When was the last production day for C-Bodies?

Has the point in the assembly process where the MDH label is applied been established?

This is the order of events according to @Dobalovr:

---
On current models the sequence is as follows:

Dealer places order and a VON (Vehicle Order Number) is assigned
Once the order passes edit and is tentatively scheduled it will receive a VIN
Next step is firm scheduling and the JIT (Just in time) parts process begins
Next step is Job 1 Scheduled Date to be built ( Not necessarily THE day it WILL be built but likely)
Next step is Gatelined which means the required parts to build the specific order have been allocated and are ready this is the beginning of the build process
Different processes such as Frame shop Paint etc will follow
Once built it goes through inspection
Once it passes inspection it is slated for transport to its final destination. Typically you can go from gatelined to post inspection in a matter of hours. The MDH will be printed on the ID label on the driver side door jamb. If this is how the factory operated back then I would guess that the process would be

SO number assigned by plant once order received (mailed in or teletyped)
VIN assigned without a sequence
Vehicle begins production and is assigned a SPD
Once completed production an ID label with MDH is printed
---

From this I understood that inspection (and repair) came before the MDH print-out. But maybe I got it wrong.

It still begs the question if a repair action makes an MDH invalid or not. I would say the repair action rather delays the release for shipping, thus widening the gap between completion and shipping.

I can think of other reasons for delayed shipping as well. What about Sales Bank cars, for instance. Or just waiting to have enough cars to be completed that can be put on the same shipping invoice.
 
The car was bid to $18k and did not sell. Here's the auction listing writeup on it.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Believed to be 61,000 miles
  • Delivered new to Pettit Brothers Chrysler in Virginia
  • Believed to have been special order by Bill Pettit and kept in his collection for 23 years
  • Sold to Northglenn Dodge in 2001
  • Northglenn Dodge retained ownership until August 2018
  • Highly optioned
  • 440 CI V-8 engine
  • Final year for this body style
  • 1 of 1 color combination
  • Original books and manuals
  • Bill Pettit Chrysler Dealer Id card
  • Bill Pettit State of Virginia Franchise dealer license
No mention of it being the "last" anything. Sounds like it's on its third owner. Bill Pettit 1978 - 2001, Northglenn Dodge 2001 - 2018, current seller 2018 on

.

I saw a picture of the pettit’s car in the port of Gothenburg, Sweden about a month ago. She still had the ”61,000 miles” sticker on the windshield.
 
I was either lucky enough or unlucky enough to have never actually worked in an assembly plant, but I've been through quite a few. I wish there were more members of this board who HAD worked in an assembly plant so that they could confirm the realities of how a car is assembled. It's not awful on this board, but there are some where many members are under an enormous fallacy of how an assembly plant works.

^This^

I've been in a couple assembly plants. Never worked at one, although I've done some work on their inspection tooling while the lines are running. Yep, the rules are "get the cars out".

I was at a Ford truck plant and saw a truck with several different color panels. I asked about it and was told the truck would be repainted one color and then sold. Think about that... You get a door ding on your blue truck that you just spent $$$$ on and the paint underneath is yellow. But that's the way it goes.
 
Since @Carmine disagreed with me, it reminded me that I should have mentioned that my experiences were many years ago. Things have changed in the manufacturing world since then.
 
I was at a Ford truck plant and saw a truck with several different color panels. I asked about it and was told the truck would be repainted one color and then sold.

I'm sorry but I'll have to take disagreement with this; having actually worked on assembly lines and being the 3rd generation to work at Chrysler (both male grandparents BTW). And although I haven't worked in a Ford assembly plant, their standards aren't going to be vastly different; with some authority, having worked in the Ford engineering laboratories.

For one thing if this was a completed truck, they aren't going to pay someone to disassemble it so it can be run through a 350 degree oven. Yes, they do "spot refinishing", but this is one or two panels, and never over a different color. From a labor hours standpoint, it just isn't worth it and the complete-repaint materials required don't even exist in an assembly plant. The outside of a factory paint oven is usually littered with complete bodies that will be scrapped because of a paint defect. If they are caught before assembly, it's cheaper to eat the sheetmetal than the labor to repair the defect.

Also consider that all of the sheet metal parts of a vehicle are run through the paint ovens at the same time, on "jigs" for pieces that cannot yet be bolted together (like the cab and bed for a truck). OEM auto paint doesn't contain much by the way of solvents; they rely on heat vs. evaporation or chemical catalysts to cure. To assemble a truck with different color panels would require a dedicated effort to do so.

Now the one scenario "might" occur would be if this was a vehicle destined for a manufacturer's destructive testing. Such vehicles are technically "sold" from the manufacturing division to the R&D division. Factories like these orders because it's a chance to use up unusable, cosmetically defective parts and get "paid" for a completed vehicle. If the truck was still in a body-in-white stage, they might even run it through paint again to get sprayed one-color. There is also a good chance they were just messing with you for laughs. Some dumbasses seem to get great joy in telling outsiders wild stories, even if they aren't true.

I'll also offer that there are so many ways for broadcast sheets to get mixed up that I couldn't even type them all. In the aforementioned black E-body scenario, I must mention that Chrysler upholstered their own seats back then, so they didn't come from a supplier, they came from the Cut & Sew Trim department. Within that department, their would be a car-broadcast printer. It would kick out a sheet that told everything about a specific car, but the only relevant point for that department was a demand of a black interior of XX design. Contrary to the earlier mention cars being trashcans for the disposal of broadcast sheets, if you've ever had to fish one out of the springs, you'll realize it takes some effort to remove it. That's because it wasn't tossed their casually, it signified completion of that demand for specific black seats.

In that era of 5-6 different interior colors and 2-3 different trim levels, there simply wasn't room to inventory 10-18 different seats parallel to the assembly line. So the seats arrive in sequence to the cars coming down the line. A hi-lo driver might have room to stock 7-8 seats in dunnage perpendicular to the seat install area. That will last him about 5-6 minutes. He has to know what cars are coming down the line in what order and stock the area accordingly. But he isn't climbing on/off the hi-lo to read broadcast sheets, he's bringing them from a larger area where they have (usually) already been sequenced. I say "usually" because mistakes happen, (although less often that you'd think). In such a case, if they needed black seats, but blue showed up, someone would haul-*** to grab a set of black seats... broadcast sheet be damned, and by this point it doesn't matter. If you ordered a Big Mac through a drive through, but you received the Big Mac intended for a counter customer, would you know? The repair example isn’t wrong, just one of dozens of possible reasons for broadcast sheets to be mixed. The fact that most of us have the correct sheet shows that mix-ups were relatively rare and unimportant when then they did occur.

It's too bad that people are so quick to disparage the miracle of modern mass production. It's actually quite a complex and amazing study in logistics. It gave us the demand for modern computing power. Who else but manufacturing could afford to purchase such advanced computer systems at scale in the 50s and 60s? If you ever need to win a war, you'll be begging for people with that knowledge.
 
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For one thing if this was a completed truck
It wasn't. They did have some completed trucks in this shop for spot finishing, but this was a cab just like the ones they were running through the spray areas.

Now the one scenario "might" occur would be if this was a vehicle destined for a manufacturer's destructive testing. Such vehicles are technically "sold" from the manufacturing division to the R&D division. Factories like these orders because it's a chance to use up unusable, cosmetically defective parts and get "paid" for a completed vehicle. If the truck was still in a body-in-white stage, they might even run it through paint again to get sprayed one-color. There is also a good chance they were just messing with you for laughs. Some dumbasses seem to get great joy in telling outsiders wild stories, even if they aren't true.

This may be, especially the "wild story" part. The guys that were my full time escorts were maintenance electricians that mostly sat around waiting for something to break. They were pretty much bored to tears and got a good laugh from me trying to ride one of their giant tricycles... Which I found out right away was nothing like riding a bicycle. There was also a earlier model cab under the conveyor that brought the bodies over to the assembly and painting areas. They told me it fell off and since it wasn't in the way, and it needed to be cut up to remove it, they left it.
 
It's too bad that people are so quick to disparage the miracle of modern mass production. It's actually quite a complex and amazing study in logistics. It gave us the demand for modern computing power. Who else but manufacturing could afford to purchase such advanced computer systems at scale in the 50s and 60s? If you ever need to win a war, you'll be begging for people with that knowledge.

Oops.. Messed up the "multiquote"

I'm not disparaging mass production at all. In fact, I've always been in awe of the art of manufacturing. BTW, I think Walter P. Chrysler was the one that coined the phrase "Art of manufacturing".

My comments are more to the folks that think it was done the same way in the sixties or seventies as it is now and more importantly, to point out that a lot of the mix ups were relatively unimportant to the guys on the line. Getting the proper broadcast sheet under the back seat wasn't a priority.
 
Oops.. Messed up the "multiquote"

I'm not disparaging mass production at all. In fact, I've always been in awe of the art of manufacturing. BTW, I think Walter P. Chrysler was the one that coined the phrase "Art of manufacturing".

My comments are more to the folks that think it was done the same way in the sixties or seventies as it is now and more importantly, to point out that a lot of the mix ups were relatively unimportant to the guys on the line. Getting the proper broadcast sheet under the back seat wasn't a priority.

Just so you know, I wasn't really referring to your post with "disparaging". I meant more "society as a whole".

I'd be proud to offer you a trike lesson, lol.

IMG_20190726_084912.jpg
 
I'd be proud to offer you a trike lesson, lol.

I had no idea... I just figured "Hey I rode a trike when I was a kid, it can't be different". Wow... I was OK until I went to make a corner.

For those that have never ridden one, it's very different than a bicycle. You lean to turn a bike. You turn the handlebars to turn a trike.

I almost hit a wall. The closer I came, the more I leaned and that did nothing. Coaster brakes too... Had to remember how to use coaster brakes while leaning and trying not to hit the wall...
 
Thanks to @amazinblue82, an update of the Late C-Body List is due:

CS43T8C173849, SPD XXX, MDH 060510
CL43N8C175464, SPD 606, MDH 051011
CS43N8C178624, SPD 612, MDH XXXXXX
CS43T8C178820, SPD 606, MDH 060908 (Ray's Salon)
CS23XXXXXXXXX, SPD 619, MDH 061611
CS23T8C181510, SPD 619, MDH XXXXXX (same as CS23XXXXXXXXX?)
CS43T8C181574, SPD 619, MDH 062011
CS43T8C181591, SPD 619, MDH 052212
CS43T8C182748, SPD 626, MDH 061309 (the last Canadian car)
CS23T8C183615, SPD 626, MDH 061413

As usual, in bold the last known C-body.
 
One thing I've never had made clear to me was the "hour" portion of the MDH. Not sure if it's 2pm as you stated, or if it's the 14th hour of production on a particular day. If so, hour 14 would be 9 or 10pm at night.

So one possible answer to this is simply: Anybody got an "HOUR" later than 16?

Glad you asked! Here are the 1978 MDHs I know of:

CS23T8C118672 (MDH 100715)
CS43T8C118697 (MDH 100307)
CL23N8C129642 (MDH 111113)
CL43N8C136157 (MDH 011111)
CS43T8C143860 (MDH 020115)
CL43N8C144414 (MDH 011911)
CS23T8C145216 (MDH 012314)
CS43T8C149423 (MDH 020812)
CL43N8C153858 (MDH 030910)
CS23T8C163177 (MDH 040409)
CL23N8C167455 (MDH 042610)
CS23T8C168882 (MDH 042510)
CL23T8C169537 (MDH 050113)
CS43T8C173034 (MDH 053113)
CS43T8C173849 (MDH 060510)
CS43N8C173945 (MDH 050510)
CL43N8C175464 (MDH 051011)
CS43T8C178820 (MDH 060908)
CS43T8C181574 (MDH 062011)
CS43T8C181591 (MDH 052212)
CS43T8C182748 (MDH 061309)
CS23T8C183615 (MDH 061413)

The range of the Hour part is from 07 to 15. So I would say those are day hours, not working hours.
 
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Glad you asked! Here are the 1978 MDHs I know of:

CS23T8C118672 (MDH 100715)
CS43T8C118697 (MDH 100307)
CL23N8C129642 (MDH 111113)
CL43N8C136157 (MDH 011111)
CS43T8C143860 (MDH 020115)
CL43N8C144414 (MDH 011911)
CS23T8C145216 (MDH 012314)
CS43T8C149423 (MDH 020812)
CL43N8C153858 (MDH 030910)
CS23T8C163177 (MDH 040409)
CL23N8C167455 (MDH 042610)
CS23T8C168882 (MDH 042510)
CL23T8C169537 (MDH 050113)
CS43T8C173034 (MDH 053113)
CS43T8C173849 (MDH 060510)
CS43N8C173945 (MDH 050510)
CL43N8C175464 (MDH 051011)
CS43T8C178820 (MDH 060908)
CS43T8C181574 (MDH 062011)
CS43T8C181591 (MDH 052212)
CS43T8C182748 (MDH 061309)
CS23T8C183615 (MDH 061413)

The range of the Hour part is from 07 to 15. So I would say those are day hours, not working hours.

During the 1978 model year, did Jefferson only run one shift - the day shift? That's the only way that these could be day hours and not shift hours.
 
Seriously guys?
Are we trying to determine to the HOUR the last Formal was built? :realcrazy:
I'm learning a lot because of this thread ( :thankyou: ) but even the OCD anal part of me is starting to worry about you guys. :lol:
 
Seriously guys?
Are we trying to determine to the HOUR the last Formal was built? :realcrazy:
I'm learning a lot because of this thread ( :thankyou: ) but even the OCD anal part of me is starting to worry about you guys. :lol:

Use every tool in the tool box.

If the documentation exists, use it. Don’t guess.
 
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