Help with VIN decode
 

Hello all. My name is Ken Riebel and I am new to the forum.

Back on July 18, 1969 (10 days before my 5th birthday) my Dad bought a new Blazer from Gene Hamilton Chevrolet in Warren Michigan. I recently got him to dig up the original paperwork and we wrote down the VIN. I am interested in how early this vehicle was in the 1969 production. Here is the VIN: BKE149S879984

Without the 1000000 at the end of the VIN I am lost as to how the production number is determined. Also how many '69's were produced? Were they all built in St. Louis? Does anyone know the dates when production started and ended?

A little bit about the vehicle. It was green with a white top & chrome bumpers. 307 v-8, 3 speed on the column and a Dana transfer case. Manual steering and drum brakes. We owned it until 1978 and it was repainted twice in that time. I can remember picking it up from the dealers lot as there was another one next to it that was a exact twin.

Lately I have been thinking about getting a '69-'72 Blazer/Jimmy. I have been into restoring and racing muscle cars for a long time and thought one of these would be a nice change.

Any answers to these questions would be much appreciated. Thanks

Re: Help with VIN decode
 

Anyone? Anyone?

Re: Help with VIN decode
 

70 views and not one person can help with a VIN?

I thought this is where all the Blazer experts are?

Re: Help with VIN decode
 

Hang in there, Ken...

;)

My "expertise" doesn't start until '73, but I'm sure one of the guys will chime in.

In the meantime, check out this thread and see if that helps:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=391297

K

Re: Help with VIN decode
 

Couple additional thoughts:

a) The "879984" is the sequential part of the VIN. Since it's a Chevy, I would guess that they started at 100001, so the sequence would be 879984 - 100001 = 779983, which would be pretty late in the model year. The fact that you made the purchase in July of '69 would seem to confirm this. Also, the VIN sequence number is specific to the plant; said differently, there is no correlation between VINs issued at different plants.

b) I'm not sure how many vehicles were made in St Louis. In my other life as a Pontiac hobbyist, I am aware of a book that has all the build dates, start and stop dates and production volumes. It is by John Gunnells and is called the "Standard Catalog of Pontiac, 1926 - 1995". You might check and see if such a book exists for '68 - '72 Chevy trucks. Edit: the author seems to indicate there is a book called the "Standard Catalog of American Light Duty Trucks, 1896 - 1986". Might be worth a shot.

FWIW -

K

Re: Help with VIN decode
 

Thank you Keith. I will definetly look for that book or one like it. Amazon may have it.

I too am a Pontiac hobbyist. I met you last summer at the D&D auto parts party. I had the Bamboo Cream '61 Catalina bubble top at the east end of the parking lot.:burnout:

Re: Help with VIN decode
 

Ah - that's right! I remember now; I was trying to think why your name sounded familiar.

Welcome!

K