I am collecting dates on 66 360hp chevelles and it looks like the 3419 carbs always are produced on the same dates, thru out their production. i.e. 5B1, 613, 642, or 653. I have not run into any dates from after the 613 (JAN 3rd week), that has a Feb or March date. Anyone have a carb date in one of those months?
Also research is showing that the Delco distributor 1111138, also are produced on certain dates only. Examples that turn up frequently are 5L1, 5M13, and 6A10, but again, Feb and March don`t. I hate to rain on anyone who had a repro tag made, but chances are someone guessed at a date, and it will be incorrect, given my research. Only original distributor tag info please. Picture if possible. Thank you

I am collecting dates on 66 360hp chevelles and it looks like the 3419 carbs always are produced on the same dates, thru out their production. i.e. 5B1, 613, 642, or 653. I have not run into any dates from after the 613 (JAN 3rd week), that has a Feb or March date. Anyone have a carb date in one of those months?
Also research is showing that the Delco distributor 1111138, also are produced on certain dates only. Examples that turn up frequently are 5L1, 5M13, and 6A10, but again, Feb and March don`t. I hate to rain on anyone who had a repro tag made, but chances are someone guessed at a date, and it will be incorrect, given my research. Only original distributor tag info please. Picture if possible. Thank youI have photos of 3419 carbs dated 5A5, 644 & 671 but no 62x or 63x. I would guess that like many ancillary suppliers items were batched in production runs towards projected supply needs and not produced every day like engine blocks or heads might have been where applications were much more diverse.

Given the limited application of items like the 3419 carb or 360hp distributors I'm kind of surprised they have as many different dates as they do. I'm not aware of any reasons (ie., production problems) why Feb or Mar dates should seemly be non-existent for two, seemingly non-related, production suppliers.

Interesting though...

Thanks Dale. I too find it strange that Delco and Holley found that production in Jan was all they would need for a while. Given the total cars built up to that time, and total replacement part inventory, there must have been a formula. I struggle with this as I have been interested in data both from the Pontiac and Chevy lines for some time. My personal car has the original 360hp engine and although purchased from the original owner, had an incorrect 09 distrib and carb. With a March 29 1966 motor assembly date and a Fisher body assembled 06B, I have a powerplant that waited a couple months before it joined with the June body and had a final assembly day. Pontiac worked on the GM mandate that YOU SELL THE CARS FIRST with little inventory. This is ovious time and time again with most GTO engines, usually cast dated only 2 to 4 weeks prior to the final automobile assembly date. Please note that I say prior assembly date and not cowl tag date. Pontiacs have PHS which can doc the actual final assembly day. No one has yet to come up with exactly what the cowl date is referring to. I have found for instance, Kansas built cars with 0F in the so called body build date and 6 weeks in one month is a problem. Anyway maybe someone will come thru with some more dates for us.

I have a 1966 matching numbers SS 396 with a build date of 06C,Baltimore plant. My Chevelle,396/325, still retains the Holley intake, carb, Delco distributor,and the complete drivetrain. It's good to see another Chevelle out there with a"newer" build date...Bob

Thanks Bob. Mother always warned me about the younger girls. In this case, my younger than yours SS is quite acceptable. You have a great car there and great options! By any chance do you have the build sheet or final assembly sheet? The assemble date should be on it. As I mentioned, all distrib and carbs produced for a future run of engine assemblies, are produced on the same day. I have not been tracking the 325hp Holley dates as closely as the 360, but I have a few cores that follow same day production. I can list them if you like. However, I have been tracking the 325 distributor, 1111109. Dates include:
5J13
6A3
6B21
6D4
6E16
These dates repeat and repeat on ebay, with my core collection reflecting these dates. Somewhere in there is most likely your date, as on your distrib. Again regardless of how we figure the firewall tag `date`, your car is most likely after mine. I am A and you are B. My feeling is that Fisher already had a basic 13817 shell in "stores" or bank, but without particular options. Perhaps later when an order was being filled, the coded firewall tag tells the labor what to add. This may be the secret to the firewall tag date code, probably sequenced with similar equipt 13817`s. 'A' can`t reflect the first week of a month because sometimes the calender will have 5 weeks and so then you have to decide which day is going to start your week. You then can say that maybe a Sunday starts the week but then that falls apart if you examine a 1966 calendar. As I mentioned before, every now and then, F shows up shows up on the firewall tag. The 6th week of the month?

I will check on the carb. numbers,and I have the distributor numbers written down. I just rebuilt the distributor. Sorry to say,but I do not have a build sheet. I bought,saved,the Chevelle during a frame off. It was already down to the frame,and it was a mad dash to keep all the original parts. One more week,and a lot of them would of been gone,but it all came together. It only took two and half years,but it was worth it. Your Mom is right,younger girls,plus throw in the numbers aspect,it will tend to make you a little crazy,not to mention what it does to your checkbook...Bob

3419 584 main body just sold on ebay. With all the different list #'s makes sence they were produced when supply/inventory got low.

Dale has indicated before that he has seen Fremont Build Sheets for 66 car's; but none for other plants. Are you aware of anyone with a build sheet from the Baltimore plant?

1111138>>>>> 5-L-22
3419>>>>>>>> 5A2

Kansas built>>>>> 12B

3419 593

Wouldn't all of the componets be made ahead of time. When they need some 3419 carbs (not on a spectific schedule) , just assemble them and stamp the air hore and metering block appropriately. Would there been any other differences between the 66 3139 and 3140 and 3419 carbs other than the jets in the metering block and the linkage stud for the automatics?

BigFred and James L. Thanks for the input. The 3419-5A2 and 593, I have seen. The 5L22 1111138 is a new one on me. Certainly components could be made and stockpiled, until demand for a particular assembly number was needed. But again, nothing ever shows up, to show daily assembly of a particular carb or distributor. Only certain dates will be the norm when you examine an original car, with few judges aware of these dates at the concours level. I mentioned Pontiac at the start of this thread, and there too the dates always are the same, with no continuous daily production of one certain distributor. But here too one would assume that the distributor individual components would have been stockpiled. With almost 90% of Pontiacs in 1964 having the 389 engine, one would assume that a continuous daily production of the same castings would have to have happened, but again, this is not the case. All 389`s were cast at Pontiac,Mi so they would have been fairly busy keeping up with the demand, especially with the new GTO also needing the engine. Examination of blocks, heads and intake manifolds clearly show that only certain dates appear. The GTO tripower manifold is the same as the large car and are dated alike. Heads and blocks are only produced on certain days as well. I would bet if we start some research on the 396, say in 1966, Tonawanda, NY castings are going to be dated similar. It would be interesting to have everyone submit their 325hp or 360 cast date from their cars or parts stash. Also cast dates comparing the cast date for the 1966 Rochester manifold vs. Holley manifold. I bet the similar dates show up, with no continuous consecutive daily castings.

The 6th week of the month?
May 2009 (this month) has 6 weeks... of course, there will not be 6 work weeks (M-F) during any one month, for May 2009, the 1st was a Friday and the 31st was a Sunday... Did the assembly plants operate 6 or 7days per week?

Both January 1966 and July 1966 were like this...

I don't think the bodies were banked, but rather the trim tags probably (IMO) had a date based on an assumed assembly time... As an order came in, they created the trim tag, and they probably looked at how many vehicles were in line in front of that vehicle, and made an estimate on when it would be built...


With a March 29 1966 motor assembly date and a Fisher body assembled 06B, I have a powerplant that waited a couple months before it joined with the June body and had a final assembly day. Pontiac worked on the GM mandate that YOU SELL THE CARS FIRST with little inventory. This is ovious time and time again with most GTO engines, usually cast dated only 2 to 4 weeks prior to the final automobile assembly date. Please note that I say prior assembly date and not cowl tag date. Pontiacs have PHS which can doc the actual final assembly day.

I have seen several 1966 Chevelles with the original engine "Casting" date preceeding the cowl tag date by almost 4 months... Of course the "assembly" dates were much closer (3-4 weeks)...

as for an engine with an assembly date of March 29th , going in a June car... that doesn't seen too unusual... If there was some problem with that engine assembly, it would have gone back and been repaired... Perhaps by the time it was repaired and ready to be installed, it wasn't until June where it reached the front of the line... I have heard of this sort of thing happening from several sources...

However, I have been tracking the 325 distributor, 1111109. Dates include:
5J13
6A3
6B21
6D4
6E16


My '66 1111109 is 5J7.

Tony thanks for the thoughts. Banks were indeed used as they are today. Many seem to show up as `fleet cars` but I hesitate to say `special run.` Taxis for example can be assimilated with regular 4dr production, but some run thru the yellow paint together.
As to the 6week build, no one can say what it means. I too have looked at the months that seem to have 6 `starts.` The only problem I see in your referring to the 1966 calendar with 6 starts, is that you are starting with a calender and not working from an actual firewall tag. This is what I mean. I own a 1964 gto with a `build code of 03F. So now we pull up the calendar for year 1964. We go to March and can only get 5 `starts.` Not 6. I have thrown this 6th month around at the Pontiac site and yup, others out there have the F (6) week code also. I have run into a 1966 SS built in KC with this 6th anomolie.
How about any others out there. Lets here from you if you see an F in your so called date code on the firewall, and where your car was made.