Let's see those SPID labels!

[Keith Seymore]

'87 R10, built in Flint (September 28 of 1986):

Note the dummy "9" character functioning as a placeholder in front of each three character RPO code.

K

 

[RetroC10Sport]

Thank you sir. Surprised it has the big sheet. Many 87s I've found already had the smaller sheets.

 

[hatzie]

'87 R10, built in Flint (September 28 of 1986):

Note the dummy "9" character functioning as a placeholder in front of each three character RPO code.

K

Keith
What's the story on the placeholder digits.
I've seen 1xxx several times and now your SPID with 9xxx.

 

[RetroC10Sport]

I wondered that as well. Seems like it depended on the person printing the SPID. I have several SPIDs from the same year, same plant but are very different. Some go Z-A, some A-Z, some not even in alpha order, some start with 1, some start with 9.

 

[Keith Seymore]

Just to be clear: there wasn't a "person printing the SPID". The information was loaded into the plant database at the beginning of the model year (or as there were updates) and then "broadcast" to the print station, along with the build manifest information, window sticker detail, etc. All the installer had to do was peel it off the printer, maybe put the clear cover over it, and stick it in the glovebox.

Having said that: there were plant to plant differences, as the various locations took liberty with the noun names or RPO construction. A funny offshoot off that is - if there were errors then the SPIDs (and possibly window stickers) they were consistently wrong for that plant until corrected. We have an appropriate saying here at work: "At Chevy you don't make a mistake; you make a million of 'em".

The additional characters were a holdover from the previous generation when additional detail was used to further define the RPO. The additional detail was a Functional Name Modifier and gave a little bit more description but without getting all the way down to the part number level. They were being phased out by the squarebody generation and were no longer in use by the time I started in 1979 (I didn't even know what they were until I joined the various internet forums). The "dummy" characters fill the spots until they were eventually completely phased out. Some plants didn't use the dummy characters and published just the pure three character RPO codes.

K

 

[DoubleDingo]

Seeing activity in this thread I see that I dropped the ball on posting a pic of the SPID from my '81. Sorry Retro, I'll get that posted for you.