My wife and I are thinking about selling our 68 Buick GS 400 4s conv (original family owners, 58K miles), but before doing so we're trying to find the build sheet. I've searched extensively inside the vehicle, no luck. It's a Flint, MI build if that helps. I understand the underside of the gas tank is the most likely location, but I didn't want to go to the trouble of dropping it without checking on this forum first. Any guidance would be appreciated.
My 1970 Flint build GS had the Body Shop Inspection sheet rolled up and stuffed in the area just under the A-pillar cover on the far left of the dash pad. It was only visible when the dash pad was removed. The Production Body Order sheet was on top of the gas tank (between the tank and the trunk).
Above the gas tank? Rare car & orig. family owned. Great colors. Don't know its condition & I know things in life change, but I hope you keep it.
Build sheets were hidden in cars because the production line workers were too lazy to walk over to a paper bin. So it's not a thing that every car had to come with a build sheet. From a thread on Chevelles dot com: So I recently met a guy who's grandfather worked for the GM / Baltimore plant 60's-70's. He said that the reason the workers put the build sheets in the car was because they were supposed to throw them away; in the trash can. Workers were supposed to keep their areas clean and clutter free. Anything debris laying around into the can and a quick tidy-up prior to leaving your station. The people would just stuff the sheets anywhere into the car because walking over to the trash can took too long. Anyone that has ever worked in a factory on an assembly line can tell you...what is SUPPOSED to happen and what does happen is not always the same. You can't watch employees every second. I think the reason why sheets are found in predictable places based on the plant is because you had the same person working that station day in day out. Two shifts two workers probably doing the same thing over and over. But it also makes perfect sense that they would do things like sticking it on top of the tank as it went down the line to make it easier to read as they worked... just my guess and I think that's been mentioned many times. Have to remember too that there were numerous copies of build sheets during the assembly process. I've heard some people have found as many as 3 sheets in their car and 1 know of one that found 3 sheets of consecutive sequenced cars in theirs and not one was for their car. I have a car here that had 8 buildsheets in it. 5 of the sheets are for the car itself, and 3 are for the previous cars on the assembly line. One is for a base 2 door Chevelle, one is for an ElCamino and the 3rd is for a Buick. All the other 5 are for an LS6. Click here to read more
I found two so far in for Wilmington built car. One in the upper back seat springs and the other in the back of the drivers bucket seat. The carpet is original so I would not be surprised to find one under there also. They had to take some effort to put those sheets in the seat springs since I thought the seats were already built and ready to install on the line.
Build-sheets are pretty rare for 1968 Buicks. I think I have only seen 2 or 3 of them. On a Flint car you might find one taped directly to the top of the gas tank. Sometimes you also might find one under the front carpet, between the jute padding and the tar underlayment. Those 2 places are the most common. Other production plants put them in other places. Even if you find one it might not be for your car. You need to check the body and vin numbers to verify it. Duane
I appreciate all the feedback. I'll poke around the car this weekend and see what I can find. Still not sure we're ready to sell. The car's been in my wife's family from day one (her Dad is the original owner; he passed away a few years ago). Tough decision.
Sometimes the buildsheets that are taped to the gas tank “flip over” and you can see them sticking out along the edges of the tank.
On my Flint car the tape from the POBF was still present on the tank but no evidence of the sheet itself & so I think the sheet was hanging off the side of tank & probably blew off in transit or was removed in dealer prep.
On my Small block 71 GSX, the tank sheet flipped over and only the bottom of the sheet was intact. The rest of it was eaten away by the weather. I could prove it was for a GSX, and knew the SCO number, but everything else was gone, There was no way to prove it was for my car. When I took out the front carpet, near the pedals was a folded over perfect buildsheet. The front carpets were put in at final assembly, so that is why you will only find the “Buick” build sheets under the front carpets. Fisher body installed the rear carpet sets. Duane
For his 71 Black GSX Brad found his buildsheet slammed up against the firewall, directly behind the heater/defroster ducts. Duane
On my 71 Fremont car, build sheet survived on top the tank even though the trunk had rotted out and someone poured rubberized sealer in all the holes. Luckily, the sealer pealed off the paper pretty easy but I think the build sheet was the only thing holding the trunk floor together.
