Originally Posted by
SoCalJim
Thanks guys I've sent a photo and inquiry to Bill Hollands shop .He's actually close to me but only by appointment. He might have been there afterwards though. I'll let you know if I find anything out. The serial # was 77L864 or 74 . Does that make it a 77 manufacture date ?
Originally Posted by
smontanaro
Yes, I believe the first two digits are the year. Most will have "L" or "A" (for an A custom) in the third position.
Mine, a Turin-branded Limited is 75T005 ("T" for "touring" or "Turin", I don't know).
The Two Digits/Letter/Three Digits serial numbering pattern was not used on "A" frames. Those have six digits. An "A" frame with the serial number 991276 (a made up number - I doubt there were ever 99 "A"s made in a single month) would be the 99h frame from December 1976. Some "A"s may have had the letter "A" or the letter "E" at the beginning (not at all sure about this), but my 1978 "A" frame has no such leading letter - just the six digits.
BTW, Bruce Gordon used the same six digit serial numbering system, I believe with a "G" in front of it, for his namesake frames. This was confirmed by Bruce Gordon himself some years back right here in BF C&V. (I have no clue what numbering system was used on Chinooks or Rock 'n' Roads.).
I believe but am not certain that the letter in the Limited numbering system identified the actual builder. (Do not take that as gospel without independent corroboration.) I don't know which system was used for Rainbow 'Trauts of the 1980s, which were a collaboration between Albert Eisentraut and Ed Litton.
I remember seeing and lusting after Limiteds in the mid-70s for sale at Missing Link, then located in Lower Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus. The shop still exists, albeit now on Shattuck Avenue just north of University Ave, a few blocks from the western edge of campus and about a mile from my house. I'm about 98% certain that none of the current crop of staff worked in the original on-campus site. Of course, all that proves is that I'm old.
