And I mentioned the "picking code" (a.k.a. "plant code") in the previous post, so will elaborate.
Some of the assembly line workers had to quit school at an early age to support their families, so the 7 digit (later 8 digit) identification number WAS NOT USED when building the engine. The engine came down the assembly line with a "build sheet". The build sheet was a piece of paper, generally with a number of boxes, some of which contained a 2 character code - the "picking" or "plant" code. The worker would look at the build sheet in the box for "carburetor" or "distributor" or whatever and see two letters. These same two letters would be boldly placed on a large bin containing, in this case, a carburetor. As a cross check, either the letters, or the bin would be painted a specific color. There would be a splash of this color on the carburetor. Carburetor tags started about 1959 were color-coded. Of course, the first time the tag goes into the cleaning chemical, the color is removed from the tag. Later carbs, beginning on some but not all models in 1968, has a color-coded paper tag with the last 3 digits of the identification number and the picking code glued onto the body of the carburetor. Again, the first dunk in the junk and this tag was history. Please note that the term "plant code" did NOT refer to a specific plant, rather to an internal code used by the assembly plants.
And that is enough typing to last me the rest of the day
Jon.
