Hectic Day at the Factory?

[VictoriaHardware]

The frame number stamps were loaded by hand into a fixture that kept them aligned. Then that was taken to the frame and stamped. The Operator hammer struck the stamp set with one blow. It may even been a hydraulic tool that pressed the stamps into the steel, which may be the case with these, since it is large and the top of the frame rail could deflect (in fact I think that was the case since the original stamp is much deeper than the repair stamp). So the answer to the question were they done by hand is yes and no. The Operator was reloading the stamp set for each job, but usually only changing the last digit. With human error, distractions, the fast line rate, and jobs that were "kicked in" or kicked out" of the sequence it is easy to see how this could happen. And it did happen... more often than anyone wants to admit.

Fortunately in these two cases it was caught and corrected in the plant. If you'll notice, the font in the 2nd nine is different from the original nine. The Operator (or Area Repairman) likely had a second set of individual stamps to make such corrections. The "X" , the 2nd "X" and the 2nd "9" were each struck by hand with a hammer.

The second VIN stamp in the frame likely looks the same. It may also be that other trucks before or after this one have similar stampings. If an Operator gets off by one and doesn't notice, they can mis-stamp quite a few before anyone notices.

The engine block stamps were all done by hand using a fixturing tool. Those can have similar oddities. The Corvette guys have many documented cases of that since they are so keen on numbers. It causes a lot of heartburn when an original owner is showing their car and the "know-it-all" judges tell them it's not the original engine. I love Corvettes, but it's another reason I enjoy these trucks so.