62 Belair Sport Coupe Bubble Top Find

Carl 1962

Carl 1962

Well Known Member
Murphdog said:
So what does the 336 on the cowl tag mean? 336th Belair, 336th Belair "Sport Coupe", or ????
I was tracking cowl tags (just 62 bubble tops) 20+ years ago. If I remember correctly when I compared cars from the same assembly plants consecutive build dates would have consecutive "336/build#'s". I came to the conclusion that the number was the consecutive number of a bubble top that had been built at that plant. Mainly because cars that were built late in the year did not have huge numbers. Could be all wet here. What say you Carl? Yes I threw all this data away not to many years ago as I thought I was done and did not know about this forum.
Jeff
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336 on Tooth's car is the 336th Belair sport coupe built at Janesville in the 62 model year. All the body numbers for all body styles are numbered this way. However, the VIN sequence numbers for each plant are sequential, so a V8 Impala sport coupe could be 21847J123456 and the next car on the assembly line could be a V8 Belair Sport coupe and it's VIN would be 21637J123457.

It's a shame you threw all that info out, I would have gladly accepted it. FYI, I've recorded 105 Belair sport coupes (bubbletops) from 1962 in my database.
 
Carl 1962

Carl 1962

Well Known Member
Tooth said:
Carl you are correct, I ran the Vin numbers. It was a 6 cylinder. But it said from Flint Michigan...
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Hmmm, I've recorded 348 cowl tags for Janesville cars built in 1962 and every single one of the cars that I've recorded VINs for has a "J" for Janesville. Is your VIN spot welded on? If you'd like me to check it, email me a photo of it and I'll check the database to see where it lines up with other cars built at Janesville and Flint because the sequence number narrows down when it was built, not just where it was built.
 
Murphdog

Murphdog

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Carl,
Have you ever added up all the 62 Belair Sport Coupe build #'s from the different plants to get any idea how many were built?
Jeff
 
Carl 1962

Carl 1962

Well Known Member
Murphdog said:
Carl,
Have you ever added up all the 62 Belair Sport Coupe build #'s from the different plants to get any idea how many were built?
Jeff
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I've never added them all up but I will now. The total of Belair sport coupes built in the 62 model year was 9,783, of which 5,950 were V8's and 3,833 were fitted with the 6 cylinder (these figures came from Verne Frantz).

Of the 105 Belair sport coupes I've recorded for the 62 model year, the numbers built per Fisher plant that I've recorded are:
Atlanta - 9 recorded with the highest number being #742 built in 2nd week July 62, so not many more would have been built at Atlanta in 62.
Baltimore - 16 recorded with the highest number being #1,37x built in 3rd week May 62, so a couple hundred more could have been built at Baltimore before production of 62's finished up.
Oshawa Canada - 3 recorded, but these would not have been recorded in the USA totals above.
Flint - 15 recorded with the highest number being #2.018 built in 2nd week July 62, so not many more would have been built at Flint in 62.
Janesville - 20 recorded with the highest number being #1,086 built in 5th week June 62, so maybe another 100 might have been built at Janesville in 62.
St Louis - 18 recorded with the highest number being #1,611 built in 3rd week June 62, so maybe another 150 might have been built at St Louis in 62.
Tarrytown - 9 recorded with the highest number being #1,091 built in 1st week April 62, so a few hundred more could have been built at Tarrytown.
Van Nuys - 15 recorded with the highest number being #1,152 built in 2nd week July 62, so not many more would have been built at Van Nuys in 62.
I've not recorded any 1962 Belair sport coupes built at Cleveland (who built convertibles and wagons only), Framingham (who only built convertibles), Kansas City (who only built 2 and 4-door sedans), Lansing (who only built convertibles) and Norwood who changed to only building Chevy II after only a couple of months of full-size Chevy production up until late 61.

... so when I add up all the highest body numbers I've recorded from each plant, I'm only about 700 short of the total production of 9,783, so there are only about 700 bubbletops built in 62 that have higher body numbers than the cars I've recorded.
 
Murphdog

Murphdog

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
"... so when I add up all the highest body numbers I've recorded from each plant, I'm only about 700 short of the total production of 9,783, so there are only about 700 bubbletops built in 62 that have higher body numbers than the cars I've recorded."
:appl:appl:appl:appl
 
Tooth

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Carl. When I researched the TRIM tag from the forum library the 62-1637 shows V-8. But the Vin decodes 6Cylinder? Pm your email and I'll send the Vin to you.. Vin starts 21537F...= 6 cylinder. The Vin tag is spot welded on.
 
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Carl 1962

Carl 1962

Well Known Member
Tooth said:
Carl. When I researched the TRIM tag from the forum library the 62-1637 shows V-8. But the Vin decodes 6Cylinder? Pm your email and I'll send the Vin to you.. Vin starts 21537F...= 6 cylinder. The Vin tag is spot welded on.
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The cowl tag always shows the V8 version of the Style for Biscayne, Belair or Impala regardless of whether the car later had a 6 installed, but the VIN always shows the correct V8 or L6 number... except that one time when the VIN was mis-typed, I documented this car and it had its original 283, but the stamp guy must have been having a bad day.

8.jpg
 
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62bubble

62bubble

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
Carl, very interesting stats on the number of 62 bubble tops that were build in the GM plants. I once owed a 62 Bel Air Cpe, which was a 1537 model , Six-cyl. It was build at the Tarrytown plant., however, the Tarry town plant did not stamp the month and week on the cowl tag. The Body showed a stamp of TA, and the number 509 right after that, which would have been the 509th bubble top to go through the line at Tarrytown, which was a very early build. Someone at the plant forgot to stamp the month and week of the build.. Did you ever come across that mistake?
 
Carl 1962

Carl 1962

Well Known Member
I've recorded 83 cowl tags from Tarrytown in 1962, 9 of which are Belair sport coupes, but I haven't recorded TA 509. None of the tags that I've got photos of from Tarrytown are missing their date code, but mistakes happen. Your bubble top would have been built in about the 1st week of January 62. If you have a photo of the tag, I'll record it.
 
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