I checked 5 of my 7 '66 4-4-2 fenders, and found a B13, a B23 (the "2" is upside down), a B42, a G42, and an X01.

My '64 does have B09 grease-penned on the driver fender.

 

I didn’t make it to my shop today to look on my fenders. Will check tomorrow..

 

B09 was not an option in 66. There's no option code in the 66 salesman's guide or the 66 order form. There's a B01 Police City Cruiser option and a B07 State Trooper Cruiser option.

 

I wonder why mine both have B09 same as the others
this one too. friend of mine has it now. when we restored it about 8 years ago, I checked. both sides and they are just like mine, stamped B09

its a mystery to me if these just happen to be using a code from 65 that’s not used later. seeing it multiple times the same, I just figured that’s what it meant

 

Yes, that is very odd with the B09 stamping. In 64 they used a grease pen to hand write B09 on the inside of the fender to note the piercing for the 442 emblems. I can't say for sure about 65's having any B09 options or not.

 

I checked my other two fenders, left is a G02, right a B02. FWIW.

 

they are definitely stamped for a reason…and also pre stamped before the upper inner brace is spot welded onto them.

I’ve seen inner door structures also stamped.

maybe it’s a sequencing code so all the specific sheet metal parts comes together at the correct time on the assembly line?

 

I’m at the shop. I can’t find a stamp on either one of them, but then again they could be buried in epoxy primer that was sanded down then build primer, but I don’t see any stamp on either fender anywhere.

 

As the Google article posted by Canadian Olds stated;
These are production identifiers, meant to identify parts as to date and plant made.
If a particular part was identified as defective, then all parts made the same day or shift were scrutinized carefully.
Often when one defective part was made it was followed by others. Because a machine was out of adjustment or a worker was having a bad day,
This way, they could pull all the defective items before they went to the assembly line.
Casting dates and mold markings on cast parts worked the same way.
GM didn't really put the markings on these parts for historic purposes, so that all of us could play a "numbers matching" game 60 years later.
It would be nice if someone who worked for GM "back in the day" would chime in with more info.

 

sounds reasonable.

I just checked another two 66 regular cutlass fenders from the same original car. they’re stamped quite differently. I suspect because there would have been a lot more regular cutlass fenders stamped , so the spread difference between the digit range would be greater than a 442 fender . maybe the 442 fenders run would be closer , or the same. the second pic is definitely not an X like the first

 

they must be there burried somewhere. it’s stamped almost exactly between the two centre slotted holes for the hood rubbers

 

It's the same month/day date coding of any other part.

Production stamping works like this. In the back of Fisher Body, and/or whoever else made the doors, hoods, whatever, there is a coil field with rolls of steel of specific thicknesses, coatings, and widths. Those coils get ordered the shift before they are used, typically. They get selected, run through something called a blanker, and are cookie cuttered into shapes and stacked. Those stacks of blanks are stored. Later, they are put into the front of a press and loaded. What are now robots, but used to be a armature system called TAPS, would pick them up, put them through a series of up to 4 dies. The stamped part would roll out the belt on the end, be inspected, stoned, and here is where GM would stamp it with the hand stamps. My OEM just puts them in a pallet with a card that tracks them.

Those pallets go into a pallet field via forktruck. Forktrucks from weld come and get them as needed to keep the line supplied. The workers pull them as needed to build. We scan the card in when we start using it, so those lots are know on what vehicles they are on. The GM ones apparently keep their stamp.

It doesn't matter when a given pallet gets to the line since all the parts are interchangeable. Special parts, like 442 fenders, will be in their own pallet next to the Cutlass ones, and will be made in smaller lots. They are probably the same draw die, but different piercing dies for emblem holes or molding holes, depending on the year. Parts are scheduled to be made in batches in the stamping presses as needed to keep you from both going full or running out.

My OEM learned GM production in their first US plant that was an alliance plant with GM and was formerly Fremont assembly. I've seen the presses that made Fremont 442s.

 

Well I have everything sanded down to 400 grit with the exception of one fender still has the black powder on it. I still need to wet sand to 600 grit, go around all sharp edges with 600, go back over the car three times to make sure I got everything. Then shoot the jambs, install front and back windshields. Tape it all up. I have a friend in the restoration business going to swing by and give it a last look to make sure I didn’t miss anything. So I will be spraying base clear soon. Hopefully my practice on my fender will give me a great outcome. No doubt I will need to cut and buff the clear. Been a long hard journey, let’s hope I don’t screw it up. 😄

 

Well I got the jams and cowl area painted today. I got some spot priming to do where I rub through, the whole car is blocked down with 400. So once I spot primer it in, all wet sand with 400 softly and then finish it out with 600 wet and then I’m gonna tape it off and spray it and let’s hope for the best. I’ve had a little experience with a spray gun, but never painted a whole car so I’m a little nervous but I think it’ll be all right worst case scenario as I can wet sand it polish it out I hope as long as I don’t get mottling on that metallic paint.. it’s been a long process with the metal work, the bodywork and blocking and blocking and blocking until your shoulders are ready to fall off. I’m no spring chicken.. it’s all good though I enjoy doing it. I really do.

 

Nice work Andy, I'm sure it will turn out well for you.

 

‘Thank you my friend..I hope so. You have been a true inspiration no doubt..

 

Judging by the way your practice fender turned out, it looks like you will be satisfied with the outcome. I wish that I still had your energy. Lol

 

Keep up the good work, Andy. It's turning out extremely nice.

 

I got the hood, trunk and fenders painted. Body next.

 

Wow, I finished the body today. What a ton of work. Now I have to do the wet sand and polish as there is some trash in the clear and some orange peel. This is the first car I have ever painted. It’s a ton of work. My buddy Randy managed the hose and helped clean the shop along with masking it off. 2 long days.. I had to buy the man a beer..

 

Good stuff. Looks good now, will look better as planned.

 

Very Nice!

 

Great job Andy, Congrats.

 

Andy, you can paint my car and I'll gladly buy you the beer! Looking great!

 

Look'in good !
What type of paint did you use?

 

Great job!

 

‘I used all PPG products, black epoxy primer, body work, PPG VP2050 2k primer light gray, shopline code L base coat and PPG dcu2021 clear.

 

The paint looks great, nice job! It’s gonna be quite a looker when done! 👍

 

Thanks, started wet sanding a little yesterday. It’s flattening out nicely.

 

S





Yesterday I wet sanded the one fender down and did a two stage buff/polish on it. Turned out pretty good. I figured I would do the rest of the car then put it all together. Then I can evaluate it as a whole and see if I need to do a better job of buffing polishing etc. my main concern is not getting to crazy and sanding through the clear into the base. So I will sacrifice a bit to avoid that. Besides this will be a very nice street driven car.

 

Nice job Andy - looks fantastic

 

Got the other fender done , now onto the body.

 

Making good progress..Got both fenders, the roof, sail panels and passenger side door and rear quarter cut and buffed. Starting to get excited about putting the body back together..been a long process.

 

Absolutely gorgeous! Love that color! What a great job you have done, very pretty.

 

That paint is turning out great!
lots of time and work summed up in a few pictures. I can’t imagine how hard you’re working on it.

and I’m digging that color the more I see it on your car

 

‘Thank you, yes, a ton of hours but it’s worthwhile to me.. 😊

 

I think that the next car I decide to frame off/repaint- I might try to do it myself.
I’ll come down to Sarasota and view your work

 

your more than welcome. I will yell you exactly what I did and what I could have done better.

 

In the process of wet sanding and buffing I had a drip of clear land on the door during painting. ( I made the amateur mistake of over filling the cup with clear and it bled out the top air bleed on the cup dripping onto the door when I can]me off the roof) So that drip of clear pulled some color out of the base as it was the first coat of clear. Anyway I figured I would just block down the run and polish. As you can see it left a discolored spot the size of a quarter. I consulted a friend on how to repair this as I was highly irritated at my mistake. However he told me how to block it down with 1000 grit wet sanding. Then use the same exact gun you used to paint with and just whiff a coat on the spot, let dry, whiff it again the other direction. Dry and one more time till it is covered. Be careful not to over blend, let dry and clear the whole door. I followed his directions with a diaper on as I was about to **** myself 😂.. And miraculously it worked out great. Boy was I relieved. Thanks Greg..appreciate your help and direction.

 

Now the long tedious job of assembly. I got one fender back on yesterday and assembled the tail light assembly. Also cleaned /painted the front and back bumper brackets. Waiting on new gaskets etc. probably start polishing the trim next.