Factory build number?

[Timebender]

I had a dealership that sells classic cars ask me today what the Factory Build Number was of my car, as they've have a person interested in buying it (if the buyer wants to pay what I'm asking then I'd sell and get another...).

I know there's the VIN, but the buyer was interested in the FBN... is there on one the car, and if so, where?


Greg

[kings1527]

I had a dealership that sells classic cars ask me today what the Factory Build Number was of my car, as they've have a person interested in buying it (if the buyer wants to pay what I'm asking then I'd sell and get another...).

I know there's the VIN, but the buyer was interested in the FBN... is there on one the car, and if so, where?


Greg

I've never heard of a factory build number on the car, other than a frame number and engine number which hardly (if ever) correlate with one another. I'd have to assume he was referring to the VIN.

[Timebender]

I thought he was as well, so I gave him the last 5 of mine - since I don't have the car with me and can't remember the whole thing, whereas 07000 is super EASY to remember. But they came back and asked if there was an actual build number...

Oh- hmm, maybe he wants to know what number off the line, like it was the 150th DeLorean off the line or something like that.

[Mark D]

In general I don't think there are exact records of when each VIN precisely was built in relation to other VINs around it.

If someone is asking for the build number you can tell them the last 5 of your VIN, or you can explain that production started at VIN 500, so if your car is VIN 07000 it was approximately the 6500th car to roll off the line, give or take a few.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

I thought he was as well, so I gave him the last 5 of mine - since I don't have the car with me and can't remember the whole thing, whereas 07000 is super EASY to remember. But they came back and asked if there was an actual build number...

Oh- hmm, maybe he wants to know what number off the line, like it was the 150th DeLorean off the line or something like that.

This never comes up but you can subtract 500 off your VIN and tell him it's the 6500th off the line if that will make him happy. It's not really a relevant question but that would be my answer since the production cars began with VIN 500.
Rob

Oops Mark just beat me to it!

[Jonathan]

In general I don't think there are exact records of when each VIN precisely was built in relation to other VINs around it.

If someone is asking for the build number you can tell them the last 5 of your VIN, or you can explain that production started at VIN 500, so if your car is VIN 07000 it was approximately the 6500th car to roll off the line, give or take a few.

Perfect, haha. The list of "close only counts in..." just got another entry:

Horseshoes
Hand grenades
Nuclear weapons
and DeLorean production chronology, lol

[content22207_2]

Numbers are mostly meaningless as far as production sequencing is concerned (two cars with adjacent VIN's may well have *NOT* traveled sequentially through the assembly building). Underbodies and their doors were lined up against the outside wall (underbody/door/door, underbody/door/door, etc) until doors could be made to work well enough, at which time the underbody with its doors already attached were transferred to whatever chassis assembly happened to be rolling by:

40215

(This can also be seen in Pages 254-265 of the Celebrating the Impossible book).

Moreover, partially assembled problem cars at the factory piled up in a holding area "by the fence," then were brought back inside later to be completed (before the QAC's got their hands on them, redoing much of that work all over again). My car is an October 1981 VIN with December 1981 dates under its headliners. It also came from the factory with integrated door pull straps. Obviously my car sat by the fence for a couple of months and was brought back into the factory in December to be completed.

Sequence out of the QAC's was all over the map.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[SamHill]

It wasn't even important years later. In the early issues of Delorean World, you see articles/for sale ads that don't mention VINs at all. Nobody outside of the small number of people performing work on the cars cared at that point.

[Mark D]

It wasn't even important years later. In the early issues of Delorean World, you see articles/for sale ads that don't mention VINs at all. Nobody outside of the small number of people performing work on the cars cared at that point.

That raises an interesting question...at what point did people start to understand some of the minor production changes and differences between early and later cars? I'm assuming there was a pretty long stretch of time where the average person looking to buy a DeLorean had no idea about some of common rolling changes like the clocks, radios, antennas, door pulls, etc.

[David T]

For other makes of cars the factory build # may have some meaning but in the world of Deloreans all we have is the VIN #, the build date (month and year), and the frame #. The frame # has no meaning. The motor # and the tranaxle # have no relation to the VIN #. There are no color codes. There is no "Build Sheet". All of this means there is no way to authenticate exactly how and when the car was built like you can do with other makes of cars. One thing we DO have is vin # cut-off dates for when certain production changes were made. But even that is inaccurate and subject to variation.

[Dangermouse]

The only thing close to a build sheet would be the Window Sticker which shows which of the extensive range of Options that particular car originally had :rofl:

[DMCVegas]

For other makes of cars the factory build # may have some meaning but in the world of Deloreans all we have is the VIN #, the build date (month and year), and the frame #. The frame # has no meaning. The motor # and the tranaxle # have no relation to the VIN #. There are no color codes. There is no "Build Sheet". All of this means there is no way to authenticate exactly how and when the car was built like you can do with other makes of cars. One thing we DO have is vin # cut-off dates for when certain production changes were made. But even that is inaccurate and subject to variation.

Bingo. Even my doors have another car's VIN written on them, but it was crossed out and then mine was written in with the Key Code untouched. Who knows if that was a goof of synchronizing doors with the main assembly line, or just installing the wrong set of locks onto another car's doors that instead had to be switched with mine, or who knows what else...

Even with other traditional vehicles that had "build sheets" and the like, not even those always match up to what "should" have been built versus what actually DID roll off of the production line.

For some vehicles it's good information to know for repair purposes. Such as how an engine can be built differently at two separate plants between the production run, despite being the same model. But this doesn't sound like a well versed DeLorean enthusiast asking such a question. Which makes me wonder if it is the buyer, or perhaps the middleman trying to have a reason to inflate the asking price...

[Jonathan]

That raises an interesting question...at what point did people start to understand some of the minor production changes and differences between early and later cars? I'm assuming there was a pretty long stretch of time where the average person looking to buy a DeLorean had no idea about some of common rolling changes like the clocks, radios, antennas, door pulls, etc.

That is an interesting question.

I would guess it would have only really started once the parts inventory landed in Houston and more owners could get what they really needed for their cars.

If everything was as hard to track down as they say it was, I would imagine no one would have been fussy making sure they had the correct hood style, or sunvisors, or air filter housing decal, or other chronologically changing part if the alternative was to have nothing. If it was functional, that might have been good enough. Once people had options, then they could get what they needed and that might have spawned owners realizing that there even were options.

That and something new called the Internet.

[David T]

That is an interesting question.

I would guess it would have only really started once the parts inventory landed in Houston and more owners could get what they really needed for their cars.

If everything was as hard to track down as they say it was, I would imagine no one would have been fussy making sure they had the correct hood style, or sunvisors, or air filter housing decal, or other chronologically changing part if the alternative was to have nothing. If it was functional, that might have been good enough. Once people had options, then they could get what they needed and that might have spawned owners realizing that there even were options.

That and something new called the Internet.

From the beginning some changes were obvious like the hood, the antennae, the tailpipes, the radio, the interior color and of course the transmission. The further you dig the more you find subtle changes of little to no consequence but they are there. Build sheets were not necessary since all of the cars were the same during production periods except for the transmission.