How rare is it to find a buildsheet and where have they been found?

Build sheets in Norwood Camaros are a lot less common than build sheets in Los Angeles Camaros, but some of the owners here have them.
Look in the usual places. The seats are always the easiest place to look first.

On top of the gas tank is another place to look, although a bit more of a pain than looking under the seats. ;)

http://home.fuse.net/jbprather/70bsheet.htm

Being a Corvette owner also, I have been told Via NCRS Discussion Board
that the St. Louis factory had an unfortunate fire that destroyed the
build sheets from the factory. What is the official reason for the where
abouts for the factory buildsheets for the Camaro's? Did Chevrolet just throw them away?

Will be attending the Document/Trim Tag course at Bloomington Gold with
Al Grenning/John Hinckley this June to get a "update" on this subject. Any
idea's on this subject.

Larry:bowtie:

What is the official reason for the where
abouts for the factory buildsheets for the Camaro's? Did Chevrolet just throw them away?

Yes, they did throw them away. Build sheets were just what their name implies. They were needed to "build" each car with the correct parts. Once the car was assembled, there was no further use for the build sheet so they went into the trash can where they belonged.
The surviving sheets are the ones that the assembly line workers didn't take the time to pull from the parts as they assembled the car.

even if the factory had a copy for their reference , there want much reason to keep them after the car left the line. it wasn't as if the car was coming back to the factory for any reason. it was pretty much the dealers responsibility at that point

If that was the reason why did every other manufacturer keep them and
most of the other GM divisions? I think Chevrolet really missed the boat on
this. I'm not the only one that thinks this; believe me. If they keep them
there would be a lot less "clones" out there.
Larry:bowtie:

Thanks

If that was the reason why did every other manufacturer keep them and
most of the other GM divisions? I think Chevrolet really missed the boat on
this. I'm not the only one that thinks this; believe me. If they keep them
there would be a lot less "clones" out there.
Larry:bowtie:
First, no one ever expected a production line car like the Camaro to be collectible let alone worth 10's of thousands of dollars (or even hundreds of thousands in some cases) - these were not hand built , bespoke rolls Royces or Bugattis.

Second, so far as a I know other GM divisions kept invoice records not build sheets. As far as a I am aware only Pontiac records are currently available.

Third, Chevrolet built way more cars than the other divisions in GM making for literally mountains of paper work to be archived if they had kept invoices as Pontiac did.

Fourth, GM (all divisions) cares not how many clones are out there. They care about selling new cars not preserving old cars. If they can sell parts to us collectors and restorers then that helps the bottom line (but only a little) it will never be their core business (assuming they still have a business in the coming months)

^ exactly!

the plant i worked at (Tarrytown ) was on the shore of the Hudson river. we went into the basement once or twice for a "safety meeting" and there was tons of files down there. there was also water, mold, and roaches as big as bace balls(i found a set of 66 caprice tail lights also)! you have to remember chevys ,pontiacs, buicks, and olds all ran down the same line in the same plant. so if records(not build sheets) got thrown away it was all brands at the plant.

I always wondered how those build sheets got into the seat assys though. Between the springs and pad. On some cars and not others. Weird stuff there. I could see getting thrown under carpet or inside kick panels etc.

I always wondered how those build sheets got into the seat assys though. Between the springs and pad. On some cars and not others. Weird stuff there. I could see getting thrown under carpet or inside kick panels etc.

As parts were set out for assembly, they got a copy of the build sheet attached to them to identify which parts belonged with each car. Many times, the sheets were not removed from the parts as the parts were installed in the car.
There was not just one copy of the build sheet. There were many. Big parts like gas tanks and seats got their own copy to identify them.

seats were assembled in the "cushion room" part of the soft trim dept. a different sub assembly part of the plant then loaded on a type of carrier over to the line in sync with the line. the build sheet was put info facing out ( usually) so if seats got out of sync with the line there would be a visible record of which car the seat was going

FWIW: Maybe they didn't care about saving the invoice/buildsheets in the 60's/early
70's but they sure changed there mind in a hurry. All invoices are available
for all Chevrolet products 1977 to now. Call GM Historical at 9054407618 and
talk to George Zapora. They will get you the invoices for a fee. I have gotten
a few for my "newer" vehicals. I have not needed any resently.
Maybe this service is gone now due to the layoffs/cutbacks.
Larry:bowtie:

P.S. Sure wished they would have changed their mind a few years earlier.

FWIW: Maybe they didn't care about saving the invoice/buildsheets in the 60's/early
70's but they sure changed there mind in a hurry. All invoices are available
for all Chevrolet products 1977 to now. Call GM Historical at 9054407618 and
talk to George Zapora. They will get you the invoices for a fee. I have gotten
a few for my "newer" vehicals. I have not needed any resently.
Maybe this service is gone now due to the layoffs/cutbacks.
Larry:bowtie:

P.S. Sure wished they would have changed their mind a few years earlier.


You have your facts mixed up. Zapora is in Canada and they can only suppply info on cars sold in Canada or produced in Canada. They do not have build sheets, they have records which list the options etc for cars and how many they produced or imported and the selling dealer if in Canada.

Invoice for GM cars is available for a fee from a GM outside supplier, most 1977 up.

You cannot get any buildsheets.


G.M. of Canada through their Vintage Vehicle Services department are able to provide vehicle build info such as rpo's, original engine id numbers, production date, trim and paint codes, production numbers and engineering specifications on all Canadian built or sold Chevelles, Camaros, Corvettes etc.
This applies if the plant code in your vin is the number 1, if it is a letter like B for Baltimore we probably would not have the info. There were some Chevelles imported to Canada from Baltimore and Kansas City (in limited numbers).

In general we have, as available, option content, shipping and/or production date, selling dealer name or code, trim and paint codes, production numbers for that model at our plants, producing plant, engine size and HP and most engine ID stamping codes, mvma or engineering specifications, and some promo material from the current day.

Data varies according to model year and normal turn around time in fall and winter is 2-3 weeks, in spring and summer it can run 4-5 weeks. If someone is buying a car and needs to know the same day we can fax just the option (rpo) list on the vehicle so they know if it is legitimate or fake, it's is a $69.55 charge to fax this, with the rest of the package following in the normal time frame.

If the vin number has a letter in the middle it is U.S. built so it is doubtful we would have any info unless it was originally sold in Canada. If the vin has the number 1 it is usually a Canadian built car and we should have info on it. If we have no info then there is no charge.

* As an example: In 1969 we built 15,356 Chevelles for U.S. sale, and 42,524 full size Chevrolets.
* In 1970 that jumped to 42,594 Chevelles, down to 11,109 full size Chevrolets and 25,388 Pontiac LeMans models.
* In 1971 we shipped 18,261 Chevelles south to the U.S., as well as 16,003 Monte Carlos, and 74, 903 full size Chevrolets.
* In 1972 we shipped 36,879 Chevelles south as well as 17,734 Monte Carlos.

And all this is on top of Canadian sales, which means if the car was sold by GM Canada we would have records on those COPO 427 Chevelles from 1969 that we sold here even though they were Baltimore built, we also have records on Canadian built 442's, Camaros, GTO's, GS455's, you name it.

On current day product we can provide the same info going back 8 years on all new cars, Canadian or U.S. sold or built. This includes 1993 and newer Camaro, Firebird and Corvette models
Note that on modern product we have no U.S. production numbers.