I own a "numbers matching" 69 Coupe. I have a document titled "Corvette Order Copy". Is this what is commonly referred to as the "Build Sheet" or is that something else?

One of the options listed on this document is 02G95AA...it has someting to do with the axel ratio but the document is badly worn in this area and I can't read it. I can't find this option number in any litterature I've found. Anyone know what it is?

The upper left hand corner of the document is torn off. The title of the data entry box upper left is not legible. There's a number in that box (196463) but, since I can't read the title of the box, I don't know what that is...anyone know?

The dates entered in the fields called "Date Received" and "Exp. Date of Prod." don't seem to make any logical sense. Should they?

Finally, since I didn't take this document out of the car myself, but rather received it along with a bunch of receipts, etc. at purchase, is there any way to make sure that it, in fact, is original to this car?

Thanks from Maine

 

Yes. "Order Copy" is actually the correct term.

02G95AA is a broadcast code. It could stand for the ratio of the differential.

I have Rick Bizzocco's 1969 Corvette Guidebook. There are several examples of 69 order copies published, although the quality is not always good. I'll take a look tonight and see if I can decipher the box in question.

Possibly not. If memory serves, "Received" is the date the order for the Corvette was received, possibly in Detroit. "Expected Date of Production" would have been determined by the St. Louis folks after the order was received there and the car was scheduled to be assembled. This date would have been sent to the ordering dealer to give them a ballpark figure as to when the new Corvette would arrive.

Yes and no. The VIN of your Corvette will not appear on the order copy since all the preliminary information for your car was determined before the VIN was assigned. MOST Corvettes had an in-house job number assigned to them by the assembly line folks at St. Louis. These numbers usually ran from 1 to 500 and started over after 500 was reached. This number has nothing to do with the VIN and served only as a method for workers to track the various cars on the line. Job numbers were often hand written on the order copy. You may also find the same number somewhere on the car in grease pencil. Matching the two would tend to confirm your copy of the order is, indeed, for your car.

I don't advocate tearing in to your '69, but you might find a grease pencil number under the carpet in the passenger's footwell, on the cowl, passenger's side, or under the carpet on the rear kick up panel.

 

Thank you very much for your reply. Big, big help. In fact, my car is presently nearing the end of a body-on a restoration. I have many pictures of the car in it's "naked" state. I recall seeing some of grease pencil lettering on passenger side cowl. I'll look it up.

As for the dates...they still don't make sense to me. The "Date Received" is 8/10/29 and the "Exp. Date of Prod" is 8/00/00???

The order number was AVMQ50 submitted by dealer 898 in Zone 13.

Any insight you might have on these would be very helpful.

Many thanks.

 

Mike gave you some great information... There were actually two sets of job numbers used before the VIN was assigned. The first was a GM internal job number that you typically find written on the build order and corresponded to the last three digits of the VIN for VINs less than 500 (a VIN ending in 165 would be 165) and to the last three digits of the VIN minus 500 for VINs with the last three digits greater than 500 (a VIN ending in 839 would be 339 [839-500]).

The second number was an internal plant number used by St. Louis and was also a run of numbers 1 through 500 (although in the case of three digit numbers, the first digit may be dropped - 472 may become 72). These are the numbers that you see written in grease crayon on various body panels and do NOT correspond in any way to the VIN.

Looks OK... Order received October 29, 1968 which was during the early part of the 1969 model run... Expected completion was sometime in 1968.

I'm not sure exactly how order numbers were generated, but they were unique.

During 1969, zone 13 was the Pittsburgh, PA zone that covered western Pennsylvania and dealer 898 (in zone 13) was Yenko Chevrolet which was located in Canonsburg, PA.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

 

That is way cool!!

My VIN # is 1943795S715724

There are two numbers hand-written on my Order Copy: 272 (which is written on the passenger side cowel in grease pencil) and 224 (which is 724-500). The 272 appears at top near the title "Corvette Order Copy" and the 224 appears beside the options.

As for the dates...I was reading them backwards. Thanks for straightening that out.

Thanks so much

 

Given the importance of this document and its fragile nature, how should I best preserve it? A friend suggested laminating it....but I don't know that that's the best way to preserve an historical document. If it were, the Library of Congress would be laminated. Any suggestions?

 

Scanned through The 1969 Corvette Guidebook last evening and did a little research.

The upper left box on your order copy is "Ident. No.". The identification number is not related to your VIN and was assigned by Chevrolet central office staff in Detroit after the dealer order for your Corvette was received in Detroit. This number was used to track your Corvette through partial assembly until the VIN tag was attached.

There are several examples of Corvette Order copies in Mr. Bizzoco's book; most of them have the upper left corner torn away as does yours. These were compound forms consisting of an original and several copies. They almost certainly has carbon paper between the copies. After a little amatuer detective work, we can speculate most folks held the forms by the left corner and pulled apart the various copies and carbons. It appears lots of left upper corners were lost this way.

"Date Received" was entered in Detroit and indicates the date the Corvette Order was prepared by Chevrolet central office. In your case, October 29, 1968. Right before Halloween. Is your car orange?

Expected Date of Production was entered by folks in Detroit if a date could be reasonably anticipated. Otherwise the 8/00/00 format (with zeros) is entered.

02G95AA indicates a 3.55 rear axle ratio for your car.

 

[
During 1969, zone 13 was the Pittsburgh, PA zone that covered western Pennsylvania and dealer 898 (in zone 13) was Yenko Chevrolet which was located in Canonsburg, PA.

Documented as Yenko delivered car!

 

Thanks for taking the time to do the research and for the information.

With your help, I've now been able to confirm that the "Corvette Order Copy" is original to the car. The hand written job order number 272, which appears on the build sheet, was also written in grease pencil on the passenger cowl and on the rear of the body. A second job number (224) is equal to the last three digits in the car's VIN (724) minus 500. The dates and options all make sense.

Although it doesn't appear that the car was ever customized by Yenko, does the fact that it was ordered by Yenko have any significance?

 

I think your documenation is original.

Does Yenko have significance? Bragging rights for sure.