above the plant enclosed by chicken wire. He said there is also a similar area in the Central Office Records Retention Area.
How did Jim Mattison get all the Pontiac records?
Where did they find the old Caddy records?
I still have a little hope because I am amazed about old records that keep showing up on the Internet.
An example is Ellis Island in NY. More than 12 million immigrants passed through between 1892 and 1954 and they still have the records. They have them on a web site where you can search for your relatives names. I found some of my relatives on there and it even had the amount of money they declared when they arrived.

[MadMike]

I've heard - from someone I'd believe (was mentioned in this thread) the records, or some portion exists.
He believes the liability issue is the reason why chevy isn't falling all over itself to cater to us folks.
Imagine - as already mentioned, if every LS6 Chevelle and 68 Z28 owner, all 100,000+ of them start suing GM for the paperwork to verify their car? They'd need a new division just to deal with this headache.

The liability is just a guess. Maybe they're just lazy or don't care or the task to dig through this mess is not cost justifyable. The same person above said either he himself or an aquantance of his checked out a nova, where it was delivered and how it was equipped by making a phone call. He got his answer and was told not to call that number again.

Maybe chevy has their paperwork stored in a UFO? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

The build sheet stuff is from Jody Prather, since it pertains to 2nd gens, I publicize the fact that he can dig these sheets up via my site (nastyz28.com). He's helped a couple of my guys get their build sheets.

[Denis]

Was it the dealer or the factory who sent out recall and/or service letters? Whoever it was had a good reason to keep a record of make, model, options, and owner.

Insurance companies also would've kept a record of the VIN, make and model, along with the credentials of the person named on the insurance policy. I wonder if the NICB might have more information available than just the dealer name?

[William]

Some of you have fertile imaginations.

If the liability issue does not bother Pontiac or GM/Canada why would it bother Chevrolet?

As for records there is a federal law requiring a label that specifies equipment and cost - read the bottom of the window sticker. This is for the "ultimate purchaser" who has a relationship with a dealer, not a manufacturer. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer has any obligation to subsequent owners.

GM did and still may offer invoice copies for any vehicle up to 5 years of age I believe. I'm sure it is stored electronically making it a simple matter to retrieve the info.

How would one handle a warehouse with hardcopy records of the 2,000,000 vehicles Chevrolet built in 1969? Remember that 95% of the vehicles no longer exist.