MMJ said: I found this on another forum. Looks like it's a work order number.
I believe the number you found is the 'job number'.
At the beginning of the body line the workers developed an 'in-house' numbering sequence that ran from 1 to 500. It also appears on the
engine compartment side of the passengers foot well, and on the gas tank side of the rear bulkhead. It appears, as well, in pencil on the tank sheet.
Mark
My guess is that it is the job number. While the use of the job number began to change in the 1970s, in the late 1960s, it was typical of the job number to be written on body panels so during body assembly, all the parts would go together. The job number was only used in the body shop and was not a work order number. In 1973, the job number was printed along with RPOs, broadcast codes, schedule data and other information on the buildsheet.
Here's a link to a two-page excerpt from my buildsheet book that describes job numbers, body panels and buildsheet. Its introduced with a 1973 job number on the passenger side underbody panel...as you describe. I am not sure which years but the early C3s had a shield over the underbody panel that, ironically protected the quality of the hand-written grease pencil number.
Now, the only place that confirms your job number would be the tank sticker and...as you described penciled onto it.
|UPDATED|11/15/2013 11:41:18 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|
