I was giving my new Prius its first bath last night and I noticed the manufacturing date on the DOT plate on the driver's door sill. It said 05/2008, and since it arrived on the lot on July 3 that would mean the trek from factory to dealer took about 5-8 weeks. I guess with some comparison of dates & VINs we could narrow it down a bit. BTW, my last 5 VIN digits are 92213. The 11th (factory) digit is 7.
pdhenry, My Prius too had a May production month (but in 2005---5/2005). The dealer told me around mid-June that my car would be arriving on June 26th (my youngest son's birthday). I drove it home on July 14th, so the remainder of time between June 26th & July 14th was port process'g (in Newark, NJ---the port for the Boston region, the NY region, & the mid-Atlantic region---essentially half the eastern seaboard) with the addition of only the PIO (port installed options) that I authorized. Then beyond that, the rest of the time was used to build a load with it for/on a transport truck & get it to my dealer in W. Springfield, Mass & time for them to prep it for me. The Newark port is the farthest away from Japan & the last one for any USA bound cars. There is a port somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico & one in either Florida or Georgia. Toyota no longer uses the one in Baltimore, Maryland (don't know why) for the mid-Atlantic region. Edit : P.S. Is Pennsylvania part of the NY region, the mid-Atlantic region, or another region? Most likely, your car did come thriough the port of Newark though. Ken (in Bolton,Ct)
Well, if you think of it as a child, a Prius isn't really born until its delivery date... so the Prius has a 5-8 week gestation period?
I prefer to celebrate the day I adopted Fiona, since I wasn't present for her birth. I do know she arrived via Portland, OR - one of my favorite cities. And she must have been a "preemie" since my 2007 princess was adopted 11/28/2006.
Ken, I don't know about the Gulf states, but my Prius came in through Jacksonville FL. I know that's the entry port for the five states in SET, but probably for a fair portion of the south eastern US.
My cars birthday is in six weeks. We'll (the car and I) celebrate with cake and a present. Whatever cake the car doesn't eat is mine. I'm planning on a ScanGuage II as a surprise. I'm not telling my wife about the party - she might call the guys with the white coats and butterfly nets...
