I went back and looked through more information I got from the Sloan museum and believe the following to be true on Zone 16 codes. 1. Zone 16 codes were internal code used by Buick for Corporate activities. 2. Zone 16-00? were used for activites directly related to corporate or the plant. The last digit was for billing based on the billing sales code. As an example a 16-005 was a fleet car typically given away by Buick. I found several 16-005 codes that went to the Red Cross and other entities. One even had had written on it Donation. 3. 16-002 code would be service billing (2) and at the factory. This may be a car that had service done after it was completed or went to the service department at the factory and a cost was billed to the car internally for the service. That is why the 16-002 is always first on the list in the microfilm. The location says Buick Motor Division GMC #1. 4. Zone 16 was also used to track cars going to other zones. I found several 16 codes such as 16-224. This code was a car that went to Zone 22 and was a Demonstator car, 4 in the billing sales code. I also found most of the codes with a 70 in the front of them went from one plant to another plant. Mark
I have seen a code 16-084 example and it was exactly that, a demonstator car that went to zone 08. Mark
My GSX shows as have beeing invoiced to dealer 23-577 in California then changed to 23-001 Buick Motor division in Oakland California. It then got changed to dealer 23-552 also in Cal then changed back and delivered to 23-001 Buick Motor division again. All this craziness started on invoice date 4/23/70 then ended on 8/13/70.
23-001 was the zone warehouse. It sounds like your car went to a dealer then to the warehouse to another dealer and back to the warehouse. This was also where zone office cars were delivered from what I can tell. Seems like the zone office was involved for some reason. Mark
The clouds of CRS have parted and this is what I remember.... BMD zone cars were delivered to a dealership close to the zone office. The cars had to be prepped for delivery and then were either delivered or picked up by the zone office. These cars were put on the lot at the zone for the use of any BMD employee or was a demo for an executive. After a determined amount of miles these cars were then sent to a dealer in the zone for selling. If the car was to be purchased by the BMD employee the car would still go to a dealer for that sell. Also, depending on the size of the zone office all makes (Buick,Olds,Chevy,Pont.and Cadillac) would be on display at various times in the lobby during that model year. So there could be a Dealer code - Zone -Dealer code - (Transfer) Dealer code...ect.... In '94 I purchased a GMC that had been transfered 3 times after the original dealership..in other words 4 dealer codes. Side noteI have a friend who is a retired BMD execas zone manager in Memphis in the early 70s his demo was a 71 GS 455 red and white convertible. He says now he wished he had kept it.ou:
Sure...anything is possible..... Also another side note..... From talking with BMD execs, I found they got a kick out of ordering cars, for their personal use, with options that were not specific to the car they were ordering. One retiree told me he remembered ordering a '69 or '70 LeSabre and wrote in some Electra options...when Flint called and told him the options were not available on that model..his answer was...build it...you guys can do anything.....6 weeks later there it was.....
That would explain why my gsx has cruise control and am/fm 8 track. Bored exec just seeing how much he can put on a car that no one else would.
That would be the warehouse in zone 01. I was talking to my neighbor who is a district manager and he indicated the first 10 numbers were held for specific activities. I am still working with him to figure out what those were. I believe it may be tied to a the actual 1-9 sales codes so 01-001 would be zone 01 sales billing procedure. What I have found out talking to my neighbor is the zone and dealer codes were used for accounting tracking purposes for some numbers. I will provide more information as I find out more. I did not find 01-001 in any of the codes I have recorded to date.
Thanks Mark, Heather at Sloan told me it could have been executive use or GM exchange , but they are not sure. The car was assigned that zone then two weeks later to the selling dealer. Just wondered what they were up to... DL
A closer look at the zone codes shows that the zone codes were used for different warehouses. My neighbor told me that they can use the warehouse number to charge for special events or other items. As an example they had 20 Camaros at a the Kansas Speedway this year. He charged those to the warehouse then after the race the cars were transferred to dealer to be sold. I don't know all the specifics but that is a little more information than I had before. It seems they used these codes for internal charging to move cars for some things. Mark
A friend of mine parents used to buy an Olds every year after they were used in the Rose bowl parade . Sounds like something similar . Thanks for your research . DL
