Thank you for confirming that the date of (completed) manufacture cannot be BEFORE the date codes of the majority of the ORIGINAL components on the car. This isn't about who is right or who is wrong just about common sense. Like picking the correct jack instructions for your car, or correct date coded tires or on and on. Dave W himself was hit with the incorrect date codes tires (two were manufacturing date codes that were weeks after his car "rolled" off of the assembly line) on his "perfect" Valiant along with the incorrect power steering color for that model year. Trivial date codes that cost Dave an almost perfect score, that was a bummer to me. Should we tell the OP to just pick any date (code) on the label they wish as there is no wrong date? Seems what is being said here is there is no way of pinpointing the exact date of manufacture but there is evidence what the date might not be. Maybe Dave can be the upfront, standup guy I've always known him to be and let the OP know the date of manufacture the label should contain when the OP orders the label from him and how he came to that conclusion. This will surely help other customers of his gathering those clues before they place future label orders.

Thanks for the CFR copy and paste, I always enjoy reading them