I don't know why I was just thinking about this but I figured I'd share this story cause I think some may enjoy it. Ok, when I bought my '70 Chevelle Malibu, the owner told me he didn't have the build sheets for it. I was thinking "oh well, I can't do much about that." So, a couple years ago I was pulling out the back seat to check the condition of the sheet metal underneath. When I removed the seat, I set it aside and got back in the car to take a look. There they were, 2 original build sheets. I have no idea why they would be there but I was really excited when I found them. So now I have 2 build sheets for my car and had been driving it for a long time not knowing they were under the seat. Has anyone else every heard anyone finding documentation like that in an unusual place like that?

I found 2 one on each corner of the rear seat. I know the feeling, too.

Thats where my build sheet was.

I don't know why I was just thinking about this but I figured I'd share this story cause I think some may enjoy it. Ok, when I bought my '70 Chevelle Malibu, the owner told me he didn't have the build sheets for it. I was thinking "oh well, I can't do much about that." So, a couple years ago I was pulling out the back seat to check the condition of the sheet metal underneath. When I removed the seat, I set it aside and got back in the car to take a look. There they were, 2 original build sheets. I have no idea why they would be there but I was really excited when I found them. So now I have 2 build sheets for my car and had been driving it for a long time not knowing they were under the seat. Has anyone else every heard anyone finding documentation like that in an unusual place like that?

rear seat area is pretty common,mine was up in the rear seat springs.
rth

Is there any reason that it is common to find build sheets under the rear seat? Were they placed there during assembly or something? I wouldn't have guessed others found build there to. Hmm...

Is there any reason that it is common to find build sheets under the rear seat? Were they placed there during assembly or something? I wouldn't have guessed others found build there to. Hmm...

oh yea,maybe because it was one of the last interior peices to go in the car-maybe.
you can find them under the seat,in the top rear seat,in the front seats,under carpet,top the fuel tank,in door panels,in rear panels-under kick panels.
all depended where it was build,and who was on the asse line-
from what I know,gm workers were suposed to throw them in the trash-
but as you see,they played games with them,but I think pride in their work was also a factor.
hey,glad ya found it,kinda neat,ya know it-????

rth

Is there any reason that it is common to find build sheets under the rear seat? Were they placed there during assembly or something? I wouldn't have guessed others found build there to. Hmm...

oh,yea don,they were the cars more, less, workorder.yep the gm line workers put it there.
nice find,like gettin a present!!
rth

The build sheet was never meant to be left in the car. They were suppose to be discarded...line workers used the car as a trash can in some cases which is good for us :yes: I found the buildhseet for my 69 under the rear seat.

Ha ha. I think that is awesome that people find the build sheets in random places inside the cars. I'm glad I posted that I found mine because I had no idea that other people found theirs in similar locations.

This past Saturday, a friend (who I'd say is in his mid 40s) took out the rear seat of his 74 Challenger and found the build sheet. It was in very bad shape and will probably need a professional document restoration. He has owned this car for about 5 years, but had been eyeballing it for quite a while since it was a neighbors car. Pretty cool watching the seat come out and seeing it there. Untouched for 35 years. I'd like to see the seat of his 68 Satellite come out, too!

I dropped the tank on my buddy's '71 GTO earlier this month and found his. We got his camera out as soon as we saw it and documented the removal process, bagged it up. Luckily it was folded mostly in half over the tape it was held on with, so it was still legible. :thumbsup:

My grandparents are interested in selling their '69 Camaro. I told them I would try to get an idea of a good asking price and posted the description on the Team Camaro forum. I talked to my grandma yesterday & asked if they had the build sheets for it and she said they didn't. I'll be going there tomorrow to take some pictures. Perhaps I should pull out the back seat and maybe I'll find the build sheets hidden there. Ha ha. That would be awesome if it just happened to be there.

Did your grandparents buy it new ?

Still havent found mine. Good score!

Only place I have left is above the gas tank. havent gotten that out yet but everything else has been pulled and nada. You guys with two and three and four buildsheets make me sick. :D

I drove my car almost 10 years assuming it was a clone before I was clued into the Canadian GM documents service.

I was putting an amp and speakers in my '78 Camaro and was fishing the power wire from the trunk down behind the seat. I got halfway and felt a piece of paper. Sure enough, the build sheet was in the springs of the rear seat back.

Still have the sheet, just not the car. :( :)

When I took my Canadian built 68 Impala apart, I found 2 flattened GM logo drinking -water cups under the carpet. I have never saw these anywhere else. So, the car was used as a trash container. Also found 2 build sheets, one under the driver bucket seat and one on the gas tank, plus I have the GM of Canada docs, and the option codes on the cowl tag. Talk about FULLY documented!!!

DAN: I found 3 in my 70 Chevelle. Two in the rear seat. And one stuck to the back of the passengers door panel. I scared to try to remove it. But At least I can read all of it. Guess the next owner will get a build sheet & original door panel with the car

I wish I could find one for my '69 SS :( I know it's real, but have no "proof" it's an SS.

When I bought my '70 Malibu Conv. the owner had a build sheet for it, not sure where he found it. When I took the back seat out to work on the car I found another build sheet that is actually for one car before or after mine on the line but was also a red interior convertible (actually an SS car). I'm guessing the guys on the line in Van Nuys just pulled a couple of red seats and it didn't matter to them which car it went into. Then, when I bought a couple of bucket seats at a swap meet to replace mine, I found one for the car the seats came out of.

One of these days I'll get around to posting the other two on the orphan paperwork list on Chevellestuff.

Scott A.
'65 & '70 Malibus

I found mine on top of the gas tank in 2003, pretty bad shape, and it was stuck on with a black rubber sealing adhesive it looked like. I recovered what i could of it, have a few big chunks, but you can at least see the VIN, engine codes, etc... Not that special for an original malibu 307 car with a BBC in it now, but still fun to have :)

-Daniel

a friend of mine in Michigan back around '79 or '80 had this early to mid 70's Blazer. the driver side door blew out with rust big time. when they took it off to have it repaired they found a tee shirt (a very wet one) inside the door. now that had to be put in there or hid in there or whatever during original assembly i would think. bottom line is that a wet tee shirt placed against sheet metal is a rust accelerant, obviously. i have never found a build sheet on any of my cars and i have removed seats and dropped tanks. the guy i bought my vette from said when he pulled the fuel tank one fell out but the wind took it and he never recovered it. it was pretty well disintegrated anyhow from what he says. here is something i did find in my vette. i posted this pic on here before but for those who didn't see it i think it is pretty cool. this is written in paint stick on the underside of what would be the trunk area if a Vette had a trunk.
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/DSC00951.JPG

damn, Threw my back seat away

back seat. under the gas tank. on inside of door panels, under carpeting

Hello everyone. I thought that I would share with you a little information about build sheets. I worked at the Chevy Plant in Van Nuys California from 1970-1992, so I do have firsthand knowledge of plant operations that you might find interesting.

First, build sheets were called ‘build manifests’ or ‘job manifests’ at all GM plants. Any individual vehicle was always referred to as ‘a job’. There were approximately sixty different build manifests drop points throughout the Van Nuys plant. A drop point would typically be located at the first station of individual build lines. Examples of this would be the first station of the engine line where the assembly line worker would look at the build manifest, ‘hang’ the correct long block on the engine conveyor, and then place the build manifest on the conveyor’s engine hook so all subsequent engine build operations would know the correct accessories. This build manifest would travel with the engine to the ‘engine shake’, where the engine/trans combo would be loaded onto the chassis.

Build manifest were also used to confirm that major build assemblies were in the correct sequence; an example would be confirming at the ‘Body Marriage’ point that the correct body and driveline/frame were being joined together. You might be surprised how many times the wrong major assemblies came together at these major build points.

Contrary to common believe, several build manifests were intentionally left with the vehicle. The reason for this was if the vehicle needed any repair work performed in the final repair department, the repairmen would have all to component information available.

Two places were build manifests were left intentionally are the seat cushions and between the gas tank and floorboard. I hope that you found this interesting.- Tom

My Chevelle didn't have a back seat when I bought it. :(

Of course it was used. :)

Tom,

Thanks for posting that. Feel free to add whatever you remember whenever you can. Many of us have wondered over the years why there weren't more guys from the plants on here.

I found a build sheet under the springs on the rear seat back, Only problem, It wasn't for my car. :( - Mine is a flint build so I don't think that ANY build sheets exist for the flint cars.

LK

http://www.carnutguys.com/images/11-11-08%20027.jpg

I brought my 70 ss in 1978 and upon removing the back seat in 78 to run speaker wire I found the build sheet, not hearing talk of build sheets or the internet back then, I kept it just for the imformation. My car also has the p-o-p in the glove box, here's the problem the vin matches on both but the bs says it has a 3:31 gear but it has always had a 3:55 ckj code which is stated on the pop and stamped on the axle housing. Nuts for el caminos may have explained how this happened . Maybe someone from the Atl plant could chime in or nuts could tell how it got by. Thanks for the help

Still havent found mine. Good score!

Only place I have left is above the gas tank. havent gotten that out yet but everything else has been pulled and nada. You guys with two and three and four buildsheets make me sick. :D


That's where I found Mine, it aint legible, plus, I'm pretty sure it's from the car ahead of Mine.