Decoding the Tags
Well you have bought another car and its time to review the VIN and Data Plates of the “new” car. The first tag to review is the VIN since this is the number on the title of the car. It is against the law to alter this tag, but there are always ads on the internet of people wanting to sell a set of tags. So always be wary, check the rivets to see if they look like they have been tampered with. It is very hard to get the factory look.
Lets’ look at the VIN.
The VIN contains a great deal of information about the car. Unfortunately, everything from here forward assumes that the VIN was the original number when the car was made. If you ever get a chance to take the body off the car the VIN is also stamped in the top of the frame on the driver’s side, behind the rear wheel. While rather late in most projects, it is a way to determine if the frame matches the body and VIN tag.
The VIN tag identifies for all GM cars the division that manufactured it. In our case that is always a “2”. The next two digits are the Series identifiers. The following are the possible sets:
Tempest 33
Custom 35
LeMans 37
If it is a GTO the series should indicate LeMans “37”. The next two digits are body style. The possible combinations here are:
2Dr Coupe 27
2Dr Hrdtp 37
2Dr Convert 67
The sixth digit is simply the year. A “5” indicates 1965. The VIN stayed consistent from 1965 to 1971. 1964 was somewhat different and 1972 also indicated the engine combination in the VIN. Following the year is the Pontiac Plant where the car was assembled. This is not necessarily the Fisher body plant that made the body. The possible choices here were:
Baltimore, MD B
Fremont, CA F or Z
Pontiac, MI P
Kansas City, MO M or K
The next series of numbers were the assembly line identification number. All V8 bodies started with a “1” and six cylinder cars started with a “6”. This worked until plants started exceeding the 100,000 units. On February 18th the Pontiac Plant exceeded that number and started using “2”s, later plants started using “3”s.
Now lets move to the Data Plate under the hood. It should look like the following:
The first numbers we see on the upper corner of the Data Plate indicate when the car was assembled. The first two digits represent the month, i.e.. Jan 01, Feb 02 etc. The example here shows March 1965. The character following determines the week with the month of assembly. They are follows:
A = first week
B = second week
C = third week
D = fourth week
E = fifth week
The next line starts with the model year. The tag here is a 1965. A model number follows the year, with the same decoding as the VIN. The assembly plant is next on the same line with the following decoding:
Baltimore, MD BAL
Fremont, CA BF
Pontiac, MI PON
Kansas City, MO KC or KAN
The number following the plant is the Body Number, I believe assigned by Fisher. This number has nothing to do with the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) that was on the other tag. It is not clear to me what value this number has.
The next line begins the unique definition of what this automobile looked like when it left the factory. The first code following the TR or TRIM is the trim code. Possible trim codes are:
Black 213
Turquoise 214
Gold 215
Red 216
Blue 217
Parchment/Black 213-p
Dark Blue or Teal 219
Dark Turquoise 220
Fawn or Gold 221
Medium Red 222
Black 223
Parchment 224
Medium Red 225
Black 235 – Bench Seat
Parchment 236 – Bench Seat
Blue 250
Gold 252
Brown 253
Red 254
Saddle 255
Green 256
Parchment/
Sandlewood 257
Black 258
Blue 261
Ivory 262
Saddle 263
Sienna 264
Jade 266
Parchment/
Sandlewood 267 – Bench Seat
Black 268 – Bench Seat
Black 269
Sandlewood 277
Black 279 – Bench Seat
The next character set is the paint code. Some years, two characters were shown, the first for upper body color the second for lower body color. Each year many of the colors changed, for 1965 the following colors were available:
Paint
Starlight Black A
Blue Charcoal B
Cameo Ivory C
Fontaine Blue Metallic D
Nightwatch Blue E
Palmetto Green Metallic H
Reef Turquoise Metallic K
Teal Turquoise Metallic L
Burgundy N
Iris Mist Metallic P
Montero Red R
Capri Gold Metallic T
Mission Beige V
Bluemist State Metallic W
Mayfair Maize Y
Vinyl top colors
Black 2
Beige 6
Convertible top colors
White 1
Black 2
Blue 4
Turquoise 5
Beige 6
The next line depending on assembly plant showed the options installed. There are five groups possible and each group if present is started with the group number. The options were as follows:
Group 1
D = Power top/convertible
E = tinted glass/all windows
O = mirror group (vanity, etc.)
T = power bucket seat
W = tinted glass/windshield
X = power windows
Group 2
A = foam front cushion (non-GTO)
B = floor mounted 3-speed syncho-trans
E or K = air conditioning (differs in ducting)
G = console
H = heater delete
L = 4 speed floor shift
M = auto trans 1964
P = radio, 1964-1965
R = rear seat
S = rear manual antenna
T = rear power antenna
U = 8 track tape system
V = Verbra-Phonic rear speaker
W = 2 speed auto trans 1965-1967
Y = padded dash
Z = 3 speed(M40) auto trans 1967
Group 3
B = rear window defogger
K = dome reading lamp 1964-1965
N = roof rail reading lamps
Group 4
F = outside remote mirror
Q = full size spare tire 1967
Group 5
N = GTO option 1964-1965 (PON/KC only)
O = décor group-LeMans only
W = retractable seat belts 1964-1965
Y = custom seat belts
Z = seat belt delete (1964 Pontiac Plant)
The Pontiac, Michigan and the Kansas City, MO cars were far heavily coded relative to the options on the vehicles. But even these plants did not include all options that were on a vehicle on the tag. To truly find out which options were actually on the car from the factory you should contact PHS. Pontiac is somewhat unique with Pontiac Historic Services (PHS). Pontiac Historic Services can perform this service for 1961 through 198(8) model years. (Information for post 198(8) models will continue to be handled on a no-cost basis by the Pontiac Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-762-2737) . They can send you a copy of your build sheet indicating each item that was originally ordered with the car, its dealer invoice amount, and the dealer number it was shipped to, plus a whole lot of other interesting information. To get your car’s information just send the VIN with $35 to:
Pontiac Historic Services
P.O. Box 884
Sterling Heights, MI 48311-0884
They can also be reached online at: http://www.phs-online.com/
Your information package will include the following:
· A copy of the factory invoice or billing history card for your Pontiac.
· A letter decoding the options (where necessary).
· A copy of the dealer order form for that year.
· An official photo for that year Pontiac (if available).
· Other specific information for that year and model Pontiac (where available).