Superbird VIN sequence

[rnjump]

  Is there a consecutive VIN for the Birds. If I go to look at one should the VIN fall into a certain range or are they random? Thanks

[A383Wing]

random

[nascarxx29]

http://brcook.com/id17.html
old retro article listed the vin sequence
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/05/17/sia-flashback-mopars-winged-wonders/

[FJ5WING]

On the list that dave linked to does anyone know what the first number  is? Im guessing its the build sequence?

[Ghoste]

Could be.  Good question though and if it is, it seems confusing to me in other ways. 

[moparstuart]

On the list that dave linked to does anyone know what the first number  is? Im guessing its the build sequence?

Brennan is a member here

[nascarxx29]

  Anyone see the superbird mistake vin
http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/factoryErrors04.shtml

The lowest vin is 149 but where the car is ?




Re: Superbird info with VIN?

« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2006, 07:23:27 PM »

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I recall as low as 149*** for early superbirds.Like I said as seen on the site it lists these vin sequences
149789 and 181274

[Arnie Cunningham]

Greetings All,

The first number in the list is the sequential number of the NASCAR list.  It really means nothing.  It is a bookkeeping number so they could make sure there were 1920 entries on the list before they sent the list to NASCAR for approval of the Superbird body for competition.  It has nothing to do with production order as some have speculated.  For that matter, the VIN and SON (Jnumber) don't have much to do with production order either lol.

Brennan R. Cook

[FJ5WING]

Thanks for the info Brennan!

[Redbird]

In the current issue, Oct. 2012, of Mopar Action-Resto Topics; R. Ehrenberg says both the top line numbers of Lynch Road (Superbird) cars relate to the production equipment used to frame the unibody parts. He says the second number of the top line has to do with the total number of bodies framed. That this is different than the number in the Vin-for what appears to be a mystery but it could have to do with damaged bodies being scrapped. Then he has an explanation of the gate number for the first number of the top line, which is better written on other sources. His description of the gate number starts out OK, first two digits are the "Gate" next 3 digits start at 101, but then he seems to mess it up a bit-71st vs. 34th car that shift for the referenced car.

[Arnie Cunningham]

Thanks for the info Brennan!

Glad to help out.  The list on the web is the SECOND time I have typed the entire NASCAR list into a computer.  This time I was smart enough to save it in a format that would not vanish with time lol.  I am considering a couple of other large Superbird data projects and may need the help of all on this board.

I would also like to add a page on Fender tags to my website but would like more info on just what the Gate number really tracked and why they seemed to care about it.

[Redbird]

15 or 20 years ago David Patik had his excellent researched article on how a Superbird was produced printed in the "Winged Warrior". I believe it is still on the web site there. In it he talks about the "Gates" basically big fixtures that held all the body panels together for initial whole body welding. At some point the 1970 Dodge Charger Registry (1970 DCR) had an excellent web site for decoding 1970 Broadcast sheets, not sure if it is still up, but the info was transferable to Superbirds. In the 1970 Dodge Charger Registry there is a short blerb about the "Sequence Number"- what many of us call the "J" number on a Superbird. There are several other sources tucked in articles and web sites over the years for information on the "Gate" and sequence numbers too and the large "Gate Fixtures" used. (FWIW the 1970 DCR decoding site lists the engine fans for a Charger RT which is applicable to the engine fan change in the Superbird, I am not sure if all the Superbirds with the upgraded engine fan have that listed on the Broadcast sheet, or the first few cars with the solid fan just got it put on during the assembly line process. The fans are interesting because some low VIN cars had solid fans and some low-mid VIN cars had thermo-fans.)

Most all Superbirds I have seen have "Gate" numbers starting with 05, 15, or 29. I have written down 1 or 2 that start with 00,11 22, 25 and 28. These may be the real numbers or just a product of my bad writing. All the next 3 numbers I have seen start with 1_ _. The lowest I have seen is 101. The 101 being consistent with everything I have seen over the years that numbering of the shift (or day-depending on how the source remembers things) started with 101.

I don't think there was necessarily 29 or more gates at the Lynch Road plant, the gates could have just been numbered like nick names for instance, a way to keep track of which ones were old, needed maintenance or the like. A plant that used IBM cards for keeping track of things wouldn't have had nick names but they would have used numbers. I suppose there could have been 29 or more gates too, I don't know how much room was available or how much time the body spent in the gate being welded together. But it seems to me that most Superbirds started out in certain "Gates". Perhaps only some of the "Gates" had attachments or were set up to handle specific cars like station wagons, convertibles, 4 dr, 2 dr hardtop or 2 dr coupe. Maybe 2 door coupes and 2 door hardtops could both use the same gate, but not station wagons?

[held1823]

this is just a random guess, but the gate number could be the last two digits of the jig's "brass tag". brass tags were used to identify each specific asset (machine/fixture/conveyor/etc) at the local chrysler plant. i imagine this was standard procedure throughout the corporation.

i think you are correct about each gate being set up to handle the body panels for a specific model, be it a coupe, hardtop, sedan, or wagon. any particular gate could be modified or adapted for a different body style, but that process would have been time consuming during that era. it would have been far more efficient to run hundreds of identical body types (re: road runner hardtop) through an already configured machine.

[69CoronetRT]

Most all Superbirds I have seen have "Gate" numbers starting with 05, 15, or 29. I have written down 1 or 2 that start with 00,11 22, 25 and 28. These may be the real numbers or just a product of my bad writing. All the next 3 numbers I have seen start with 1_ _. The lowest I have seen is 101. The 101 being consistent with everything I have seen over the years that numbering of the shift (or day-depending on how the source remembers things) started with 101.

I don't think there was necessarily 29 or more gates at the Lynch Road plant, the gates could have just been numbered like nick names for instance, a way to keep track of which ones were old, needed maintenance or the like.

There are Super Birds out there with bad tags that start with those gate numbers so you may have see some of these bad tags.

I have found up to Gate '32' for 69 LR. I doubt there were 32 physically different 'gate's as the number of cars run throgh certain gates seems to be pretty small.

...any particular gate could be modified or adapted for a different body style...

You do see changes in what went through a particular gate during the year. Early, the gate number could relate to one particular model of car and later in the year it could relate to another. I'm sure they were changed due to production demand and maintenance.

Having an improper gate number is one way to tell a bad LR fender tag.

[nascarxx29]

Local bird at tonights show fender tag has no gate numbers
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,93617.0.html

[FJ5WING]

thats a bad pic of the tag....if its newly owned Im sure the car will be out again this summer.

[nascarxx29]

Show was crowded and hood wasnt all the way up .