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Holden Historical Services - Production Report for my ute, bought up the fact that my vehicle is a "Repeat Chassis Number". Unsure what this exactly meant I asked Ben from Holden Historical Services what this meant, he responded with:
Hi Geoff,
You have a Holden with a rather rare fluff in the details.

The allocated identification details that involved human input allowed for errors and stuff-ups. Stamped engine numbers catered for a doubling up of a serial number, as did the chassis numbers stamped in the assembly plants. Because the numbers as appearing on the Body ID plate and VIN plate were computer generated, no human error as such entered the frame here.

Your Sandman ute has a chassis number that was corrected by adding the letter 'R' for repeat following the plant identifier (B). Another HZ Holden produced at the Acacia Ridge plant on the same day as yours has the chassis number BHZ17670B. For whatever reason, your vehicle was also stamped with this same number initially, before the error was detected and corrected by way of an additional 'R' following the 'BHZ17670B'. If there was a further error and a third vehicle was stamped with 'BHZ17670B', then the character '2' was placed after the 'BHZ17670R' to make 'BHZ17670R2'.

Workers often played jokes on each other, and some of the consequences had serious implications as far as the life of the vehicle was concerned after it left the assembly plant. There may have been a lunchtime birthday celebration at the Acacia Ridge pub (a stone's throw from the plant), and some half-plastered workers created havoc during the afternoon shift. Who knows? Double ups of engine numbers and chassis numbers had to be prevented so that no dramas were experienced when the vehicles were registered. You can imagine the concern when two HZ Holdens were registered with the same identification numbers!

Whilst not at all isolated, cases like yours where a repeat number was issued are quite rare in the scheme of things. The ADR Safety Compliance plate should show the repeat, as will the stamped number in the frame rail.

Makes for a great talking point.

Thank you Holden Historical Services I thought I had all known info on my ute including all books and first Rego slip, but what great above and beyond service for the personal note supplied from them on my ute.

PS: Anyone got a HZ with chassis number BHZ17670B I would like to "have the set"