GM parts labels question.

[Bruce B.]

When did GM switch from the gold/yellow and black parts boxes/labels to the white-blue label with black printing?
Thanks.

[Gary C.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

Bruce,

Don Partridge (761) of the Oklahoma Chapter could answer your question. Don's a TDB member.

Gary
....

corrected name

[Joe L.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

When did GM switch from the gold/yellow and black parts boxes/labels to the white-blue label with black printing?
Thanks.

Bruce------

There was a phase-in period and, of course, parts in GMSPO inventory were not re-boxed. So, someone could have purchased a yellow/black boxed part long after the change had occurred. However and generally, I believe the change occurred somewhere in the 1965-66 period.

[Bill W.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

Another way of telling the age of a new part is if it has a zip code in the address . I forgot the year they started using zip codes .

[Duke W.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

In the mid seventies I purchased a new set of OE J-65 metallic brake shoes (along with drums, springs, and wheel cylilnders) from GM for my SWC. The shoes and drums came in the old brown/yellow boxes, and I figured they had been in the warehouse almost since the time my car was built.

Very few Corvette owners replaced J-65 shoes with OE parts if/when time came to do a brake job. Also, in normal road driving those shoes would easily last well over 100K miles. Mine still had plenty of material left at 115K miles, including a few hundred miles of race track hot lapping, but I wanted to renew everything to brand new condition for the next 100K miles. With new shoes, drums, springs, brake and wheel cylinders and silicone fluid I figured I would never again need to do any brake work.

For most J-65 owners, work was probably initiated by hydraulic leaks due to lack of fluid changes, and most service shops would have recommended new shoes, too, but used aftermarket asbestos based. Drums would likely have been replaced because by the time the J-65 shoes reached end of life, the drums were worn beyond the turning limit.

In recent years some owners have discovered what are probably original J-65 shoes with plenty of material left during restoration. My recommendation is to mark the postions of all shoes and drums, completely rebuild the hydraulic components with silicone fluid, then reassemble the shoes and drums in the same position and fill the system with silicone fluid.

The J-65 springs were specially heat treated to resist extremely high temperature and unless the car was seriously raced, they likely have their original rate characterisitics.

Such a rebuild maintains the original and excellent performing J-65 system, and the system rebuild cost is a song compared to the cost of rebuilding the disk system.

Duke

[Wayne M.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

In the mid seventies I purchased a new set of OE J-65 metallic brake shoes (along with drums, springs, and wheel cylinders) from GM for my SWC. The shoes and drums came in the old brown/yellow boxes, and I figured they had been in the warehouse almost since the time my car was built.

Duke -- Here's the J65s I bought in the late '70s. I sold them to a local friend, but took these pics of the included installation instructions which were Rev. (# D3375), dated 10/1/66. I forget whether these came from the front shoe boxes 3794191 or the rears, 3794194.








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[Joe L.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

Another way of telling the age of a new part is if it has a zip code in the address . I forgot the year they started using zip codes .

Bill-----

ZIP codes began during 1963. However, that's not necessarily when GM started including them on parts label addresses. Certainly they would not have done it before 1963 but it might have required some years after 1963 before they included it on the labels. As I recall, when ZIP codes began, they were more-or-less "optional" for some period of time.

[Steven B.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

Bruce, I bought some parts Dec. '64 packaged in black/yellow and in late '66 (IIRC) in blue/white. I will have to dig out some of my receipts to be certain of purchase dates but have no idea how long they were in inventory since I was buying for the '57. Steve

[John H.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

ZIP codes began during 1963.

Joe -

That's what I was going to say - I was flying helicopters for a living at Fort Wolters, Texas in 1963, and living off-base in a new civilian apartment complex, and I recall all the new posters touting the new "Zip" codes the mailman put up on our central mailbox area. I think it was 76067.

[Peter L.]

Re: GM parts labels question.

Bill - ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan. Pete