I found the info--here's what Dennis Kirban said about the errors and the clocks in general in 3 seperate emails, all from this past September:
"I spoke to the supplier and they mentioned originally there was an error on the first batch of clocks they sold… The word “Oldsmobile” was misspelled.
They discovered the mistake and pulled the clocks off the marketplace shelves.
Most of those clocks never actually got distributed.
Our first batch of orders that went out were from the new corrected version.
I did talk to the person that headed up the project. I asked him how they determined what cars made the 12 chosen for the clock. They broke it down by decades. They eliminated the early years and the 1990s. The thinking was those decades did not produce any worthy GM vehicles to consider. As for the Grand National representing the 1980s, he said it was no contest, as no other car was even discussed.
The actual car sounds for each vehicle was recorded in Michigan. GM has a stash of about 900 cars (I’m not exactly where this collection is located). Each car was recorded using the cars in their collection.
This collection might be some sort of rotating display that GM uses for various events, since this stash of cars covers the entire GM line up.
Interesting enough, the company that did the clock project only has a GM license for this clock for the current year - 2008. Since it’s the 100-year anniversary clock (1908-2008), this clock will be discontinued later this year and not produced again."
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"MINI CONTEST TIME
It turns out there is another obvious mistake on the GM 100th Year Anniversary Clock. So, we are turning it into a mini-contest for our Inner Circle members.
We will award a copy of our Kirban 2007 Reunion and Birthday Bash DVD (a $14.95
value) to the first 3 correct emails we get. We will only allow one answer per Inner Circle member.
If you have the 100th Year GM Anniversary Clock, look it over carefully.
If you don’t have the clock, you can view it on our website...
Welcome to Kirban Performance Products
HINTS - There is a mistake regarding one of the cars pictured. The error is not related to the word Oldsmobile although the first batch of clocks were recalled because Oldsmobile was initially spelled wrong. The clocks we sold had the spelling correct. The error is not the fact it refers to that Oldsmobile as a sedan.
One of our customers actually found the mistake and contacted us.
We called the clock distributor and they were completely unaware of the mistake.
Since the GM license for the clock runs out in a few months, they have no plans to correct this error.
The answer will appear along with the names of the 3 winners in the next Inner Circle."
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"MINI CONTEST RESULTS
We got our three winners within the first two hours of the last Inner Circle going out.
The correct answer is - the Pontiac Trans Am pictured on the clock is actually a
1976 model, not a 1977 as noted on the clock. The 1977 model had four headlights.
I contacted the company about this and was told that no one has ever brought that mistake to their attention. They have no plans to correct this because their license agreement will soon expire on this project. They said that was the information they received from GM. Based on that, it appears someone at GM did not double check their photos and copy.
Interesting enough, we have heard from some of our customers that have purchased the clocks from us and they actually received a clock that still had the word Oldsmobile spelled wrong!"
