72 dated wheels

[Rick M.]

Were all 5 of the rally wheels dated the same in 1972? And how close to production of the date of the car should they be? Thanks for your info. Rick

[Terry M.]

Re: 72 dated wheels

All five wheels are not necessarily dated the same, but in most cases they are. I can't tell you about wheel date lead time for 1972 because for part of the year St Louis worked two shifts. That said if memory is right my January 29 1970 has all five wheels dated December 23, 1969.

Just a point of information: The only wheel that is checked for date codes during judging is the spare. The road wheel dates are normally hidden from view.

[Mark D.]

Re: 72 dated wheels

Mr. Grimm used to look through the valve stem hole in the trim ring to see the road wheel(s) date.

[Terry M.]

Re: 72 dated wheels

Mr. Grimm used to look through the valve stem hole in the trim ring to see the road wheel(s) date.

There, I made the operative change for you Mr. Wingedman.

[Terry M.]

Re: 72 dated wheels

Were all 5 of the rally wheels dated the same in 1972? And how close to production of the date of the car should they be? Thanks for your info. Rick

I just received a private communication from John Hinckley assuring me that "St. Louis worked two shifts from the '63 model launch until they closed the doors in 1981. The only exception was during the January, 1964 through end of '67 model run when A.O. Smith provided 50% of the bodies; the St. Louis Body and Paint Shops only worked one shift, but the Trim, Chassis, and Final Assembly departments worked two shifts."

I don't know what happened during 1972 model year, but there are some months where there is dramatically more Corvettes produced than usual. Perhaps those two shifts got longer -- I truly don't know the cause of that apparent increase though. Regardless the production the number of wheels delivered to St Louis would have increased to fill the production demand and there would have been no difference in wheel dating.

I just wanted to set the record straight.

[Ronald L.]

Re: 72 dated wheels

Terry,
Maybe they saved all that body shop labor from 64 - 67 and put them to work in '72

Most probable was sales demand meant they ran over time to meet the requirements.

[Wendel H.]

Re: 72 dated wheels

Rick, here is another spin on dating 1972 wheels. Because the match mounting of tires before February 1972 used tires selected from a coded pile...check your 1971 0r 1972 assembly manual...the wheel assembly dates could vary by several days but all tires would be coded "A" or "B" etc. In 1969 tires were measured by the manufacturer and delivered to Corvette in measured sets of five....and wheels were pulled five at a time from Kelsey Hayes delivery racks and would be all the same day of manufacture. In 1969 and as Terry describes for his 1970 the five consecutive wheels would all be the same day of manufacture. In 1971 and early 1972 wheel installers would grab five wheels with matching "match mounted coded" tires which could have tires installed over several days. Once again, read the tire installation page in your assembly manual. Wendel Hans (13085)

[Roy V.]

Re: 72 dated wheels

Were all 5 of the rally wheels dated the same in 1972? And how close to production of the date of the car should they be? Thanks for your info. Rick

My trim tag from my 72 coupe is stamped L13 (July 13) and all 5 wheels are stamped K125016AZ where 0 is the valve stem hole. I believe this means the wheels were stamped May 16, 1972.
Hope this helps some
Regards
Roy