Spid and Truck Anomaly on New Truck

[Already Gone]

I bought this truck yesterday and found something a little strange. I am a little confused and maybe someone has run into this issue before. This truck was purchased new by Grandpa and when he passed away 15 years ago he willed it to his Grandson who I bought it from. So the truck is very original. What my problem is that on the Spid it shows the E81 Wood Box Floor Code but the truck has a steel floor. Now i'm thinking and knowing how fast the factory pushed these trucks down the assembly line maybe it was ordered with the wood floor but when it was on the assembly line they ran out of wood floors so just put the steel floor in the truck to keep the assembly line going. Any input or ideas would be helpful to all of us on here.

[mitchell72]

That is quite a lot of options

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Already Gone

I bought this truck yesterday and found something a little strange. I am a little confused and maybe someone has run into this issue before. This truck was purchased new by Grandpa and when he passed away 15 years ago he willed it to his Grandson who I bought it from. So the truck is very original. What my problem is that on the Spid it shows the E81 Wood Box Floor Code but the truck has a steel floor. Now i'm thinking and knowing how fast the factory pushed these trucks down the assembly line maybe it was ordered with the wood floor but when it was on the assembly line they ran out of wood floors so just put the steel floor in the truck to keep the assembly line going. Any input or ideas would be helpful to all of us on here.

Not likely.

A) That's a consumer's rights issue and is federally regulated if there is a difference in price between the two options. In other words, if a customer pays for something they have to get it. For example, if the customer were to order a trailer hitch (and pay for it) and not receive one then we GM would be vunerable to legal action, including replacement and additional fines and penalties.

B) Part substitutions are not made spontaneously largely because of the downstream assembly implications (especially if there are multiple areas or electrical involved). Making even a minor change can disrupt the subsequent operations due to different attachments, clips, routings, connections, etc.

C) The whole "assembly line running out of parts so they just did a substitution" concept is a bit overplayed. I've only seen it happen a couple times in almost 40 years and in those few instances it there was enough lead time to make a decision or design a recovery plan. It was never spontaneous and it was never done by the plant alone. There was upper management and engineering involvement to wring out all the legal and regulatory implications.

We do occasionally air freight parts around the country just to keep the lines going. I have had experiences where we drove the parts (usually small items) to the local airport and the plane was sitting on the runway with the engine running, waiting for us to arrive.

Having said all that:

1) Make sure the VIN on the SPID matches the actual truck. They sometimes get out of sequence and stuck on the wrong vehicle

2) Maybe the SPID has always been wrong and the truck was built with a steel floor box. For example, the build sheet on my '65 GTO shows the tach cluster and I know the car was built without it.

3) Maybe the box had been swapped early in the vehicles life, as a repair from an accident or damage.

K

[davepl]

What's up with the VIN box on the SPID? Is that normal for some plants? Because it looks very wrong compared to mine.

[Already Gone]

Originally Posted by davepl

What's up with the VIN box on the SPID? Is that normal for some plants? Because it looks very wrong compared to mine.

I thought it was strange too until I came across another 1969 C10 with the same thing on the spid. These trucks came out of the same plant and both were factory ordered by the original buyer.

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Originally Posted by Already Gone

I thought it was strange too until I came across another 1969 C10 with the same thing on the spid.
These trucks came out of the same plant and both were factory ordered by the original buyer.

That really *is* interesting.

Nothing sinister going on, for sure. And, "....there are seven million stories in the Naked City", as the T.V. show lead-in used to say.
Lots of time has passed...anything is possible.

But, I think someone was sitting at a typewriter at that plant inputting special order info....That's pretty cool.

Since RAT was made out of two trucks, I made a SPID up using the correct important numbers. VIN, etc. have to be honest numbers.
So, any changes and are well documented and disclosed. And, this SPID's a kind-of a joke for the next buyer to point to and say,
"....this guy made this SPID to match the truck."

Of course, I'll be long dead by then. But all the documentation is there for all to see.

[Mindl3ss]

Originally Posted by magwakeenercew2jh

That really *is* interesting.

Nothing sinister going on, for sure. And, "....there are seven million stories in the Naked City", as the T.V. show lead-in used to say.
Lots of time has passed...anything is possible.

But, I think someone was sitting at a typewriter at that plant inputting special order info....That's pretty cool.

Since RAT was made out of two trucks, I made a SPID up using the correct important numbers. VIN, etc. have to be honest numbers.
So, any changes and are well documented and disclosed. And, this SPID's a kind-of a joke for the next buyer to point to and say,
"....this guy made this SPID to match the truck."

Of course, I'll be long dead by then. But all the documentation is there for all to see.

Wait... GPS and DVD wasn't an option back then?

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Originally Posted by Mindl3ss

Wait... GPS and DVD wasn't an option back then?

Right you are.

That's why I have them listed as a "BS Option".

Don't mean to hijack...Just a little humor for a slow evening.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by magwakeenercew2jh

But, I think someone was sitting at a typewriter at that plant inputting special order info....That's pretty cool.

Just to be clear - there was not a person at the plant sitting at a typewriter typing up each individual SPID label.

All of the info resided/resides in a central database and was then broadcast to the various areas of the plant (ie, SPID label printer/camper label printer on final line, build manifest printers in body shop, motor line, chassis line, axle line, seat cushion room, tire/wheel room, etc) as required.

With the amount of proliferation and complexity among option content there is no way all that information could be coordinated without it coming from a central source.

K

[Already Gone]

I am trying to get a hold of the felow I bought the truck from to see if he has any recollection of why the truck has a steel floor. Meeting him the other day I bet he was 4 or 5 years old when his Grandpa ordered the truck.

[no1udknow]

Originally Posted by magwakeenercew2jh

That really *is* interesting.

Nothing sinister going on, for sure. And, "....there are seven million stories in the Naked City", as the T.V. show lead-in used to say.
Lots of time has passed...anything is possible.

But, I think someone was sitting at a typewriter at that plant inputting special order info....That's pretty cool.

Since RAT was made out of two trucks, I made a SPID up using the correct important numbers. VIN, etc. have to be honest numbers.
So, any changes and are well documented and disclosed. And, this SPID's a kind-of a joke for the next buyer to point to and say,
"....this guy made this SPID to match the truck."

Of course, I'll be long dead by then. But all the documentation is there for all to see.

hahaha, i need one with option line KNB - knuckle blood

[zamboni2354]

Originally Posted by magwakeenercew2jh

Since RAT was made out of two trucks, I made a SPID up using the correct important numbers. VIN, etc. have to be honest numbers.
So, any changes and are well documented and disclosed. And, this SPID's a kind-of a joke for the next buyer to point to and say,
"....this guy made this SPID to match the truck."

Of course, I'll be long dead by then. But all the documentation is there for all to see.

was the mis-spelling of "suspension" part of the joke or is this one of those uncomfortable moments when you notice a mis-spelling on someone's tattoo?



jeff

[magwakeenercew2jh]

[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by zamboni2354

was the mis-spelling of "suspension" part of the joke or is this one of those uncomfortable moments when you notice a mis-spelling on someone's tattoo?

Neither, Jeff. Yet much closer to the latter.

However, I take little more discomfort in a misspelling of the word "mis-spelling"(ironic, huh?), or in any Forum Member's proclivity for the improper presentation of the "too/to", "dis, dat, and dose", "sit/sat", "then/than", or the elusive "I/me" problems,
than I do with a dangling "suspention".....Or:

[SS Tim]

I'd have to agree with Keith it was probably just built wrong or changed out early in its life. But simply running out of the correct part is unlikely.

The serial number font is correct for this plant and year.

[Hugh Mongus]

A little off topic, is there any way to get a new SPID for a truck if it did not have one at the time of purchase?

[hdff]

Originally Posted by Hugh Mongus

A little off topic, is there any way to get a new SPID for a truck if it did not have one at the time of purchase?

they have said here this guy makes spid's that look real close to originals. i haven't bought one yet so i am just passing on what others have said. gm does not offer replacements
http://www.outintheshop.com/

[zamboni2354]

I tend to be ironical..lol

[special-K]

I think the SPID is off. I've seen various example of this. I bet the build sheet is different. I've seen a SPID say Cheyenne Super with Z81 code,and the truck was a Cheyenne Super

[AMERICAN PICK-UP]

the truck could have been wrecked when it was a late model or new and the owner or body shop installed a replacement bed with the steel floor. if they put one on the right color you would never know it was changed... i am in the salvage business and i sell a ton of truck beds every year and alot of them are the right color for the customers vehicle...