I work at a Freightliner Truck Plant (until May lay-off). Line damage is more common than you think. One truck floor had a Smiley Face drilled in floor. About 8" in diameter and about 20 1/4" holes. Was covered by floormat. It got to the customer and was found during maintenance.
My grandparents bought a brand new Chevy P'up in the late seventies. When they went to pick it up, the tailgate had a big bash in the lip, and the bed had a hole at least 8" square in the side. When they complained to the dealer he said, "Oh, well, that happens, but you already paid for the truck so it's your problem." Grandpa, all of 6'9" of him, leaned over the dealer and told him to either give his money back or he'd take it out in trade on his hide. They never bought another Chevy ANYTHING!
Nice dealer. When I was at SUNY Morrisville in the late 90s they'd just been donated a new Chevy 4x4 pickup because it had some scuff marks on the cab roof - I don't think it was even dented, just had black crap from maybe an unloading ramp edge or something in two 1" wide streaks on about half the top. You couldn't even see the damage unless you climbed in the bed and stood up to look down on the cab roof. A dealer donated it and got some free publicity with a newspaper article on it. They must have had a couple dozen donated cars, mostly GM. Most were scraped up from ramps or other in transit damage, from minor to total write off. One Buick the back was half-crushed, but it still drove. There was a Corsica that had thrown a rod so bad it needed to be sleeved on that cylinder - with 61 miles on it. Plus they had a couple oddballs - a Lebaron built for export to Europe somewhere, and about an '83 Buick that was sort of a prototype, I don't remember the exact story but it had like the next model year's computer control and electronic ignition, the model year by the VIN should have still had a regular distributor and carb, or something like that. GM's policy with those cars was they're not to be driven on public roads and they're to be scrapped or donated to another school when this school is done with them. I think someone from the school had to actually observe it being crushed. Liability issues from GM. I just remember being amazed that some of the cars with really minor damage, got donated instead of being fixed.
During the rebuild on the 57 Chevrolet BelAir 2dr hard top, I noted a "clunk" when the trunk lid was moved. Used a boroscope and found a brake adjuster placed into the inner skin void where it would move but not come out. We tried all tricks to get it out, to no avail. had to cut it out in the finish. It was brand new, but had surface rust, must have been put into the inner skin before it was welded onto the outer trunk lid skin. the car was a late build, 27 August '57 so I put it down to production line prank.
Brass looks like stander issue on the quarter. I replaced a rocker panel on a new Dodge truck back in 1980, had a bottle of Jack Daniels weld up inside it. Seal unbroken on both the bottle and rocker!
I've seen many new Chevys come from the factory with roof damage covered by vinyl tops back in the 60's and 70's.
We pulled the VIN on donated cars. The goverment stepped in years back and would not let the factory repair some damage. Had to scrap are donate. We had some of the best lead repairmen and dingmen on earth. They could fix most any damage. Don't be surprised when you find a small repair. They used brass in the body shop to weld some seams. later went to mig welding. Huge rolls of silcon bronze wire. I drove a new Cadillac to the scrap yard and watched as they dropped a very large electric motor on it several times.
coulda been my cousins in the midwest.they used to sit on a hill and shoot a cars on trains for fun back in the mid/late 60s.............
Back in '73, my dad bought a brand new Chevy Suburban. It was one of the first of the 73-87 series Suburbans off the line, and none of the doors would shut right. Dealer had to take the roof off the truck and completely redo it. Dad said he thought about asking them to take about 3 inches out of it while they were at it, but that wouldn't have gone over well.
A buddy of mine, his dad worked at Ford. He has some interesting stories about Boss Mustangs coming off the assembly line and a pole not far from it.
My dad trained to be a truck driver hauling new cars. This was during the winter time in St. Louis. They would give the drivers helmets when loading the cars because the trailers would be icy. During the couple days he was there he saw trucks being driven off the front of the trailer on the second level and nose into the ground. Off to the repair lot. Plus just a lot of damage from being loaded onto the trailer. He decided he wasn't that hungry.
I managed an Oldsmobile dealers body shop for a couple years and it would amaze you what gets fixed before new cars are delivered. Not unusual at all.
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