| First date of manufacturing? [message #198228] |
Tue, 12 February 2013 12:47  |
LarryInSanDiego
Messages: 336
Registered: September 2006
Karma: 0
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My VIN ends in 319, which, as I understand it, means mine is the 299th sold to the public if the first 20 were used for promos, etc.
The 40th birthday of mine is coming up shortly (build date according to glove box sticker is in my sig below), so would that be the start or finish date? Is there a list of VIN vs mfrg date?
I'm mostly curious when the very first one was mfr'd and the first one was sold to the public (I would assume VIN ending in 021 in '73).
Thanks.
Larry Engelbrecht
San Diego, CA
'73 26' ex-Glacier
TZE063V100319 03/07/73
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| Re: First date of manufacturing? [message #198270 is a reply to message #198228] |
Tue, 12 February 2013 19:46  |
bryant374
Messages: 563
Registered: May 2004
Location: Pleasant Valley, NY 12569
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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First date of manufacturing?
Tue, 12 February 2013 13:47
LarryInSanDiego
My VIN ends in 319, which, as I understand it, means mine is the 299th sold to the public if the first 20 were used for promos, etc.
The 40th birthday of mine is coming up shortly (build date according to glove box sticker is in my sig below), so would that be the start or finish date? Is there a list of VIN vs mfrg date?
I'm mostly curious when the very first one was mfr'd and the first one was sold to the public (I would assume VIN ending in 021 in '73).
Thanks.
>
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First Date of Manufacture???? When sold to the public????
Interesting questions, not easily answered. Lets give it a try.
First, if you have the "SERVICE PARTS IDENTIFICATION" STICKER in the glove box, check the very top line. There are usually 3 groups of numbers, the one on the left will be a 6 digit that is the date the build order for that coach was released to the manufacturing line. Since I have nothing better, we chose to call that date the build date for the coach. These releases to manufacturing were done in batches, often on a Monday.
The build date for TZE063V100021,the first one sold to the public is 111472 (Nov. 14, 1972) When was it sold to the first customer, that will likely remain unknown unless the dealer and his sales records could be found (except for finding the original sales invoice in the coach..... forget about it)
The coaches in 1973 & 1974 came out of the GMC Pontiac, MI factory as empty coaches (NOT called Transmodes until 1975) and were driven the 25 miles to Mt. Clemens, MI where Gemini would finish the interior. They were parked in a lot there where Gemini employees would drive them to the upfitting line.
The order of Gemini build is not known but from the information we have, appears random as compared to the TZE sequence number. A build sheet called "Gemini Vehicle Traveler" was used to identify the equipment that was to be installed in that coach. Unfortunately there was no date on this build sheet, they were sometimes left behind and owners have found them usually behind the refrigerator or near the water tank. We do know that it took Gemini longer to upfit a coach interior than it took GMC to build the vehicle.
More confusion.........
When you say your coach is the 299th one built caution should be used. The number of coaches built in 1973 is recorded as 2059. 1973 model Coaches in the Registry have TZEs over 3000. I have tried to determine the reason for this discrepency to no avail, the GMC records have not been found and my questoning of GMC employees has not turned up an answer. While 1973 has the greatest mismatch, all years have the same problem.
In December 1973 there was a halt in GMC production due to the gas crisis. March 1974 GMC production was halted again for a short time "to balance inventories". Gemini kept working at one shift since the had a number of coaches in the lot to finish.
Thats enough confusion for now........
Bill Bryant
PO 1976~PB (owned 34 years)
1914 Ford (owned 70 years)
1965 Corvette (owned 39 years)
GMC Motorhome History
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| Re: First date of manufacturing? [message #198424 is a reply to message #198276] |
Thu, 14 February 2013 06:54 |
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SeanKidd
Messages: 747
Registered: June 2012
Location: Northern Neck Virginia
Karma: 4
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| Frank Condos wrote on Tue, 12 February 2013 21:44 |
My '73 Glacier, affectionately know by my wife as the POS ( previous owners sacrifice?) has a Vin of 100185 and a build date of 3-1-73.
Just adding another data point
Frank Condos
Ahwahnee, CA
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Bill, This confirms your calculation of about 20 units per day...Frank has #185 Built 3/1/73 and Larry and I have 317,319 built 3/7/73, without going into a Sheldon Cooper tirade.
Sean and Stephanie
73 Ex-CanyonLands 26' #317 "Oliver"
Hubler 1-Ton, Quad-Bags, Rear Disc, Reaction Arms, P.Huber TBs, 3.70:1 LSD Honda 6500 inverter gen.
Colonial Travelers
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| Re: [GMCnet] First date of manufacturing? [message #198428 is a reply to message #198424] |
Thu, 14 February 2013 07:36 |
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USAussie
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
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Sean,
You have to realize that a large segment of the "crowd" here are old farts like me. When I read "Sheldon Cooper" I had to Google him
to find out who he was!
For the rest of you old buggers out there I learned he's one of the characters on a TV program "Big Bang."
Yes it is on tele Downunder but I've never watched it.
Regards,
Rob M.
Sydney, Australia
AUS '75 Avion-The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
USA '75 Avion-Double Trouble TZE365V100426
-----Original Message-----
From: Sean Kidd
Bill, This confirms your calculation of about 20 units per day...Frank has #185 Built 3/1/73 and Larry and I have 317,319 built
3/7/73, without going into a Sheldon Cooper tirade.
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Regards,
Rob M. (USAussie)
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
'75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
'75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
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