Topic: 1970 coupe san jose plant Buck Tag qestion

[AndrewOscar]

Hi Guys, I posted some pictures in the gallery and a story of how it came to be, but I have a few questions first one is..

basically im interested in finding out what the letter S and the Number 9 mean on this Buck Tag off my 1970 coupe

it matches vin number but I have no door sticker to validate any axel or gear box or extras

ive researched everywhere on the net and have seen three different plants examples of buck tags which san jose are unique to themselves the layout of them.

The closest ive got is another one on the net from san jose with all explained apart from the S and the 9.

It also had them but no explanation of what they mean..

seems buck tags are a bit of a black magic thing and depended entirely on the plant and possibly the guy working on the day to a degree....

[Brian Conway]

Looking t my Marti Tag Book and it seems the letter S represents 'Rocker Moldings not installed' and the number 9 stands for 'Evaporative Emission Control'.  Brian

[J_Speegle]

seems buck tags are a bit of a black magic thing and depended entirely on the plant and possibly the guy working on the day to a degree....

Didn't depend on the worker as the manager (we're told) determined the coding and it changed based on production needs, time of year and the managers choice. The buck tag was one of the communication tools for workers during the first part of assembly and first used at San Jose in late 69 production there

San Jose used a very different coding pattern than the other two plants.

[AndrewOscar]

Thanks guys that's fast response.
I wondered if it was something to do with the bumper protectors it has on front of bumper, none on rear.. but I was stumped,
I did hear it used to be a grease pencil written on cars to mark builds before actual buck tags...
and build sheets tucked away inside seats etc etc.

but the research I did definitely says san jose was the odd one out. there is a german site that explains the other two plants codes really well as in their buck tags but not san jose..

but anyway thanks

[J_Speegle]

I wondered if it was something to do with the bumper protectors it has on front of bumper, none on rear.. but I was stumped,

Likely would not since those didn't require a bracket to be welded, a hole to be drilled, something to be painted or things like that to the unibody. The major purpose of the buck tag. Those things would be addressed on the buildsheet - the guide for the second half of the assembly

but the research I did definitely says san jose was the odd one out. there is a german site that explains the other two plants codes really well as in their buck tags but not san jose..

Unfortunately that site mixes all the years and plants together rather than dealing with them by plant and time period. Leads to some incorrect decoding IMHO or at least it did the last time I viewed it