slantflat

Howdy all.


I have a Lansing-built 1970 Cutlass and I was hoping someone could give me a production date by comparing the last 6 of the VIN to a known date.


The last six are 107477. It's an early car for sure but it doesn't have its Fisher Body tag and I'd like to know at least the month/week, but a specific day would be even better.


Thanks much.

jaunty75

I don't think there is any way that this kind of information can be gotten from a VIN.

slantflat

A remote chance surely, but what I was hoping for was someone who had a car with a VIN that was close to this one who knew what the build date of their car was.


Example, Person X also has a Lansing built 70 Cutlass with VIN 107480. He sees Mike's post and says, my car has a build date of month/week whatever.


Mainly this is just for my own gee-whiz information, but at some point I might get a reproduction cowl tag and try to fill it in as best I can. But that's a discussion for another time.

66400

Check all of your window glass date codes and that should get you within a month or so of its build.


I have made a study of 66 Olds A bodies and with enough known examples of vin sequence and build dates you can guess real close to a build date with out a cowl tag info.

Henry

jaunty75

Ah. Good luck.

1970cs

Looking at the WAC registry 12-69 tag vin ending 226649 Lansing build. My car ends in 376831 6-70 2nd week. Not much help for your quest but at least we know that you are correct for yours being an early build for 1970.

GAOldsman

Mike to shine the light on things a little better, the very 1st car for the year had the unit number of 100001 so yours was scheduled to be #7477 A-body off of the line more or less. That said, I would dare to say it should've been built sometime in September of '69.

Also the body panels will have clues as Allan and I have found to be helpful as to dating the assembly. Is there not a blue sticker on the driver's side door? If so there is a date on it. Pretty much any cast iron part original to the engine will have a date on them as well. So on and so forth...

slantflat

Thanks Scot. Nope, no blue sticker on the door. Not the original engine. I know the fenders have been replaced but don't know about the rest of the car. I have a feeling the body tag was removed during restoration so changes wouldn't be apparent.

GAOldsman

Is it on the droptop or the hardtop?

slantflat

Convertible


You know what's funny, I tend to be a slave to originality. When I bought this car, I knew the FB tag was missing, so I thought here's my chance to do whatever I want and not feel bad. Well guess what, it's starting to bug me that I don't know any of the history. I'm super happy with the car as it is, it's just one of my character flaws I guess.

Paladin31

104874 built 8-18-1969. Cheers

GAOldsman

Mike I wouldn't fret over originality so much. Based on the fact that the body tag is MIA many will cry foul if you ever try to sell it, even though the VIN clearly proves it to be a Cutlass. It can only be original once. Period correct is a whole 'nother avenue to consider.

Back to the build date, as mentioned above the glass will have date codes and if the rear end is original, there will be a date on it too.

slantflat

Wow thanks Paladin, that's a real early car. Anyone know when production started for the 70 model year?


Scot I'm quite sure there is little original left on my car. I wouldn't be surprised if both the color and the interior has been changed. I need to check the rear end also so I know which one it is. Is the date close to the code?

BlackGold

As a real rough estimate, once production got flowing in the 1970 model year, Lansing was cranking out approximately 10,000 Olds (non-Toro) a week. However, I don't know how long it might have taken them to ramp up to that rate at the beginning of the model year.

Here's another datapoint from a 442 I saw posted at another website:
VIN 119534 was built 9/4/69. So that's 14,660 cars and 17 days after Paladin31's car. There were probably two Sundays in there (I haven't looked at a '69 calendar), so that would be about 977 cars a day. Which puts your VIN 107477 built on about 8-21-69.

GAOldsman

Good info Brian so 08C would be a safe bet unless there are date coded original parts on it that post date this code.

slantflat

Now we're getting somewhere!


Thanks Brian.

wmachine

Curious: Where do you get the specific day?

Paladin31

A letter I have from Oldsmobile Heritage Centers' Ed Stanchiak (sincerest apologies if I misspelled Ed's name) somewhere... Too many hiding places. And a broadcast card...hope I named the 3-1/2x8 paper correctly

Brett

chrisneu68olds

Was this a specific request for a specific car or a list of build dates?

zodiacblue442

Sounds like you have narrowed down the build date fairly well. I asked my brother the question and gave him the last 6 digits of your VIN. He's got an early build 70 Cutlass conv. out of the Lansing plant. His car was built approx. Halloween day 1969. No, it's not painted black. Or orange. Your car and his are about 74,000 units apart. The first car off the line was number 100001, so he is estimating your car being built 3rd or 4th week of Aug. 1969. Switch over to the next model year was usually the first or second week of August. Hope this helps!

slantflat

Many thanks to everyone for your answers and suggestions. When the weather warms up a little I'm gonna go out and check the car out but good! How cool would it be to discover a little provenance on a car that has no known history.

GAOldsman

Being Lansing built, I wouldn't get my hopes up on finding a build sheet. However there may be a Fisher Body broadcast card somewhere if the carpeting hasn't been changed. Good luck with your search and keep us posted.

Paladin31

Sorry I missed the post Chris, specific car.