Hello to all ! Can anyone help decode ?

bbgp · Member

Hello to all ! Can anyone help decode ?

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Welcome here.

Glad to see another 66 Grande Parisienne fan here, there's a few of us!

That VIN brings back memories! I owned a 66 Grande Parisienne 4 speed in the 80's that is roughly 40 cars away from your's... I bet they were built the same day.

One thing I can say for sure, that car was originally built with either a 396 or a 427 because of the M40 on the cowl tag. That means Turbo 400 transmission which was only available with those 2 engine options. (Assuming that is the cowl tag for that car, because the rivets holding it to the firewall are not original, they have been changed at some point)

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

A few more comments---

I see the power window harness beside the VIN tag, does it have some other options as well? The cowl tag only shows the TH400.

As far as the VIN breakdown, 6 is the year, 766 is Grande Parisienne, 57 is 2 door hardtop, O is for Oshawa, 17417 is the sequence number. I believe they started at 10,000 so it would be the 7417th full size 66 Canadian Pontiac.

The 1-1-10 on the cowl tag is 1st shift of January 10th. I don't have the cowl tag info from the car that I owned but it was shipped out of Oshawa on January 13th 1966 so that would make sense.

Can we get more details about this car?

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Carl Stevenson wrote:
Welcome here.

(Assuming that is the cowl tag for that car, because the rivets holding it to the firewall are not original, they have been changed at some point)

Welcome to CP and x2 on the cowl tag, vin tag rivets look round and rusted too?

-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Saturday 3rd of December 2016 09:26:13 PM

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Joe, one thing that might be worthwhile is to spend the $100 or so and get Vintage Vehicle Services documents just to make sure it all adds up. It's a bit hard to see but as Jim mentioned, the rivets on the VIN tag may indicate they've been changed as well, which kind of raises a red flag. Sometimes guys pull those tags off to paint a car though.

I see the firewall is black and the cowl tag overspray is not, which can be a concern. It might be as simple as someone detailed under the hood and painted the firewall black, a common mistake people make when restoring a Canadian car that should have a body coloured firewall.

bbgp · Member

Thanks for everyone helping out . I really appreciate it . Options for the car are ps , pb , pw , tilt , A/C . Engine has been changed to a 455 olds , interior is turquoise , bucket , console and round gauges in dash ? Should it not have square gauges ? Car is definitely a repaint color change . Carl , how does one get service documents ?

dcneric · Poncho Master!

Sounds like a pretty nice car, option wise. Would love to see some pics of the car overall.

Welcome to the site from Regina.

bbgp · Member

Here are pictures of the actual car , also has fender skirts . As I stated these are the reasons I'm hesitant on buying it . Please let me know any input that anyone has . GP!.jpg

1966-Grande-paris · Addicted!

Hi Joe,

That car is a '65 with '66 vin and '66 cowl tags, definetly some funny business going on.

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

65 dash, 65 front end, 65 seats
yep. something doesn't pass the smell test.

see my post from the past few days " buyer beware "

1966-Grande-paris · Addicted!

Correction: the cowl tag could be from a '65, but the vin is definetly from a '66, as the first # of the vin is the year. Hope this helps.

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Run away from that one as fast as you can.

I am betting the VIN and cowl tag are from the same car (based on me owing the car that was only 40'ish cars away from this one and build date matches) but who cares, they are on the wrong car.

Don't touch it with a ten foot pole or you'll be sorry, unless you buy it to strip it for parts.

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

It appears to be a US Grand Prix with a Canadian set of tags from a Grande Parisienne. Wow, what a combo!

One thought comes to mind. Someone got a US car across the border with no paperwork to avoid all the expenses involved with importing, the decided to try to hide it with Canadian indentification.

CORVAIRWILD · Veteran Member

Just switch it back, and delete this post. It takes just a few minutes to switch the little tags. The original cowl rivets have a large hole in them, this is clearly a "successful" importation, and saved someone the $100 AC tax too! And I have a loaded '65 GP, lo miles zero rust survivor

CORVAIRWILD · Veteran Member

And why don't I see an attach button??? I have great pix of my silver blue GP

1966-Grande-paris · Addicted!

After you hit reply, there's a "attach photos" button at the bottom of the screen.

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Not sure on the other body styles b,g etc bodies, but the x bodies had a part vin stamped on firewall and trunk area. Might be able to compare just to be sure if it matches up. Just comes back to buyer beware.But as others have stated....doesn't look good. Carl may be able to shed more light on this.......as I only know x body cars. Pic is of inner 1/4 beside trunk weatherstrip, matches part of my vin #

66 Grande guy · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

This thing does make me wonder just how hard it would be to make a 1965 Grande Parisienne, canadian drivetrain and all.

I suppose you could use a 66 Grande as a base and a front end, interior and dash from from a 1965 Custom Sport, with maybe a 1965 Grande Prix rear panel.

Think of it!

A 1965 Grande Parisienne 409 4 speed car.

Its kind of too bad that I actually access to the cars to do this but I'd have to strip out a 65 409 4 speed car.

And even then nobody would really notice except the guys from this forum who would just wonder WTF?

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

And nobody has even mentioned the Olds engine in this car to boot!

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Carl Stevenson wrote:
And nobody has even mentioned the Olds engine in this car to boot!

Not worth mentioning!!! as you stated "olds" motor" wink olds and tired!

bbgp · Member

Ok , I have one more question . Is there anywhere else I can look for Vin # on this car ? It is registered as a 1966 Grand Prix . Not a Grande Parisian , the owner now has had it for 6 years . He seems to be a straight up guy . ( Not saying it is impossible for him to be shady , but doesn't seem that way ) he bought the car this way . If I had a way to actually correct this he would be all in . Any advice would be much appreciated . IE: other Vin locations , ect . As for the 455 olds by the casting marks it is a late 60s block . By the U.S. option package the car should have a 421 cid in it . Again thanks for everyone's help .

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

I hope someone knows about VIN's being hidden on the US models. There is no doubt about the tags being Grande Parisienne though. It sure is interesting that he is able to register it as a Grand Prix with that VIN, it shouldn't fit the template.

It's very possible that the current owner is totally innocent in this but someone certainly pulled a fast one along the way.

Strictly speculation but I would bet those tags came from a "clean" Grande Parisienne" that simply was scrapped due to rust or collision. Too bad, because it would have been a big block car.

davepl · Poncho Master!

It's hard to register a Canadian car down here. When I imported my Laurentian you have to take it to the State patrol for an inspection to make sure it's not stolen, more or less. They demand to know what model it is, and it must be in their system.

Suffice to say that Strato Chief and Laurentian are not among the options the Washington State Patrol had on file!

Eventually I told them "It's the same as a Catalina but I'm not lying on the paperwork, I'm writing Laurentian". They could hardly force me to lie, but they had their answer (Catalina). It's registered now as a 2+2 I think because they did have that in their system at least (from the 1967 model year I suppose).

bbgp · Member

gp vin 1 002.jpg Hi , everyone ! Quick update , I have gone to look at the car again . I took pictures of trunk drain sill . Have not got to the frame number yet , but working on it . My biggest fear is buying it and finding it was stolen . Car could be restored to this vin and would be nice ride with some parts changed . GM has stated they have had people buy U.S, cars for parts to build on Canadian bodies , but vin indicates this was a nice car to start with , I guess frame will tell the rest of the story . As only other place is the rear frame . Any other input would be very helpful . Thanks to all

66 ponchoboy · Veteran Member

Is it a 12 bolt rear? as that would likely prove it was a big block car...