Big Block Short Bed 71

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by no1udknow

As far as the rivets go, unless a person got the truck from the factory, no one could vouch for wether or not their vin plate had been off. Most folks would not notice that they are not rosette rivets. But if your truck has plain rivets and you took it to a car guy, or even a legitimate auction, they would definitely call you out it. I can not say for other makes, but chevrolet started using rosette rivets in 1965.

Pontiac started rosette rivets sometime during the 1965 model year as well. We have not been able to determine a breakpoint yet, as my September of 1964 built '65 GTO has round rivets.

Originally Posted by no1udknow

I always see paople say things like "they probably just ran out" or "thay probably just made a mistake when printing up the SPID". I highly doubt oubt that an auto maker would risk heavy fines along with and investigation that would likely result in more fines. If Q/A saw the wrong rivets, they would have been drilled out and replaced.

I agree; the whole "they probably just ran out" theory is a bit overplayed. There is no room for spontaneity on the assembly line because of the complex set of production and regulatory issues.

The wrong rivets would never have made it to that assembly station. Rosette rivets were portioned out based on the day's production and the unused rivets were returned and accounted for at the end of the day.

K