Earliest build month in 68 ???

What would have been the earliest build month in 1968 that a 1969 cj5 would have? Sept????or earlier?:?:?

 

As I understand it, JEEPs were titled when sold. So a "leftover" 1968 model could be titled as a '69. Not really an answer to your question.

 

I reason I was asking is that I'm going to order decal below from http://www.bearcreeksurvey.com/ForumOnly.htm , and I was wanting know the manufacturing dates of the 1969 CJ5 to choose from.

 

Just from what I recall, the new models came out in late September. The factory has to have enough time to build some cars and ship them to the dealerships, so that every dealership had a starting inventory. The factories shut down some time in the summer for retooling, then started up for the new model year ... I expect no earlier than August. So August ... maybe. September certainly.

Your axles have a production date on them too.



from here http://www.ifsja.org/tech/axle/axleid.html ... but I don't know if the date is in a code or if it's readable as-is. If you can't read it, some research will likely turn up the way to decode it. Axles were built and used right away, so the axle build date should be close to the vehicle build date.

 

I've already checked, but not listed

 

Thanks I'll check that today.

 

My 74 has build dates on the axle as shown(Aug 15), stamped in the rear crossmember(aug 12), Engine number(Aug 16)and ink stamped on the heater blower mount plate(Aug 13). All matches up with the Aug 1974 VIN sticker.

The rear ring gear has 7-8-74 on it.

They were better at "just in time" manufacturing back then then we are at my work.

 

I found no build date on the axles.

 

Just in time manufacturing did not exist in the auto industry in 1974, just ordered parts and stockpiled them to use. Our company runs a 7 day supply max, no parts for a single extra day.
You simply got the last run of parts that year. August of 1974 would have been the changeover, they were either using up stock or getting the 1st batches for the 75 model year.

 

I would expect that the factory would be running at capacity at the beginning of the model year. At that time, they could have gauged their needs quite well, since they knew how many units they would need to stock the dealerships. So I expect any lag in August or September would be short.

Keeping inventory cost money even then; the motivation to keep inventory down hasn't changed. In that era, they just didn't have the means (computers, scanners, and the methods that those enable) to keep close enough account for 'just in time' as we know it today. Inventory control was all on paper.

IME the axle and engine build dates will be pretty close to the chassis build date, at least in the AMC era. No guarantee of a chassis build date, but usually a good indicator.

 

Actually at the beginning of the year is the time when they are not running at full swing. They want to stall somewhat so that production line quirks are worked out along with problems that are found by customers and dealers. You don't want 50k vehicles put out with the same problem so you work up to production over a course of 3-6 weeks.
And no, production back then was not even close to just in time, they would call in large orders that would last weeks and or months, this was common until the late 70's early 80's when robots and computers were incorporated into auto production.
Warehouse space is not what costs money it is paying quarterly taxes on inventory which is what kills them nowadays. Otherwise if you order large lots of parts its cheaper even nowadays.

To give you an idea we charge our customers for every setup on our machines and fab setups. In other words they call on monday and say we want 300 front fascias for thursday, we charge them changeover of paintline, fab and molding presses. They then tell us what sequence of colors and builds (options) they want these in and in what order we are to ship them to the plant on the shipping skids. Our skids are then loaded with say 1 white, 2 blues and 5 silver ones, 2 of them may be for a V6 model 2 of them maybe limited editions with diesels and the others may be for v8 models.
Every rack of parts for that 300 front fascias is sequenced exactly how they want them. (this goes on daily) We then charge them setup costs to change out the tooling to produce the 300 rear fascias they asked for on that same thursday for the same days production. Back then the factory built most of the car parts, today they do not. With the complexity of todays autos they don't even have the space for the machines to produce these parts. The auto companies don't even paint the whole vehicle anymore and haven't for years. Everything that leaves our plant is 100% finished paint assembly and all. They are then bolted onto the vehicle at the assembly plant. Auto plants today are nothing liek they were even 20 years ago let alone 35.