The Missing Mark 5 Serial Numbers

[chapmanruss]

JPG thanks for defining JIT for me.

[dusty]

I am not sure what you mean?

What I mean is that while it would be nice, they don't really have to have parts in stock as long as there are no other sources. People will order and wait.

Well OK but we as a community are not used to that. We want a part now not 6 months from now. People have been complaining on this forum for a LONG time about this.

If you list a stop rod for the over arm pin router as available but it has to be "made" or not in stock that is crazy. It is off the shelf products. 1/4-20 threaded rod ( maybe different, I have not measured yet,) a threaded knob and a wing nut. All are available at my local ACE hardware store.

This is not JIT since it has been over a month since I ordered the stop rod and I sttil don't have it.

Get used to it. This is a new norm.

[StevenAyres]

I have two Mark VIIs, one numbered 405725. The other, which, from details like the table lock, seems to be from a different production era, has an item number rather than serial number on the grille plate: 5000 21. The '5000' is prestamped, only '21' is unique.

Has anyone done a study of Mark VII numbers, or is there a company reference? Can anyone tell with authority from the number which is older?

[StevenAyres]

Sorry, answered my own question. The SN on the other VII is 410051.

The details I consider lower quality are on the younger machine, which hints at cost-cutting at Magna.

I'd still like to know whether anyone has done a serial-number chart for the VII.

Thanks for your indulgence!

[everettdavis]

I had meant to publish this info earlier in this thread. Below is an excerpt from 2 of the MagPie issues that speaks to the release date of the Mark 5.

Clearly some were made prior to February 15 1954 as the article references dealers previewing demonstrations on that date and all across the United States previously.

By following the link My Google Drive at http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 90#p185690 ; on the main page, below all the folders you will find Collection of MAGNA Employee Newsletters.PDF where the snippets below were taken from.

There they are in zoom capable PDF as a collection which makes reading them for detail far more pleasant that the graphic below which has to fit in Forum file upload limits.

The March 20, 1954 release date was the official release but clearly dealers had seen representatives demonstrate machines all across the United States as noted in one such demonstration by Bob Chambers February 15, 1954. See graphic below.

Though not highlighted in blue, there was a reference to magazines which published the news in various April editions.

Kindest Regards,

Everett

MagPie Snippets for Mark 5 first production dates and March 20 1954 Release Date.png (1.71 MiB) Viewed 20208 times

[chapmanruss]

I haven't looked at this for a while. I know I need to do some adjustments to the serial numbers by month. It would be helpful to know what was the first Mark 5 serial number and/or the last. The earliest Serial number I have seen is 260407. Production had begun by February as some units were needed for those early demonstrations. Of course the difficult part of estimating the production dates is comparing sales to production while the stock on hand changed over the years. We also know that 137,156 Mark 5's were sold but do not know how many were actually made. I do not believe there was more than a small percentage made that were not sold (demos, damage loss, etc.) Stores all over the country had a Mark 5 set up for demos. New demos were needed every time a major change was made to the Mark 5, A headstock to B headstock, Greenie to Goldie, Goldie to Gray and even possibly changes in Manufacturers. The question is were these sold at some point and included in the annual sale figures. We will probably never know. We can continue to speculate about this but the bottom line is the missing serial numbers chart will only be an approximate of the actual date of manufacture.

Again anyone having a Mark 5 purchased during the missing serial number periods that knows the purchase date or has a Greenie serial number lower than 260407 or a higher serial than 382000 made by Magna American with gray paint let me know. Getting the beginning and ending serial numbers will help and this will probably be the only way to get close now. Anyone having a Shopsmith Inc. Mark 5 with a serial number between SS1001 and SS18859 that knows the purchase date that would be helpful in adjusting those serial numbers too. Currently they are only averaged.

[rpd]

Do note that the post by StevenAyres that revived this thread is asking for help with Mark VII serial numbers.

[JPG]

Do note that the post by StevenAyres that revived this thread is asking for help with Mark VII serial numbers.

A temporary detour?

[rpd]

Do note that the post by StevenAyres that revived this thread is asking for help with Mark VII serial numbers.

A temporary detour?

Possibly, and perhaps it would have been better asked in a new thread. I was, however, just pointing out that no one had addressed his actual question,

I have two Mark VIIs, one numbered 405725. The other, which, from details like the table lock, seems to be from a different production era, has an item number rather than serial number on the grille plate: 5000 21. The '5000' is prestamped, only '21' is unique.

Has anyone done a study of Mark VII numbers, or is there a company reference? Can anyone tell with authority from the number which is older?

Sorry, answered my own question. The SN on the other VII is 410051.

The details I consider lower quality are on the younger machine, which hints at cost-cutting at Magna.

I'd still like to know whether anyone has done a serial-number chart for the VII.

Thanks for your indulgence!

[JPG]

Sorry, answered my own question. The SN on the other VII is 410051.

The details I consider lower quality are on the younger machine, which hints at cost-cutting at Magna.

I'd still like to know whether anyone has done a serial-number chart for the VII.

Thanks for your indulgence!

I am not aware of any.