I found this while cleaning....

[Chas]

Im working on my hood this weekend...preping for the Crusie-fest in 4 days!....and i notice under the heatmat...in black , faded, fat tip magic marker...
7/9/73 D ...a date and one initial...by the vin number of my vette...32676 ...if memory serves, im one of the last 1800 or so made this yr...it would seem that a assembly line worker did it for fun...or...it was a mark of sorts for Quality Assurance....or some other mark....if anyone has any input on this i would greatly appreaciate it...im guessing my vette was assembled the week following the 4th of July holiday weekend....what do you think?

Too cool!

Chas

 

[bill81vette]

if the hood had already been painted then perhaps it was to make sure it was mated with the proper vette...JMHO

 

[JohnZ]

Your car came off the line on July 11th - what you found is probably a Trim Line inspector's sign-off; the hood was painted as part of the complete body (no body panels were painted separate from the body).

 

[Chas]

Many thanks guys...

This place rules for information!

PS..Do you know when the last one rolled off?
I figured i was in the last few weeks of production on this yr.Thanks.Chas

Your car came off the line on July 11th - what you found is probably a Trim Line inspector's sign-off; the hood was painted as part of the complete body (no body panels were painted separate from the body).

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

This place rules for information!

PS..Do you know when the last one rolled off?
I figured i was in the last few weeks of production on this yr.Thanks.Chas

I think I remember hearing July 26th somewhere but don't quote me on it. My car is 32073 and was built over the July 3-5th period depending which piece of paper you refer to. That makes 603 serial number difference between your and mine, with a 6-9 day difference in time. If you assume about 100 cars per day, the last car would be around 25-28th of July.

Or I'm full of poopie, one of the two.

 

[Chas]

too cool...

these two are almost line mates!

I think I remember hearing July 26th somewhere but don't quote me on it. My car is 32073 and was built over the July 3-5th period depending which piece of paper you refer to. That makes 603 serial number difference between your and mine, with a 6-9 day difference in time. If you assume about 100 cars per day, the last car would be around 25-28th of July.

Or I'm full of poopie, one of the two.

 

[George Black]

The last 73 was assembled in July 73-- Ser.No. 434464. A total of 30,464 '73 models were built (4,000 serial numbers were lost or not utilized that year.) Only 4,943 were convertibles; 25,521 were coupes. It was a low production year compared to others--in fact 8,000 dealer orders remained unfilled at the end of the model year. My 1973 convertible was number 19,501 of the 1973 model year. My final assembly date was April 3, 1973. If you have a July assembly date your vehicle was one of the very last!

 

[JohnZ]

July 27th was the last day of 1973 production.