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We have an early car with the "EX" (experimental?) VIN. We also have all the paperwork including the order sheet and the label inside the drivers door registering it to the Ford dealer. Everything references Detroit, Michigan. Were the early cars built in Detroit rather than Grand Rapids or is that just where the main offices were at that time???
Early Shays had the MOM1EX0000 Vin numbers.Some parts were made at different factories and they were shipped to the main one for assembly. Shay had either 6 or 7 different fiberglass companies over the United States that made bodies and shipped them to the main one also.Hope this helps you.Most of this information is on the Website on the left column "1".
Gary M Wood
Webmaster
Shay Model A Website
www.geocities.com/shaymodela/
SOCI Membership Chairman
As Gary mentioned, Shay had a number of suppliers and vendors. From some of the reasearch others have done on the subject Shay had parts production facilities in Wixom, Holland and Ft Custer, Michigan, and final assembly in Battle Creek. Corporate headquarters for the company was in Detroit.
Also, as Gary mentioned, the VIN numbers for the first production cars were the MOM1EX prefix, from 1979 to 1981. In 1981 the US government standardized the VIN system. As far as we know the EX did not stand for "experimental". There may have been several thousand produced with the MOM1EX VIN. Our registry shows VIN numbers(reported to us by owners) MOM1EX011 to MOM1EX4279.
