|
|
|
Beginning in 1982, the first year for the Jersey Late Greats, a special project was launched. It was first called the Accessory Code Project, later called the Cowl Tag Project. Why was this project started? No sooner than our chapter started attracting new members, we became aware that there were lots of '58-'64 Chevys out there which were being upgraded with nice original options and equipment that were available for the cars, but not necessarily original to those particular cars. The addition of these options, of course, added value to the cars. Some members inquired within our chapter for advice as how to determine whether a car they were considering for purchase was "original" with these options or whether the options had just been added (to justify the higher asking price) To some members, it didn't matter, but to others, it did.
So how could our chapter support it's members by helping to answer these questions? In some cases, especially in those early years, it was easy to tell if an option was original to a car just by having a member with a good knowledge of the cars make a visual inspection. Many times the addition of some options was done poorly, not at all as the factory would have done. But many times it was either difficult to tell, or a visual inspection by one of our more knowledgeable members was not practical. What then? Well, we knew the Fisher Body cowl tag had cryptic codes stamped on it at the factory after the heading "ACC", which apparently indicated some of the options which the factory had installed. But what options?? We sensed that these codes provided the "birth certificate" information we needed to support the interests of our chapter members as well as all Late Great Chevy hobbyists..
Let's review a little history to put these Fisher Body cowl tags into perspective so we know why they are there in the first place and what kind of information we can expect to be contained on them..
60% of Fisher was originally purchased by United Motors, a holding company owned by General Motors, from the Fisher Brothers in 1919, (also purchased earlier were controlling interests in Hyatt, Delco, Frigidaire and Dayton). By 1925 Fisher Body was fully owned by GM, and until 1968 was operated as a separate company under the same roofs as Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Cadillac, all owned by General Motors. Between 1958 and 1964 Fisher Body was operating at a total of 18 different assembly plants (producing full size Chevrolets) around the country, 15 of which also housed Chevrolet assembly lines. The other 3 Fisher Body plants, Cleveland, Flint #1, and Lansing had to ship partially assembled bodies to the Fisher Body lines at other assembly plants which also had Chevrolet final assembly lines.
Fisher's production was controlled by GM's need to fill dealer orders for certain models with a variety of equipment. In some cases the bodies had to be made differently to accommodate different options, some installed by Fisher, some later, on the Chevrolet assembly line after the body met up with it's appropriate chassis. The point is, although Fisher built bodies to accept a variety of Chevrolet options, their own body labelling method, the cowl tag, contained information that only related to the body itself. Fisher Body, through the use of the cowl tag, provided information on each body in 8 separate categories. The information on the cowl tag was not placed on the cars for the benefit of the assembly line workers who were building the car, (they used the Production Broadcast Notice, or "build sheet", as most people call it); it was meant to be a permanent record of the way each body was manufactured for purposes of later identification for dealer servicing, or warranty claims. It also protected the manufacturer against possible safety or legal claims, considering that over the life span of these cars equipment might be changed.
So, realizing that, all we had to do was decipher these codes. Then we could tell any Late Great owner or potential buyer whether the options on the car were original or not. The member would then have the knowledge to decide what the car was worth to him. At least he would know what he was about to buy or how to properly restore a car he already owned.
What an undertaking! There was no literature available with a cross reference of these codes, and it didn't appear that Chevrolet could provide it (whether they even had it or not). We were left to devise a method of our own. The Project was born, and over the course of many years, original cars were sought out, mostly in junk yards (these were the cars we used to say "told no lies"), a complete list of optional equipment on every car was compiled and the codes were logged. Photographs were taken of the tags. Also noted were many other details relating to differences in the manufacturing methods between plants, or the date of production at each plant. A relational data base was created, and through lots of sorting and cross referencing, the meaning of the codes, one by one, became known. By the end of 1992, and after 10 years of field work and research, we had deciphered 99% of the codes and the Jersey Late Greats launched it's Documentation Service.
In the April, 1993 issue of the LGCA magazine, Pat Chappell, a noted and well respected Chevrolet author, broke the news to the rest of the Late Great Chevy world of the Jersey Late Great's Cowl Tag Project. In the months following, the response to our project and Documentation Service was terrific. Many letters came in from members with positive comments and offers of help to provide more information to the data base. This interest from our fellow members in helping us collect data from each assembly plant over the 7 Late Great years was just what we had hoped for - and has helped provide the kind of documentation we need to assemble in order to help other members with questions pertaining to restoration details or about the originality and authenticity of their own cars. These were, if you recall, the two goals of the project.
Recently, there have been some books published which contain Accessory Codes for the Late Great years. While many codes have been listed in these books, the information is inaccurate and misleading. Fisher Body was not very consistent in it's coding methods. Codes changed by assembly plant and by year. A code might designate one option at one plant but a different option at another plant. In some cases, we've even documented options which had their codes changed at the same plant during the same model year! While this lack of uniformity made our job of deciphering them a formidable task, it also proved to be a blessing for the hobby. Today, there is very little assurance that a "reproduction" cowl tag made with these published codes will accurately represent the options which might have been added to the car. In addition, all "reproduction" cowl tags look the same, even though the 'data' might be different. However, all original cowl tags were not stamped the same way. Many subtle differences exist between plants and years which we have painstakingly documented; samples of original tags are retained in our files and are used for reference during the documentation process. Other than having the original window sticker or "build sheet" for your car, the Jersey Late Greats Documentation Service remains the only accurate method of determining the original equipment installed by the factory on a 1958 to 1964 Chevrolet passenger car.
In order to preserve the validity of our Documentation Service, so that we can continue to help the true hobbyist authenticate their car, the Jersey Late Greats has maintained a policy of withholding the meanings of the individual codes, even when offered a large sum of money by one of the largest national magazines on the newsstands. Our original intention was not to make money from this service, but to provide it as inexpensively as possible, and to this day, no one in the Jersey Late Greats has profited from this project. In fact, many members have incurred substantial expenses in order to gather and donate information to the project. The fees charged for the service defray some of the costs of providing the service. All fees go directly into the Jersey Late Greats treasury. It is our pleasure to continue to offer this Documentation Service. The cost of the Service is $25. If interested, please order the Documentation Service through our club. Documenation time can vary, depending on the specific aspects of each vehicle. The research time is also volunteered, so please allow up to 60 days for us to supply the finished Documentation Sheets for your car. Thanks...
If you have an unrestored original car that you would be willing to document for us in order to add more information to our data base we would be very grateful. In that case, please write to the Jersey Late Greats, PO Box 1294, Hightstown, NJ 08520 and we will send you forms to fill out and return to the Project. The information you donate will help other members just like you in their search for the truth about these cars we love.
Portions of this article have been taken from an article (by the same author) in the June 1993 issue of Late Great Chevys. .