AMC's inventory methods and dates

Steve_P wrote: 99.9999% it's not original. From what I've seen, common parts like alternators, fuel pumps, starters, etc, that every V8 used were built close to the build date- a few weeks or months, because these parts were used on every V8, were built regularly by the vendors, and moved thru the system quickly. Specific parts that were used on very few cars, like a 1968 390 4spd AFB were batch built, and from what I've seen, not necessarily every month. An early April 1968 built car can have a December 67 carb and an late April car can have a March 68 built carb. I don't think I've ever seen a January or February 1968 build 390 4spd carb, but I've seen a lot of December 67 and March 68. Same is true with AIR pump hoses, proportioning valves, etc- you will see a lot of them with identical date codes. These parts were not made every month at the vendors.

I'll just throw this out there.  At some of the larger Mopar assembly plants, like Lynch Road, common items like wheels were inventoried in huge numbers.  As the consequences of running out of parts was severe, managers always kept a lot of stock on hand.  The first shipment of wheels in stock could remain in the back of the storage area literally for years if the wheel style didn't change.  But when the wheel design changed and the order went out to exhaust inventory, out came wheels that were years earlier than the production year.  Again, just throwing this out there.

Lyle - I have a list, partially compiled, I plan on posting as soon as I get a chance to finish it, etc.

It uses AMC's information, Motorola's sales info (they kept track of what they sold to AMC) as well as other data I've tried to gather. 

Hmmmm, I never got that far into it, I was just a hobbyist who made simple basic circuits and experimented around a bit - any chance you could repair an oscilloscope with a blown power supply? A Heath unit?

I did use the codes to look up old stuff I had - there are similar codes for computer parts and components I used to find the manufacturers when there was no name on them.

6PakBee wrote: Steve_P wrote: 99.9999% it's not original. From what I've seen, common parts like alternators, fuel pumps, starters, etc, that every V8 used were built close to the build date- a few weeks or months, because these parts were used on every V8, were built regularly by the vendors, and moved thru the system quickly. Specific parts that were used on very few cars, like a 1968 390 4spd AFB were batch built, and from what I've seen, not necessarily every month. An early April 1968 built car can have a December 67 carb and an late April car can have a March 68 built carb. I don't think I've ever seen a January or February 1968 build 390 4spd carb, but I've seen a lot of December 67 and March 68. Same is true with AIR pump hoses, proportioning valves, etc- you will see a lot of them with identical date codes. These parts were not made every month at the vendors. I'll just throw this out there.  At some of the larger Mopar assembly plants, like Lynch Road, common items like wheels were inventoried in huge numbers.  As the consequences of running out of parts was severe, managers always kept a lot of stock on hand.  The first shipment of wheels in stock could remain in the back of the storage area literally for years if the wheel style didn't change.  But when the wheel design changed and the order went out to exhaust inventory, out came wheels that were years earlier than the production year.  Again, just throwing this out there.

I have extensively documented the build dates of parts on multiple original AMC cars to the build date of the cars. They follow the trends I stated, but people can believe what they want and there's always a story. These cars didn't have two year old parts on them when new- think about it, a two year old alternator would already be out of warranty if AMC tried to return it to Motorola!

I've said this before, but AMC built 200,000-250,000 cars a year at Kenosha. They didn't store 50k engines, 50k alternators, 200k rims.....

The parts were generally FIFO installed with build dates of parts to build of cars- with a few exceptions of a few weeks on a few parts here and there. They were not randomly pulling parts out of a giant pile- it was obviously fairly orderly to move the inventory of parts in a FIFO fashion.

But again, this is based on real research, which I realize not that entertaining   

Steve_P wrote:   I have extensively documented the build dates of parts on multiple original AMC cars to the build date of the cars. They follow the trends I stated, but people can believe what they want and there's always a story. These cars didn't have two year old parts on them when new- think about it, a two year old alternator would already be out of warranty if AMC tried to return it to Motorola! I've said this before, but AMC built 200,000-250,000 cars a year at Kenosha. They didn't store 50k engines, 50k alternators, 200k rims..... The parts were generally FIFO installed with build dates of parts to build of cars- with a few exceptions of a few weeks on a few parts here and there. They were not randomly pulling parts out of a giant pile- it was obviously fairly orderly to move the inventory of parts in a FIFO fashion. But again, this is based on real research, which I realize not that entertaining

Well I hope it doesn't become THAT entertaining!!

I suspect this was a one-off thing, the more I dig and think about it. 
Logic supports weeks ahead, likely not over a couple of months ahead.
I also don't have record of any other customer unit that has such a huge gap in alternator number vs. car build date.

One can look at the 1970 model year - Motorola had a bulletin they sent out to all of their dealers and service centers stating they had stopped using the old model numbering system that had OEM codes in them. That document was dated something like April 1969.
If AMC had stockpiled months worth of inventory, we'd have seen those old A12NAM numbers clear into the 1970 model year instead of just days or weeks. By October they had gotten into the new numbered units. (based on customer data I have collected)
40 amp was replaced by 55 amp in 1967 - and I have not yet seen any 1968 cars with a 40 amp alternator. That should be the case if they had a year's worth of inventory.

As far as warranty - AMC destroyed a fair number of alternators in-house and did their own repairs in the factory....... I wonder how many DOA units they had that they didn't break themselves during installation etc.? LOL