Date of manufacture
 

Is there some way to determine this from the numbers on the blazer or the frame? Some of the grease pencil marks? I was trying to find this date so as to reproduce the blue sticker on the driver door correctly as mine was deteriorated at that area of the sticker so I was unable to read it. I have the VIN and such, several grease pencil numbers on the frame and the body which I have good documentation of. Any help appreciated!

Re: Date of manufacture
 

Mine has a date in grease pencil on the top of driver's side inner fender.

Re: Date of manufacture
 

Did not have that but did decode the engine to July 10, 1970 so I think it was a date of July 1970, which I remember that date for some reason, maybe a mental note from the blue tag. I took lots of pics but never seems to be the exact one I need!

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That sounds familiar!

Are there any kind of vin numbers stamped into the frame? Mine is so badly rusted, you couldn't see them even if they were there.

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Yes there were on mine, on frame under driver and frame in engine compatment passenger side. Mine were both there and I documented these as correct.

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Here is another big question... What was the total manufacture numbers or VINs issued by Chevy for the production run year of 1970? Reason being, my VIN numbers corresponding to the number it comes off of the line (the way I understand it anyway) is 86943. It was manufactured sometime July 1970 based on the engine codes so that would make it a fairly late run as the new model year is getting ready say August - September time frame. Any ideas on that? Doesn't make a hill of beans difference but just fun checking out this stuff. I did count the numbers of trucks and related and came up wit a total of 43827 but there are lots more others than that.

Re: Date of manufacture
 

Please post a pic of the blue decal after you redo. Would love to see how it turned out. Thanks,

Re: Date of manufacture
 

Sort of -

The sequential number would pretty much represent the vehicles produced on that assembly line only (in other words, it would not comprehend vehicles produced at other assembly plants - which would get their own set of VIN sequence numbers).

Also - there can be some trickery where the sequence number could start at a different point based on either (a) engine option or (b) nameplate. In your case you are probably ok with a Chevy, but for example during the '73-87 era GMC badged trucks started at 500001.

You are correct. A July 1970 build is a late (in the 1970 model year) build. By August we would be building a few very very early '71 cars/trucks, but the normal startup would occur in September. Additionally, the engine has to be built and completed prior to the vehicle build (plus shipping time) so that would push your vehicle build some time later in July or into August of 1970 - a pretty late build.

K

Re: Date of manufacture
 

Thanks for the informative responce. Since the blazer I have was produced in St. Louis, would there be a place to check on the number of 1970 vehicles that place put out?

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How come the blue door decals are being re-done? What was wrong with the ones on ebay?

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I am not redoing the blue decals from ebay, those look just fine to me. I ordered one and should be here soon.

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I'm not sure. I know that kind of information exists for vintage Pontiacs, so I will check around with those same type publications and see if they have one for Chevy trucks.

K

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I got the one from e-bay yesterday and it is a beautiful reproduction, accurate and even comes with the clear cover seal to apply over the decal when it is put on. Oddly enough, it came from the Inline Tube company or at least it was packaged by their stuff. Now to just find a person that could do the typeing for me on period correct typewriter! Since we all use word processors now, may be a challenge.

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Don, the factory didn't use typewriters to type out these or Spid's. The fonts will be different. They used big machines that layed out the words real quick and kept moving. Trevor

Re: Date of manufacture
 

How do we reproduce the type on these items?

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Here is a pic of mine before the redo!

Re: Date of manufacture
 

You need to contact Jeff (Chipflyer) as he is the only one I have ever seen duplicate the factory lettering on the spid decal. He might be able to duplicate these too. It's worth a shot. Trevor

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Cool! Thanks!

Re: Date of manufacture
 

The book I was referencing was John Gunnell's "Standard Catalog of Pontiacs - 1926 through 1995" which lists all the assembly plants, model year start up and end dates, as well as production volumes for each plant.

I see they also have a "Standard Catalog of American Light Duty Trucks, 1896 - 1986" which I presume would have the same type of information.

I'd start there if I were you -

K

Re: Date of manufacture
 

I'm working on this label and about 90% done with it but I can't get it quite right and just haven't had the time to mess with it. Trevor is correct, the type used on this label was like the SPID characters and I don't believe you will find a typewriter that will do it. I bought one of those nice labels from DR. Decal, it looks very good but if you have to use the wrong font it kind of takes away from the whole effect.

Jeff

Re: Date of manufacture
 

I read sometime ago on this forum that the SPIDs were typed on an IBM Selectric electric typewriter. Or was it that SPIDs were best duplicated on that kind of typewriter -- being closest to the kind of industrial machine GM was using at the time?