alright, after my mom had backed into the trans am front clip on my firebird i found myself doing a crap rattle can job at repainting the panel. So after i had everything off i noticed a symbol or date that appeared what seemed to be several times in the car 7/78. but after pulling the front bumper the symbol was written again in chalk, and i could defiately tell that it was actually 7178 which solved all my questions as to if this was some screwed up date or something....neway, i was looking at the number that appears everywhere on the car, and came to the thought that it might be the production number of the car for the month of may. I know my car was built during the third week of may 1985 from a firebird identification book i saw once and deciphering the panel on the front underhood location of the car. So, if my car was the 7178th car to roll off the line that month, and mine was done in the third week of may that woudl give a rough estimate of 2,392 per week, and a monthly total of 9,568 a month, which would give a ball park figure of 114,816 which is a tad more than what the total actually was produced, but given how one week might have been more than another, and one month slower than a different one, that's a pretty close estimate. Does anyone have any other insight to these "magic numbers"?

 

Check your VIN and see if the last 4 digits are the 7178.

RBob.

 

I SAY
Fisher Body number not VIN number.
REMEMBER two plants made the F Bodies.
Theory is not exactly far off, tho.
Assembly line workers did not hand write each VIN number on a car.
Your CAR BODY ID NUMBER & the PARTS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT PARTICULAR vehicle coming down line, that's what the numbers are meant for matching (this front end went on vehicle body number-see your build sheet for the assigned trim to your vehicle.).
That way stuff could not be asssembled wrong.
Like 50 fronts ends delivered for this 4 hour of the line shift.
Your front end went on fisher body number 7178.
I do not doubt the front noses & rear bumpers were painted at different place & delivered to line, that way.

On my 1974 Corvette.
I have full documentation.
I have date markings all over car (when the panel was made).
My rear bumper caps were made on 8/13 & 8/17, the rear deck was 7/27, inner door panels made 8/21.
Fun stuff to discover.