VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1958-1960 '59 El Camino

Anyone here familiar with serial numbers used before introduction of the 17-digit VIN? Am interested in learning about "H-598223520". Thank you

I can break down your vehicle serial number H598223520 with one exception. If your vehicle was assembled in the US, the number 8 you listed should be a letter which would identify the Assembly Plant build location.

H = 1270 - 1280 series vehicle
59 = the model year
8 = may be a Canadian built identifier or a mis-read for a letter
223520 = is the build sequence number which started at 100001

If the number 8 is a mis-read, the following letters are the Assembly Plant build locations for 1959.

A = Atlanta
B = Baltimore
F = Flint
J = Janesville
K = Kansas City
L = Los Angeles
N = Norwood
O = Oakland
S - Saint Louis
T = Tarrytown
W = Willow Run

A couple months ago a knowledgeable individual posted that station wagon bodies came out of Fisher Body in Cleveland and were sent to other plants for final assembly.

Am wondering if a similar situation applied to the '59/60 El Camino . . . and if so which plant fabricated El Cam bodies?

223520 minus 100001 = over 123,500 builds. Would that be just for this plant (Atlanta) and for all models of 1959 Chev?

Yes, that plant only. The remaining US assembly plants each had a sequence number starting with 100001. I'm unsure just where El Camino were assembled or the total number of El Camino vehicles that were built during the 1959 model year. They could have been assembled on the passenger car line and received the next sequence number. Someone else needs to respond about where El Camino vehicles were assembled, I don't know that answer.

None of the official Chevrolet records I have seem to indicate which plants built El Caminos, but I have recorded '59 El Caminos being built at Atlanta, Baltimore, Flint, Janesville, Los Angeles, Norwood and St. Louis. All the plants received the bodies from Cleveland (Euclid) except for Los Angeles and St. Louis which also made the bodies there.

As for the sequence numbers, they were assigned as each car reached the final assembly line with all body styles mixed. There were a total of 23,837 '59 El Caminos built which includes both 6cyl & V8 models at all plants.
I hope this helps.

Verne

Also, you have to be careful identifying the ElCaminos by the "H" prefix in the VIN, as "H" was also used for the Sedan Delivery models.

To the best of my (limited) knowledge, just about every plant had the capacity & skills to assemble an El Camino; the question was whether bare bodies were fabricated anywhere other than Cleveland, for shipment to plants for final assembly

No BARE BODIES were shipped from any plant to another. Euclid (Cleveland) shipped COMPLETED bodies to other plants for final assembly.
The only other plant that might have shipped bodies to other plants was Lansing, MI, but I haven't encountered any yet.

Verne

Let me try to explain this a little better. Between 58 & 64, there were only three Fisher Body plants that were not connected to a Chevrolet assembly plant.
Euclid: (58-64) Station wagon, convertibles & El Caminos
Flint #1: (60-62 only) Station wagon, convertibles
Lansing, MI: (58-64) Station wagons, convertibles (maybe El Caminos)

No Fisher plant with a Chevrolet assembly plant attached to it would ship a body to another Chevrolet plant for final assembly.

Got it; thankyew Verne for your patience

c.d.p.

An email arrived from an enthusiast which am sharing here: "Low production run models like Nomads, El Caminos, Pontiac Safari's and, in fact, most station wagons were assembled at the Euclid Fisher plant (Cleveland) BECAUSE IT WAS A SMALLER PLANT. GM didn't (or couldn't) use it for large production runs"

Reaction/input?

I have no idea what the size was of the Euclid plant (or the other two Fisher-only plants), but convertibles and station wagons were not low production models. They were however labor intensive and slowed down the line. That is the reason why those models were also built at Euclid, Flint#1 and Lansing.

Verne

As my focus is on Chev Nomad, Pontiac Safari and El Camino, and as the source I quoted was aware, the data got somewhat off-track. Thx again for your input


c.d.p.