Tiny - according to
Barry's tech tip, the month code was one letter, not 2 digits, so indeed, what month does O refer to? seems to me there are letters left out when using them to indicate months, but I don't recall anyplace to find that - I think that's a particular problem with actual production, because the model year production overlapped the calender year, so would 'A' indicate Jan of the model year or, whatever month in the previous calender year that production commenced?
.... and Cletis, Barry also specifically indicates the '1001' is subtracted, which is likely why Tom does so [although I think you're probably right]
edit: I also see on that tip that the 56-59 are shown to have numbering starting 001001 [6 digits] when it should be 00100001 [8 digits]
Bill