Was Production Sequence Based on Destination?

[floorit426]

Hi,

I was reading through the pages of "The Random Hemi E Body" thread, and noticed two particular Hemicudas that were mentioned. They were VIN 146640 and 146642. What caught my eye, is that I own 146641. My understanding is that my car was delivered to a dealership, in the Sacramento area. Both of these "bookend cars" were said to have been delivered to Ca., with one going to the Sac area, too.

Is this a coincidence, or did the shipping location have an influence on the production date?

BTW, great thread!

[Cuda Cody]

@floorit426  I own 146642 and used to own part of 146649 (both Hemi Cuda's).  From what I've been told and what I've seen it looks like a large batch of Hemi Cuda's were all built on that day (scheduled to be built).  @6bblgt  has built a good calendar of when they were actually built compared to the scheduled date.  The build sheet shows exactly when the cars when down the line.  I would think that they built them in batches, but they most likely would have been shipped all over the country.  The VON number is the big KEY and would most likely place the final location of your car.  And yes, my 146642 was suppository sold new in CA too.  What is your VON number?  Does it start with 018XXX?

[Topcat]

Cool pics and info.

https://www.graveyardcarz.com/single-post/2016/11/22/Did-you-know-All-of-the-426-Hemi-engines-were-manufactured-in-one-place-then-shipped-to-other-plants-around-the-country-for-installation

[floorit426]

My VON is 018458. So, this will place it's exact order on the assembly line?

[6bblgt]

here's what I think I know .....

Hamtramck MI assembly built Barracuda, Challenger & Valiant/Duster during the month of October '69
it was the #2 of 12 largest month of production for Barracuda
it was the #1 of 12 largest month of production for Challenger
it was the #7 of 12 largest month of production for Valiant/Duster

I think a large number of the cars that were "SCHEDULED" A06 (10/6/69) - were dealership "SOLD CAR" orders that made it to Chrysler Corp. after the cars went on public sale 9/23/69 * maybe the orders for these sequential hemi'cudas are all from west coast ZONE 73 (which includes Sacramento) & were sent to Chrysler by the ZONE rep.?

there were ~600 Barracudas "SCHEDULED" for A06 & Hamtramck was building ~400 Barracudas per day

per my calendar there are A06 Barracudas "In Process/In Plant" 10/8 to 10/24 - I have 46 hemi'cudas "SCHEDULED" A06

0B146640 was "In Plant/In Process" on 10/15 (9 calendar days LATE)
0B146642 was "In Plant/In Process" on 10/16 (10 calendar days LATE) 856 cars later

[6bblgt]

HEMI cars were "time pigs" on the assembly line - for this reason they were not "batch built"

spreading them out with a bunch of base /6 a-bodies (or similar) gave the assembly line worker time to recover

[6bblgt]

the VON originated at Chrysler or the ordering dealer (& a few other scenarios as well)

I have the fender tag from BS23N0E102957 - its VON 018455 - I'll assume it was ordered from the same unknown dealership - I got it in the early '90s (from a guy that parted? the car) in Arcata, CA when my brother was going to Humboldt State University (300 miles from Sacramento)

[cuda hunter]

 

[Cuda Cody]

146640 is VON 018379
146641 is VON 018458
146642 is VON 018486

It could mean that these cars were sold near each other, but not scheduled to produce (assigned a VIN) until they had enough to ship a full load to that area.    Maybe not all the same dealer, but most likely in the same area since the regional rep distributed the order sheets and the order sheets were sequentially numbered.

If I was running a business that produced cars and shipped them all over, I would be dang sure to try to make an effort to have full shipments to each area.  So I can see why they might schedule to produce cars from the same area at or near the same time, right?  That way they have a full load of cars all being shipped to the same region and that would help keep costs down.  No reason to build cars and put them in storage until they have a full shipment, just easier to make all the cars for that area at the same time.  So wouldn't it make sense that dealers from the same area are putting in orders at different times but the factory assigns VINs (146640, 146641, 146642) all at the same time when they know they are ready to start building them?

My VON is 018458. So, this will place it's exact order on the assembly line?

[6bblgt]

to put things in perspective ..... lets try this  not perfect, but ballpark

1970 calendar year - there were 51,738 new Plymouths registered in CA (2nd only to NY)
averaging 4,294 per month
averaging 717 per Plymouth (6) US assembly plant per month (obviously - Los Angeles, CA would be more & Newark, DE less)

at ~15 cars per train car, that's ~48 car loads per month/per plant all the way to CA with many stops along the way (sorry for the FORD pic, but it's a great pic!  )

there were at least 2-ZONES San Francisco & Los Angeles (Portland was a 3rd west coast ZONE) - most cars from the east would arrive by rail
reference a 200 mile radius around LA & SF covers most of the state, on a newer AMTRAK passenger route map

I don't think they had to adjust planning/production too much to account for the final destination
also there were an additional 44,521 new Dodges & 12,199 new Chryslers registered in CA calendar year 1970

[6bblgt]

only Wyoming & Alaska registered fewer new Chrysler Corp. passenger cars than Nevada in '70, no wonder there are NO cars here

total Chrysler Corp. passenger cars new registrations in Nevada calendar year 1970 ~ 4,092 

[cudamadd]

Nice photos .The good old days

[cuda hunter]

only Wyoming & Alaska registered fewer new Chrysler Corp. passenger cars than Nevada in '70, no wonder there are NO cars here

total Chrysler Corp. passenger cars new registrations in Nevada calendar year 1970 ~ 4,092 

I would assume Colorado was right behind Nevada and Wyoming then. 

[340challconvert]

here's what I think I know .....

Hamtramck MI assembly built Barracuda, Challenger & Valiant/Duster during the month of October '69
it was the #2 month of production for Barracuda
it was the #1 month of production for Challenger
it was the #7 month of production for Valiant/Duster

I think a large number of the cars that were "SCHEDULED" A06 (10/6/69) - were dealership "SOLD CAR" orders that made it to Chrysler Corp. after the cars went on public sale 9/23/69 * maybe the orders for these sequential hemi'cudas are all from west coast ZONE 73 (which includes Sacramento) & were sent to Chrysler by the ZONE rep.?

there were ~600 Barracudas "SCHEDULED" for A06 & Hamtramck was building ~400 Barracudas per day

per my calendar there are A06 Barracudas "In Process/In Plant" 10/8 to 10/24 - I have 46 hemi'cudas "SCHEDULED" A06

0B146640 was "In Plant/In Process" on 10/15 (9 calendar days LATE)
0B146642 was "In Plant/In Process" on 10/16 (10 calendar days LATE) 856 cars later

6bbl
As usual your information is always interesting:
My A66 Challenger convertible has a sbd of A06
Didn't know that regular Challenger production started in October 1969 at Hamtramck
I'm thinking that my car was one of the "in Plant/In process cars during that month.
It was probably completed at or near the end of the A06 scheduled date.
I compared the some of the part's dates on my car
The rugs were dated Oct 11
The K frame dated is Oct 20th; 14 days after the sbd.; was the k frame dated at or near the installation date? This would have been the drive train install since the k frame is installed with it as a unit.
Finally, the differential had an assembly date stenciled in yellow of Oct 22, 1969
I am also lucky enough to have some original paperwork and communicated with the original owner; Delivery date on that paperwork was Nov 1969.
My conclusion: Looks like I was one of the scheduled builds in October and was completed over the next two weeks and delivered in November.
What was the typical build time for a Challenger once it was started?
 

[6bblgt]

only Wyoming & Alaska registered fewer new Chrysler Corp. passenger cars than Nevada in '70, no wonder there are NO cars here

total Chrysler Corp. passenger cars new registrations in Nevada calendar year 1970 ~ 4,092 

I would assume Colorado was right behind Nevada and Wyoming then.

the list includes DC & the federal gov't - but Oklahoma didn't provide statistics (51 entries)

CO comes in at 28th in new Plymouths (7,103) registered in calendar year 1970 (I'm sure this included 1969, '70 & '71 model year cars based on the date they actually SOLD "new" & were registered)

CO
7,103 Plymouths
2,290 Chryslers
8,336 Dodges
17,729 total

top 10 PLYMOUTH are: NY - CA - MI - PA - OH - TX - FL - IL - NJ - MA

bottom 10 PLYMOUTH are: AK - Feds - WY - NV - ID - ND - MT - SD - DE - UT