--I have observed that Chrysler prints the words “SCHEDULE ORDER” over the words “DATE” and “SEQUENCE” on their ‘TRACK SHEET”. My review of many of these track sheets indicates the four-digit “DATE” and the four-digit “SEQUENCE”, together and concatenated, constitute a plan created somewhat earlier for scheduling to assure all necessary materials, components and workers are available on the assembly line to build the specified car. Certainly, the four-digit “DATE” includes a two-digit month and a two-digit day of that month. On the Body Plate/Fender Tag of our ’64 300K and others the four-digit “DATE” appears under the pre-stamped letters “SO” and the four-digit “SEQUENCE” values fall under the pre-stamped letters “NUMBER”. On the IBM card entitled “CAR RECORD CARD” the combined eight digits are named “SHIPPING ORDER NUMBER” The actual shipping date is also shown on this card.
I believe the date portion of the plans represents a planned assembly date—a date that could slip one way or another depending on actual demand for assembly and resources available to do so. I doubt that one SO date would be allowed to jump ahead of another but, with Chrysler and a fluid timetable of supply and demand, anything is possible—especially with last-minute material shortages or assembly line problems. I consider the “DATE”/”SO” to be an approximate date of actual assembly. Regarding the four-digit “NUMBER”, I am speculating that the first digit indicates an assembly line or area of the plant and the next three digits are unique to each car in sequence on that line or area. I see “NUMBER”’s with the last three digits over 900 so perhaps they would roll in the next “SO” and begin with a “NUMBER” ending in 001. Both “DATE” and “NUMBER” are unique to the plant which is defined in the fourth digit of the VIN. For most, if not all, of our letter cars 1960-65, this fourth digit is “3” and stands for Chrysler’s Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit.
As an aside, I have plotted SO date vs VIN for a number of ‘64’s and find a good, but imperfect, correlation approaching an R-squared of 1.0. Given that 900 or more cars might be built on a single “SO” date this is close enough for government work.
I would truly appreciate editing, additional insights, opinions yea or nay, and any necessary correction of my understanding of the Chrysler assembly line scheduling system during the Golden Days of Letter Cars.
Rich Barber
Sweltering in Brentwood, CA
From: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Jean-Yves Chouinard
Sent: Tuesday, June 1, 2021 5:31 PM
To: Val Jeffers <edward1108@xxxxxxxxx>; chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: {Chrysler 300} 300F rear glass moulding
O.K. What you're saying is that the SO # is the date the car was ordered from the dealer? So very different from the built date or shipping date... I did not know that.
Jean-Yves.
From: Val Jeffers <edward1108@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: June 1, 2021 11:53 PM
To: Jean-Yves Chouinard <jymopar@xxxxxxxxxxx>; chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: {Chrysler 300} 300F rear glass moulding
Just to advise SO stands for the Sales Order number which were on carbonized forms in chronological order supplied in bulk to Dealers then embossed on the data plate of the car ordered.
Thanks
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhoneOn Tuesday, June 1, 2021, 7:17 PM, Jean-Yves Chouinard <jymopar@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I had a few replies to my question about rear glass moulding upper section. Tickled my curiosity...so if anybody out there wants to share with me their SO number and type of rear upper trim on their cars, (one small middle joint or three small joints spread across the top), please do so.
SO # is on the body code plate (not the VIN), located on the upper end of the driver side door post...open the door fully to see the plate, the first four digits is a date code for a possible built or shipping date...
In my spare time, I will make a compilation of the built date and type of trim present and share my findings later with the group.
Nothing scientific here...just wondering if there's a pattern in there with built date...
Thanks!
Jean-Yves Chouinard
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