[PMD1969]

Since both the Firebird and the Camaro were built on the same production line would it seem plausible to find parts on our cars from Camaro's?

I have three window cranks with Firebird part numbers and one with a 69 Camaro part number. They look ever so slightly different that you have to really look closely. It has the same patina as the others and I have been the only one to replace the interior.

[Keith Seymore]

Yep.

[2002Z4CSS]

I seen it when I worked at an Olds dealer. Still happens but not as much.

[indymanjoe]

My lemans has nova seatbelts..took me awhile to figuire that out LOL

[The Champ]

It wasn't just GM.

My brother bought a new 1979 Dodge St. Regis/Newport (depending on which side of the car you were standing on).

Passenger side said Newport. Driver's side and dash said St. Regis...

Mixing up a window crank is one thing. Putting the wrong model name on a car is a whole different story...

[Keith Seymore]

Wish I had a dollar for every truck I've seen that was a Chevy on one side and a GMC on the other....

K

[72pontiac]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Wish I had a dollar for every truck I've seen that was a Chevy on one side and a GMC on the other....

K

was going to buy a new 89 gmc truck it had sierra on one side and Silverado on the other.

[fiedlerh]

A friend of mine's uncle owned Kole Pontiac near Chicago. For his college car he got a great deal on a green Firebird with a red interior that was unsaleable, for obvious reasons.

[YNOBIL]

Originally Posted by fiedlerh

A friend of mine's uncle owned Kole Pontiac near Chicago. For his college car he got a great deal on a green Firebird with a red interior that was unsaleable, for obvious reasons.

My new '67 and '72 GTO's both came from Kole plus I worked there for 6 months.
More on Kole Pontiac:
http://www.oneownercollectorcar.com/...-mike-haggerty

[craigs69]

Originally Posted by 72pontiac

was going to buy a new 89 gmc truck it had sierra on one side and Silverado on the other.

I ordered a new 3/4 ton GMC Sierra in 1989. When I went to pick it up, it was backed up in front of the dealership by the showroom entrance. You should have seen the look on the salesman's face when he asked if I liked my truck and I told him "no, that's a half ton out there." As it turned out it had 1500 emblems on the drivers side door and 2500 on the passenger side.

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Wish I had a dollar for every truck I've seen that was a Chevy on one side and a GMC on the other....

K

I sold stuff to car dealerships back in the 80's/90's. Seeing GMC Chevrolets was pretty common.

[arbys]

In 79 ordered a new Olds. I was supposed to get in about 6 weeks but got called that the strike would delay my car. I think that it was about 2-3 weeks later I was told that I could pick up my new car. I got there and the car was under a covered portico, went in and signed the final papers and drove it off to Ziebard. Walking to the office I looked back at the ca in the sunlight I noticed a "wave" on the side of the car. The car was a metallic bronze and there was a light colored wave all along the side car---both sides. On closer inspection I noticed all kinds of over spray on the passenger side door jambs. I figured out that the car was sitting on the line,almost finished and the strike began. Must be as the workers walked off the line they took their lunch boxes or whatever and scratched it all along both sides of the car. After the strike they must have noticed it and sidetracked the car for a hurried repair. After a big "go around" I finally ordered a different car in Yellow.

[PMD1969]

Originally Posted by The Champ

It wasn't just GM.

My brother bought a new 1979 Dodge St. Regis/Newport (depending on which side of the car you were standing on).

Passenger side said Newport. Driver's side and dash said St. Regis...

Mixing up a window crank is one thing. Putting the wrong model name on a car is a whole different story...

lol

[MikeNoun]

Yes, that does indeed happen. I'll bet Keith can relay some stories about this! I think the new book "Echoes Of Norwood" talks about this as well.

I know a guy that was the original owner of a 74 SD455 Formula (and kept it for 30 years), and when he picked the car up in 1974, it had a Formula 350 badge on the passenger side, Formula 455 on the drivers side. He left it that way.

As these cars were coming down the assembly line, if they ran out of certain bolts, washers, or other hardware, the line manager used something else, as long as it was from a similar line of cars.

Nothing was going to stop the assembly line, short of a strike.

I do laugh sometimes when I hear a couple guys arguing about the design of a cage nut, or the gloss level of a suspension part. These were mass produced cars, and GM was in a business to make money and meet deadlines.

[Rack776]

I know for a fact the Norwood assembly line worker mixed up my car with a trash can in the factory....I found an original GM issued paper coffee cup under my original carpet
along with some 72-1975 change stuck to the seam sealer, no build sheet in the entire car but I got an original Norwood coffee cup.

It is white and has a GM logo on one side and a 70s smiley face on the other that says "on time worker" on the other.

Anyone else find GM "trash" in their cars?

Dealers swapped parts like crazy, I'm the third owner of mine and was told it was built with Rally II rims and no hood bird, but the first buyer had the dealer swap to Honeycomb rims and add a hood decal, anything can happen to a car over its life.

The car spent 37 years with those wheels and hood decal...should I remove them when its's restored just to match the the PHS paper that shows how it arrived at the dealer on the transport truck? I know I'm leaving the way it was "bought" not "built"

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

I do laugh sometimes when I hear a couple guys arguing about the design of a cage nut, or the gloss level of a suspension part. These were mass produced cars, and GM was in a business to make money and meet deadlines.

Me too! Makes me crazy, especially when they argue about the finish on a bolt.

The attachment of the front fender "nose bolts" to the rad support was especially difficult, because it is blind and awkward access. As a result we would cross thread the bolts often or (worse) break the weld nuts loose. Major repair.

We found out that there were two suppliers for a bolt that same size: One from Lang Fasteners and one from Ferndale Fasteners. The Langs would crossthread like crazy but the Ferndales wouldn't (for some unknown reason). The Langs (part number 3846202, btw!) were black but the Ferndales were silver.

What we ended up doing was stealing a box of the silver bolts from Line 2 and run them all night with no issues, and then lock them up in our locker, (set out a box of black bolts on the job) and then go home.

We did that for several years. First shift could never figure out why we didn't crossthread and why they had a mess on their hands every day.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

I do laugh sometimes when I hear a couple guys arguing about the design of a cage nut, or the gloss level of a suspension part. These were mass produced cars, and GM was in a business to make money and meet deadlines.

Gloss on the suspension - LOL!

Half hearted spraying of the chassis black in the general direction of the frame; those parts ended up half painted and half bare metal....

Nobody would restore a car to look like that.

K

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Gloss on the suspension - LOL!

Half hearted spraying of the chassis black in the general direction of the frame; those parts ended up half painted and half bare metal....

Nobody would restore a car to look like that.

K

Agreed.

Rhetorical question usually comes to mind: And where is the "flash rust" on all of these "better than built new" restorations?

[salem1912]

Originally Posted by The Champ

It wasn't just GM.

My brother bought a new 1979 Dodge St. Regis/Newport (depending on which side of the car you were standing on).

Passenger side said Newport. Driver's side and dash said St. Regis...

Mixing up a window crank is one thing. Putting the wrong model name on a car is a whole different story...

Four door on one side two door on the other?
Sorry that was just cars Johnny Cash built.

[Simple Man]

Originally Posted by salem1912

Four door on one side two door on the other?
Sorry that was just cars Johnny Cash built.

Years ago, I saw in I believe Popular Mechanics, where someone had a 69 Bonneville 4 door hardtop, that had been hit hard on the drivers side. The guy rebuilt the car to be a 2 door on one side, a 4 door on the other.