Looking for 1970 St. Louis VINs for Chevy Trucks built Jan/Feb/Mar '70

[IronCanine]

Hi Guys,

I've got a 1970 Blazer with a VIN KE180S1451XX. The blue build date sticker is missing and I have no other documentation to determine the build month. By using the date stamps of items original to the truck (instrument cluster 12-19-69, dash pad 12-22-69) I can guess that it was probably built in January or February of 1970 (maybe March). If any of you have a 1970 St. Louis built Chevy (VIN fifth digit=0, sixth digit=S) and you have a build date sticker in the door jam of 1/70, 2/70, or 3/70...could you post your ending VIN sequence 1000XX, so that by process of elimination we could nail down my build month.

...hope this makes sense. Thanks to you all.

[SS Tim]

Well done! Good Luck!

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by SS Tim

Well done! Good Luck!

Thanks Tim...for the comment and your help.

[cericd]

Hey IronCanine, I have a 1970 St. Louis built pickup. It still has the door jam sticker but I'm not sure of the month. I'll check when I get home from work and report back.

[cericd]

I checked my door jam sticker and I have a build date of 11/69 so it looks like I'm no help. Good luck with the search.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by cericd

I checked my door jam sticker and I have a build date of 11/69 so it looks like I'm no help. Good luck with the search.

I'd be curious about your serial number just as a reference. What are the first for digits of the ending six? i.e. 1000XX

[cericd]

Originally Posted by ironcanine

i'd be curious about your serial number just as a reference. What are the first for digits of the ending six? I.e. 1000xx

1223

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by SS Tim

Well done! Good Luck!

x2

Originally Posted by cericd

I checked my door jam sticker and I have a build date of 11/69 so it looks like I'm no help. Good luck with the search.

Originally Posted by cericd

1223

Looks like we are on the right track....

K

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Looks like we are on the right track....

K

Agreed...Thanks for the digits Chris.

[bruceman1968]

IronCanine, here is a 1970 St. Louis door sticker. It's not my truck. But it does help.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by bruceman1968

IronCanine, here is a 1970 St. Louis door sticker. It's not my truck. But it does help.

Attachment 1326733

That does. Thanks!

[IronCanine]

Ok guys. Here's what I have so far:

September 102XXX
October
November 122XXX
December 1389XX
January
February
March 157XXX

[Keith Seymore]

I would encourage you to keeping going but it seems at this point we could do some (really) rough interpolation.

I counted 45 working days between the period of September 15 and November 15, 1969 (not counting any overtime; I arbitrarily chose the middle of the month).

122,000 - 102,000 = 20,000, divided by the 45 days = 444 units per day.

As a sense check, 55.5 jobs per hour for an 8 hour day. That's a pretty good value as most of the truck plants ran, and still do run, around 60 jobs per hour. I do not know if St Louis was running one or two shifts of production at that time.

Now, even though that rate doesn't seem to hold true for the period from December 15 to March 15, I would propose we can build up from the December value of 138,900 at a rate of 444 units per day.

145,100 - 138,900 = 13 days, which would likely put the build in the mid January 1970 timeframe, assuming (again) no overtime and that the plant did not run during the time between Christmas and the New Year holiday.

Looking at it another way, 145,100 is about 1/3 of the way between 138,900 and 157,000. I count roughly 66 working days between those two values, so we could figure your truck was built approximately 22 days after 138,900. Assuming 138,900 was built on December 15 (arbitrarily) then I count 22 working days up to January 26, 1970, again assuming no overtime and that the plant did not run between Christmas and New Year.


K

[SS Tim]

Hopefully we can populate this with more data points but this is looking better all the time. So far Keith's projections are putting this in the last week of January. This is about thirty days behind the dash and cluster dates noted.

[hounddogs!]

This would be a fascinating reference once the data for six years times four (?) assembly plants are filled in. I nominate 1968 St. Louis to be the next candidate.

Keith:
Do all plants start at 100001 for Chevy? 152xxx would be one I'm interested in. 52,000 units / (444 units per day * 5 days/wk) = 23 weeks after the start of production. 9/15/67 + 23 weeks = the last week of Feb '68, correct?

Good work guys.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by hounddogs!

Keith:
Do all plants start at 100001 for Chevy?

No, not necessarily.

Bruceman is compiling a list of starting numbers by model year, plant and nameplate (Chevy vs GMC).

K

[bruceman1968]

Hounddogs, Your asking about the 68s right? 1968 Chevys started with 100001

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I would encourage you to keeping going but it seems at this point we could do some (really) rough interpolation.

K

Wow. Thanks for breaking that down Keith. It makes a lot of sense, but I would definitely like more data points. Of course any one these could have been built on the 31st or the 1st (or any day in between for that matter).

That year Christmas was on a Thursday (as was New Year's of course). Was it common to take the entire time from Christmas through New Year? My dash pad inspection date was Monday 12/22 coming from New Hampshire. A December assembly seems terribly unlikely to me.

I just would like to see some closer serial numbers, because I would not be surprised if it did slip into February.

Thanks for all your efforts.

Let's keep these numbers coming guys.

Brad

[68shortwide]

I'm going to be using a pretty complete 69/70 as a parts truck. I don't have it here as of yet but when it gets here ill for sure look and report back. I live in STL so I'm pretty sure itd be built here.

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by 68shortwide

I'm going to be using a pretty complete 69/70 as a parts truck. I don't have it here as of yet but when it gets here ill for sure look and report back. I live in STL so I'm pretty sure itd be built here.

Thanks Jack...that'd be great.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Wow. Thanks for breaking that down Keith. It makes a lot of sense, but I would definitely like more data points. Of course any one these could have been built on the 31st or the 1st (or any day in between for that matter).

You are welcome. I agree about the trucks being built any time during that month; I chose the middle just to make the counting easier . I don't think it affects the number of available working days but it could cause your build to slip from barely in one month into barely into the next.

Originally Posted by IronCanine

That year Christmas was on a Thursday (as was New Year's of course). Was it common to take the entire time from Christmas through New Year?

Yes - GM is normally off starting with the 24th, returning January 2nd (unless it's a Friday, then return the following Monday).

This is almost a certainty for the office workers - BUT - during boomtimes (like the late 60's) the assembly plants, manufacturing plants and skilled trades would often work overtime through the Holidays.

So - no way really to know at this point, unless you can find someone who worked at that plant at that time who has a really good memory.

K

[hounddogs!]

Originally Posted by bruceman1968

Hounddogs, Your asking about the 68s right? 1968 Chevys started with 100001

Yep. Thanks for confirming.

[Lemield]

Hi Brad,

Checked my 70 C20.......Sticker says built 03/70. Number is 157279.

Just for fun, checked my 71 K20 (built in St. Louis too). Sticker says 12/70.
Number is 617570.

Hope this helps.

[Lemield]

Originally Posted by bruceman1968

IronCanine, here is a 1970 St. Louis door sticker. It's not my truck. But it does help.

Attachment 1326733

WOW...that is really close to my 70 C20....just 18 numbers lower!

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Lemield

WOW...that is really close to my 70 C20....just 18 numbers lower!

Very likely built the same day.

K