[Racer81x]

My dad ordered a new 71 T-37 black with gold painted top 455 HO, and said when it came in on the transporter it had 350 rocker emblems on it
He quickliy looked underneath and seen the big manifolds, and looked at the window sticker, and it did have the 455 ho in it! So he just ordered at pair of 455 emblems for it.

[sprintbird]

A co-worker of mine ordered his first brand new car, a blue 79 Z-28 with black interior. The day it arrived at the dealer, he witnessed it being unloaded from the transport truck. The first thing he noticed was the Trans Am fender on the front, complete with air extractor and Trans Am decal. He wanted to keep the car "as delivered", but the dealer would not release it to him until the fender was replaced.

[John V.]

Originally Posted by i82much

Guilty as charged. I am personally responsible for slapping more than GMC Safari emblem on a Chevy Astro at the Baltimore plant, probably summer of 94 or thereabouts. 52 vans an hour, some get the emblem some don't, you get behind, stuff happens. Yes, there were quality control checks down the line, but I don't know how much stuff they caught.

Also test drove a GMC Jimmy with a Chevy emblem on the steering wheel, or vice versa, can't remember.

Were you there in early '97? If so, now I know who I can blame for all the problems I had during 13 yrs and 190,000 miles with my '97 Safari. At least all the emblems were correct!

Originally Posted by 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.

Nobody has wondered, but just to clarify, your '69 'bird was built at Van Nuys where they did also build Camaros. But not everybody is aware that the Camaros and Firebirds were not necessarily built at same Plants.

Lordstown did not build Camaros but did build full size Chevys, maybe used same window cranks as Camaros, so perhaps could have happened there. But maybe less likely.

Norwood only built Camaros until adding the Firebird in April '69. So you wouldn't expect such a parts screw up on an early '69 Camaro since 'bird parts not in the building.

One reason why some late model parts were specifically identified for usage, like the visors in my GTP which I think have a sticker saying Pontiac Only or some such.

Also, perhaps why the upper rear control arms from my GTO are stamped "PONT". I assume because they are unique vs. perhaps Buick, Olds, or Chevy A body upper rear control arms. Marking otherwise similar looking parts would help to avoid mis-builds.

As far as the window cranks, I'm thinking about the fastener drawers at the hardware store. You have to watch because sometimes a stray wrong size screw gets tossed in the drawer. You pick 6 of 'em out, stick 'em in a bag, go home, and discover you only have 5 of the ones you need. Do that once and you'll pay closer attention the next time. Perhaps a window crank falls on the floor, gets picked up and tossed in the wrong parts bin because it looked just like the other ones in there. Call it careless inventory control. Parts picker grabs two out of the bin for the next build and never notices they are a slight mismatch. Installer installs what he is given. And nobody notices for 30 years or however long it took you to notice.

Yup, I have no doubt that wrong parts were used in many builds because of lots of reasons.

Did your dad notice a more pungent new car smell when he took delivery? Many hobbyists believe really weird stuff was more common at the Calif Plants in the late '60s than elsewhere. Not sure that was really true, but good for some grins and giggles.

[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.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by salem1912

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

No, there were only 2 doors on each side...

[Cammer-6]

My father in law bought an 86 Bonnie new
On the passenger side of dash was "Grand Prix"

Many years later while doing the first brake job on the rear,
I found out that the shoe on one side had been installed wrong and it had never worked from day one.

[i82much]

Originally Posted by John V.

Were you there in early '97? If so, now I know who I can blame for all the problems I had during 13 yrs and 190,000 miles with my '97 Safari. At least all the emblems were correct!

Nah, I only worked two summers there, either 93 and 94 or 94 and 95? Kind of cool that my first car (which I still have) was a 65 GTO built at the Baltimore plant. So in the 90's I was driving my GTO to work at the factory where it was built.

I do think a lot of people (not on this board, mind you, but the general public) really haven't got their head wrapped around how EXACTLY alike certain models are (e.g., silverado vs. sierra). What really weirds me out is when I see an article that gives one model high/low reliability/value ratings and doesn't mention the identical other models in the lineup.

Of course back in the day there was a lot more differentiation, different drivetrains entirely in some cases.

[PMD1969]

Originally Posted by John V.

Were you there in early '97? If so, now I know who I can blame for all the problems I had during 13 yrs and 190,000 miles with my '97 Safari. At least all the emblems were correct!



Nobody has wondered, but just to clarify, your '69 'bird was built at Van Nuys where they did also build Camaros. But not everybody is aware that the Camaros and Firebirds were not necessarily built at same Plants.

Lordstown did not build Camaros but did build full size Chevys, maybe used same window cranks as Camaros, so perhaps could have happened there. But maybe less likely.

Norwood only built Camaros until adding the Firebird in April '69. So you wouldn't expect such a parts screw up on an early '69 Camaro since 'bird parts not in the building.

One reason why some late model parts were specifically identified for usage, like the visors in my GTP which I think have a sticker saying Pontiac Only or some such.

Also, perhaps why the upper rear control arms from my GTO are stamped "PONT". I assume because they are unique vs. perhaps Buick, Olds, or Chevy A body upper rear control arms. Marking otherwise similar looking parts would help to avoid mis-builds.

As far as the window cranks, I'm thinking about the fastener drawers at the hardware store. You have to watch because sometimes a stray wrong size screw gets tossed in the drawer. You pick 6 of 'em out, stick 'em in a bag, go home, and discover you only have 5 of the ones you need. Do that once and you'll pay closer attention the next time. Perhaps a window crank falls on the floor, gets picked up and tossed in the wrong parts bin because it looked just like the other ones in there. Call it careless inventory control. Parts picker grabs two out of the bin for the next build and never notices they are a slight mismatch. Installer installs what he is given. And nobody notices for 30 years or however long it took you to notice.

Yup, I have no doubt that wrong parts were used in many builds because of lots of reasons.

Did your dad notice a more pungent new car smell when he took delivery? Many hobbyists believe really weird stuff was more common at the Calif Plants in the late '60s than elsewhere. Not sure that was really true, but good for some grins and giggles.

Yes it was built in Van Nuys. The reason why I asked was that I personally do not know how and if the two models were in fact built on the same line or building? I knew the handles were different from when I took the interior apart in 1991-3 but I didn't look up the part number until last night.

Although my father is in perfect health and is a reasonably intelligent man he cannot remember what his breakfast smelled like yesterday let alone what his new Pontiac smelled like in Decatur IL on April 4th 1969. Most likely he'll say "soybeans".

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by sprintbird

A co-worker of mine ordered his first brand new car, a blue 79 Z-28 with black interior. The day it arrived at the dealer, he witnessed it being unloaded from the transport truck. The first thing he noticed was the Trans Am fender on the front, complete with air extractor and Trans Am decal. He wanted to keep the car "as delivered", but the dealer would not release it to him until the fender was replaced.

Uh, no.

78-81 Camaro fender:



1977-81 Firebird fender:

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

Uh, no.

78-81 Camaro fender:



1977-81 Firebird fender:

Oh, come on now...

A little bondo and we can make it work...

[bsblguy]

My '77 chevy truck i bought new had a gmc grill when it came off the transporter. They changed it before delivery.

[fiedlerh]

I was on a sales call at a Ford dealer and the service manager was on the phone with Ford about an LTD that had just gotten delivered. Everything under the hood was set up for AC, but it had a non-AC dash and no AC controls.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by bsblguy

My '77 chevy truck i bought new had a gmc grill when it came off the transporter. They changed it before delivery.

Hopefully not built in Flint -

Originally Posted by zeebo

hee hee..my 79 chevy suburban came with a gmc horn pad..the guy i bought it from said it had been that way for 25 yrs...lol

...sorry bout that, Zeeb....

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by i82much

Nah, I only worked two summers there, either 93 and 94 or 94 and 95? Kind of cool that my first car (which I still have) was a 65 GTO built at the Baltimore plant. So in the 90's I was driving my GTO to work at the factory where it was built.

I can relate to that. From time to time I take one of my vehicles back to it's old birthplace....all three of my Pontiacs were built in Pontiac Michigan and my pickup was built in Flint.

Originally Posted by i82much

I do think a lot of people (not on this board, mind you, but the general public) really haven't got their head wrapped around how EXACTLY alike certain models are (e.g., silverado vs. sierra). What really weirds me out is when I see an article that gives one model high/low reliability/value ratings and doesn't mention the identical other models in the lineup.

Agree. Or what it takes to design/build them.

Like when Consumer's Reports will praise the Toyota nameplate but blast the GM version of the same platform.

K

[YNOBIL]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I can relate to that. From time to time I take one of my vehicles back to it's old birthplace....all three of my Pontiacs were built in Pontiac Michigan and my pickup was built in Flint

K

Back in 1967 I was a senior in high school when school let out I jumped into my '62 Ford 500-XL and drove it back to the Chicago Ford Plant where it was built and worked the line building '67 Fords. There's a happy ending: I used the money to buy a new '67 GTO.

[Formulabruce]

To give a "Visual" on this... A F body "Rolled out" the end of the assy. line ( finished or not) every 45 SECONDS! That means a Firebird on average, was "about" 2 min apart comming out the door based on rough production figures vs camaro.

[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

[2002Z4CSS]

So what is the difference in the window cranks?