“Z” stamps on ‘67 VIN plates

[JD]

  Lets say you are working at S/A.  And, told to ready a car that was missing some key parts.  I find it hard to believe they would 1) open the hood to look at the vin plate for an added letter, and 2) somehow add to the new car confusion by adding another digit to the vin plate.   I think there is something more to it.

Rod, you bring up some relevant points, but with regards to the adding a digit to the VIN plate the guys at Shelby certainly have shown that learning the "rules" (state/federal guidelines) and following them was not their strong suit.

[J_Speegle]

Anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share.
As always, please let me know if you have any information that would contradict what I have noted above.

Found time to at least to start going through my pictures to see what I can offer to the cause

One thought crossed my mind - that being that would it not be important to look at the complete picture by Shelby completion date (since we don't have a date when each was shipped to the dealers) also?



A couple of cars I would add to the discussion

Lowest Shelby VIN with a Z I have pictures of the tag was/is Car - #747
Shelby build date listed in registry - 5/20/67  - So well within the current expected range

Earliest Shelby completion date as listed in the registry with a Z in the VIN tag that I have a picture of so far has been Car - #1149
Shelby build date listed in registry - 3/12/67


Stopped at that point or a little later since I expect diminishing returns

To bad we don't have shipping dates from Shelby to the dealers for this question. Dummy mistake 

[67_1183]

One thought crossed my mind - that being that would it not be important to look at the complete picture by Shelby completion date (since we don't have a date when each was shipped to the dealers) also?



To bad we don't have shipping dates from Shelby to the dealers for this question.

Do you not believe the shipping information in the registry?

[J_Speegle]

Do you not believe the shipping information in the registry?

Sorry you are correct and I will correct my post above. Forgot it is in each individual car description rather in the spread sheet section near the end of the great book

Guess the most complete picture to understand what may have been taking place and why the Z would be laying out the cars by number, Shelby completion date and their shipping dates as well as having or not having the Z on an original ID tag. 

[Richstang]

Anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share.
As always, please let me know if you have any information that would contradict what I have noted above.

Found time to at least to start going through my pictures to see what I can offer to the cause

One thought crossed my mind - that being that would it not be important to look at the complete picture by Shelby completion date (since we don't have a date when each was shipped to the dealers) also?



A couple of cars I would add to the discussion

Lowest Shelby VIN with a Z I have pictures of the tag was/is Car - #747
Shelby build date listed in registry - 5/20/67  - So well within the current expected range

Earliest Shelby completion date as listed in the registry with a Z in the VIN tag that I have a picture of so far has been Car - #1149
Shelby build date listed in registry - 3/12/67


Stopped at that point or a little later since I expect diminishing returns

To bad we don't have shipping dates from Shelby to the dealers for this question. Dummy mistake 

Jeff,
Thank you for taking a look at this.

Where in the registry (2011 version?) do you see #1149 having a "Z" stamp in the VIN? I don't see anything in the footnotes or grid codes.
Do you have an actual photo of the #1149 VIN plate with the "Z" stamp in front of the VIN number? If so, as much as I really hate to doubt you, I need to see that with my own eyes to be sure it's not a repro plate. ( I have dozens of VIN photos of cars built by SA throughout March that don't have the "Z" stamp.

Having about 300 VIN photos might not be enough to base this on, but the dates have been holding true. To cross check what I had, I did a skimming through the registry this morning, looking at the approximate timeframe of March / April / May. Nothing contradicted my previous findings. I still see the SA (Shelby American) completion build date of the ""Z stamp starting at 4/27/67 and cars built 4/26/67 or earlier not showing it.

#0552 is the lowest VIN I have a photo of with the "Z"
#0554 is the lowest VIN noted in the registry I have found.
Both of these were completed by SA on 4/27/67

VIN photos of cars built by SA on 4/26 and 4/25 show no "Z" and photos of cars built by SA on 4/27 and 4/28 all show the "Z".

Thanks again,
Rich

[67_1183]

Do you have an actual photo of the #1149 VIN plate with the "Z" stamp in front of the VIN number? If so, as much as I really hate to doubt you, I need to see that with my own eyes to be sure it's not a repro plate. ( I have dozens of VIN photos of cars built by SA throughout March that don't have the "Z" stamp.


Thanks again,
Rich

[Richstang]

 



Nothing is ever as it seems with these '67's. By the SA completion date 3/12/67, that's almost 6 weeks earlier than anything I've seen!
Now I'm back peddling...could it be since the car was sitting from 3/12 to 7/19 before getting shipped, the "Z" stamp was added in late April?
Yea, I know, we may never know the truth...I'll have to look for others exceptions this early to see if they were sitting on the lot too.

Thanks Jeff "1183"
time to eat crow...yuk...hope it tastes like chicken.

[J_Speegle]

Jeff,
Thank you for taking a look at this.

Where in the registry (2011 version?) do you see #1149 having a "Z" stamp in the VIN? I don't see anything in the footnotes or grid codes.
Do you have an actual photo of the #1149 VIN plate with the "Z" stamp in front of the VIN number? If so, as much as I really hate to doubt you, I need to see that with my own eyes to be sure it's not a repro plate. ( I have dozens of VIN photos of cars built by SA throughout March that don't have the "Z" stamp.

67_1183 beat me to it but yes I do have a picture of that VIN tag in my photo collection.  Keep info that way, spread sheets, hand notes and computer generated lists from surveys and collection over the past thirty some years. Wish I had more than approx a third of production in some form. Will get more just takes time.

As I mentioned you might want to start tracking those without the Z since it should help produce a more complete picture and possibly rule in or out some theories

[Richstang]

Jeff,
Thank you for taking a look at this.

Where in the registry (2011 version?) do you see #1149 having a "Z" stamp in the VIN? I don't see anything in the footnotes or grid codes.
Do you have an actual photo of the #1149 VIN plate with the "Z" stamp in front of the VIN number? If so, as much as I really hate to doubt you, I need to see that with my own eyes to be sure it's not a repro plate. ( I have dozens of VIN photos of cars built by SA throughout March that don't have the "Z" stamp.

67_1183 beat me to it but yes I do have a picture of that VIN tag in my photo collection.  Keep info that way, spread sheets, hand notes and computer generated lists from surveys and collection over the past thirty some years. Wish I had more than approx a third of production in some form. Will get more just takes time.

As I mentioned you might want to start tracking those without the Z since it should help produce a more complete picture and possibly rule in or out some theories

Jeff,

Please let me apologize for ever doubting you.

I have been tracking all the VIN photos found in '67 from start to finish of production. This includes both the non "Z" and the stamped "Z" cars. That's why I was so confident in what I posted about the dates. #1149 is the first car with the vin tag "Z" stamp completed by SA prior to 4/27 I've seen.

Last night I began looking through the registry in earlier months for other "Z" stampings. Nothing has appeared yet, but it might take me a few days to complete. I'll have to add shipping dates to my list to see which cars without the "Z" stamp might have not shipped until after April. Maybe that will just confuse things further, but it might help as well.

[roddster]

  I think might point was this>  Why stamp it for that reason?  How about a 8 X 11 sheet of paper that easilly stated the car is complete - NO scavaging parts -  taped to the windshield.

[gt350cs]

Roddster,

I tend to agree with you. The cars were probably all over the place and if someone was scavenging for an exterior or interior part or something from the trunk, they would not be taking the time to open and close hoods all day long.

Also the stamping was apparently intended to remain a part of the car once done. Therefore was to identify it differently from all the other cars for some reason from that point onward. We may never know the reason why this was done, but the conclusion that it was done to keep hands off the cars seems far fetched, because of the reasons you stated.

Dennis

[Bob Gaines]

  I think might point was this>  Why stamp it for that reason?  How about a 8 X 11 sheet of paper that easilly stated the car is complete - NO scavaging parts -  taped to the windshield.

Curious if you have a theory about what the Z is for then?

[Road Reptile]

Hi All "Z" People,
Just a few notes about this--Dave says we may not ever know a total of cars with a "Z" because it would require seeing every car. His comment was a response to my theory of the "Z" being used
as a code for inspected and ready to ship out of state....meaning California. According to the records as of 1996  only 390 cars were reported to have the "Z" and of those only 66 were sold in Cal.
and all but 70 cars had thermactors. I also think it could mean ready to ship by rail,and it would be interesting to see how many "Z" cars were shipped by rail--which again seems to be another
possibility.I really think it is safe to say the inspected and approved theory is good--yet won't be surprised to learn it has other purposes as well.
Regards from R.R.

[texas swede]

My car, 67402F7A01317 has the Z.
Texas Swede

[Richstang]

My car, 67402F7A01317 has the Z.
Texas Swede

Thanks Texas Swede,
I had you covered from your old Shelby forums post, but good to hear from you hear as well.