© CaminoWorld

1972 El Camino Production Numbers by Individual Plant*

 

 

Month Baltimore-B Kansas City-K Van Nuys-L
August 1971 500001-505249 500001-505249 500001-502648
September 505250-522853 501742-512946 502649-512707
October 522854-540436 512947-525177 512708-522636
November 540437-558098 525178-538945 522637-532186
December 558099-572416 538946-551076 532187-538839
January 1972 572417-590839 551077-566592 538840-547057
February 590840-611495 566593-584797 547057-556256
March 611496-633406 584798-605219 556257-566402
April 633407-653293 605220-623564 566403-575800
May 653294-675407 623565-643570 575801-586100
June 675408-696631(2) 643571-662884 7A-597853(3)
586101-596324
Total
649,269(1)
196,631
27.69%
162,884
27.06%
96,324
15.91%

* There is no separation of El Camino versus other Chevelle body styles by plant. The production figures above are for all body styles of Chevelle and since only 3 U.S. plants did final assembly of El Caminos, only those 3 plants are listed.

Continuing from 1970, 1971 presents the same challenges on VIN sequencing. The Monte Carlo production is included in the VIN sequence and production total negating any way of separating out the El Camino VIN sequencing.

(1) Chevrolet's published figure for the 1972 model year is 631,661 units and include Monte Carlo production so there does not appear to be an accurate way to know what the last Chevelle VIN would be for any given plant/month. Chevrolet's Accumulative Production Report shows 17,608 units less than reported VIN's. July end of month VIN's were not reported so there would have to be even more units built than Chevrolet's report.

(2) VIN sequence number as high as 702,443 has been reported for Baltimore with a June 4th week body date (06D).

(3) Examples of known Chevelles with VIN number higher than end of the month reported VIN.

Caveats and Disclaimers:

The numbers shown are reported last VINs from each plant per month. The numbers above those in red are instances of matching VIN and Fisher Body plates to show VINs/body dates outside the published numbers. The Fisher Body Number plate build week not match the calendar week; meaning an example body date of 04A may not be the first physical or even calendar week of April. Productions are scheduled well in advance of actual build date and given it takes 3 to 4 days to physically build the car once it is scheduled, you can see where the body date will not always match up with the VIN sequence. Obviously the body plates, and the associated information, are stamped when the cars are scheduled, not as they roll by a particular station. Cars with 04A body dates may run into week 04B of production. GM wouldn't just toss out the existing body number plates with 04A just because the car didn't physically get completed until the following week.

In reality, don't place too much emphasis on the body date as opposed to the last reported VIN for a given month. The anomalies shown are shown for that very reason. It does happen and that should not be a basis for worry that your car may have had the body plate (trim tag) and/or VIN altered.

If you have trim tags/VINs plates with dates and sequence numbers that don't fall into the range of those shown below, please email me the trim tag and sequence number and I'll post the oddity. Email it to me via my contact page.