Question: 1967 Corvette 427 body built at AO Smith Ionia Michigan

[2010corvette]

Does anyone know how many documented very early 1967 big block Corvette's were built by AO Smith less VIN365?

 

[Tom Bryant]

There is an article in the Knowledgebase section of this site by John Hinkley on the A. O. Smith body operation. Here is the link----> A. O. Smith
He says half were built at St. Louis and half at Ionia. if your car was number 365 of the 1967 build then about 182 were A. O. Smith bodies. John states that close build records were kept but I don't know where they would be. There is also more A. O. Smith info in the Tech Center in the bar at the top of this page. Look at Specs/Data Center.

Tom

 

[Gmont]

Does anyone know how many documented very early 1967 big block Corvette's were built by AO Smith less VIN365?

I don’t believe AO Smith built any big blocks because the couldn’t paint the hood stingers.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Gmont, Welcome to the CAC. Now that you mention it I think I heard that before too.

Update: That seems to be the consensus on the NCRS tech board too.

 

[Gmont]

I don’t believe AO Smith built any big blocks because the couldn’t paint the hood stingers.

I just looked at the AO SMITH article you mentioned and it has this paragraph stating that very few, if any, BB were built there, because of the stinger masking/painting.

“The Paint Shop Process: The A.O. Smith paint shop used the same process and materials that were used at St. Louis, except for the 1967 big-block hood. The physical layout of the A.O. Smith paint shop wasn’t conducive to the time- consuming and labor-intensive masking required to paint the contrasting colors on the big-block “stinger” hood and header panel, and their personnel were never able to master the masking process. As a result, it’s generally accepted that very few 1967 big-block bodies (or none) were built at A.O. Smith after the first few weeks of 1967 production.”

Gene