Ebay Blazer...do due diligence before buying

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by cleszkie

i give big props to rayray767 for taking some undeserved heat, and then delivering the goods by posting all of the vin markings to put any doubts to rest.

x100

[rayray767]

Copy.... Zepp enough said

[IronCanine]

This is tangential and an old/resolved thread...but the rivet thing interests me. I don't doubt that the above tag could have been/was removed for paint. I did the same thing for mine...but I've seen one or two trucks that you could almost talk yourself into the fact that they were original with round rivets...then I saw the tag posted below in a salvage yard. 3 rosettes, 1 round. I envision a big box of rivets, maybe some mis-stamps in the box, boom, boom, boom, a round rivet from the factory.

Keith, what do you think? Do you think this single round rivet is factory? Could a tag have ever made it out of the factory with anything but rosettes? Just curious. Again props to rayray767 for showing up with the pics...that's how you do it.

[DeadheadNM]

Thanks for posting Brad - that raises interesting questions and is a useful contribution to the discussion. I'm going to keep an eye out for other examples.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

This is tangential and an old/resolved thread...but the rivet thing interests me. I don't doubt that the above tag could have been/was removed for paint. I did the same thing for mine...but I've seen one or two trucks that you could almost talk yourself into the fact that they were original with round rivets...then I saw the tag posted below in a salvage yard. 3 rosettes, 1 round. I envision a big box of rivets, maybe some mis-stamps in the box, boom, boom, boom, a round rivet from the factory.

Keith, what do you think? Do you think this single round rivet is factory? Could a tag have ever made it out of the factory with anything but rosettes? Just curious. Again props to rayray767 for showing up with the pics...that's how you do it.

Assuming that's factory (...which could be a big assumption...) your scenario is plausible.

Rivets (and other fasteners) come into the plant in a big cardboard box. Normally the suppliers that make one thing also make another, so the guy making rosette rivets probably makes normal rivets too. I could see one regular rivet accidently making it into a box full of rosettes, the proverbial needle in a haystack (it's not unheard of to find an odd nut or bolt in a box of authorized nuts/bolts). As the operator is scooping up rivets he gets the regular one and if finds its way onto the truck.

At one point in time rosette rivets were counted out, enough for the day's production, and any extras returned and locked up. Even in that case the person counting out the day's allotment could miss one regular rivet in a stream of rosettes.

K

[IronCanine]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Assuming that's factory (...which could be a big assumption...) your scenario is plausible.

Rivets (and other fasteners) come into the plant in a big cardboard box. Normally the suppliers that make one thing also make another, so the guy making rosette rivets probably makes normal rivets too. I could see one regular rivet accidently making it into a box full of rosettes, the proverbial needle in a haystack (it's not unheard of to find an odd nut or bolt in a box of authorized nuts/bolts). As the operator is scooping up rivets he gets the regular one and if finds its way onto the truck.

At one point in time rosette rivets were counted out, enough for the day's production, and any extras returned and locked up. Even in that case the person counting out the day's allotment could miss one regular rivet in a stream of rosettes.

K

Thanks for your insight Keith, it's awesome. I love to think about these things going together...they're so personal to us, but they are products of an unbelievable machine of systems and procedures and materials pipelines...and at some point it all came together in a quick minute by someone doing a job. Then sent out into the world to be beat on and/or loved on.

...I helped my mother in law with a new vehicle purchase this weekend. We got it home and I marveled at all the assembly line markings...virtually every torque-able chassis fixture had a paint line or pencil mark (white, yellow, pink, blue). I hope someone is keeping up with those marks so we can get it right in 50 yrs.