I have seen the VIN tag rivets on some 70-72 chevelles with the rosette rivet heads facing upward, and some are put in upside down. Did different plants do it differently?

Please explain to me how you put an 8 sided rivet upside down???

I have seen them installed from both directions on a few 68 to 72 chevelles, it must be a plant thing.....

On my 68 the rivet was installed from inside the car meaning the rivet head can't be seen with the dash pad removed. BTW that's the way the 68 assembly manual shows it to be installed.

It is more of a worker thing than a plant thing but they are found both ways. Some plants are more consistant than others.

Seems like it defeats the whole purpose of the special heads if they're put in from the bottom up and can't be seen.

Please explain to me how you put an 8 sided rivet upside down???
I think he means from the bottom verses from the top

I don't imagine GM cared whether you could see the rivet heads or not. There was a proper way to do things, as laid out in the assembly manual, but I know from experience that it was nearly impossible to make a worker do a job the way it was supposed to be done if he found an easier way. The car bodies changed shape from one shift to the next due to weld gun operators doing their own thing. Now with robots every job is done exactly the same way.

I don't think you can physically see the rivet heads in a normal situation anyway such as looking at the plate from the outside, only when you remove the dash pad are the rivets exposed. I'd have to agree with the others, there is a 'correct' way but I've seen both.

Thanks for the replies folks. And thanks for clarifying my "upside down" remark. I'll try to be more clear in the future. I meant, of course, that the rivet head was facing down, toward the floor, and could only be seen from underneath as opposed to being able to see the rivet head on top of the dash. You know......upside down.