VIN question about where the car was built........

hutch400 · Veteran Member

VIN question about where the car was built........

Urban_suburban · Poncho Master!

How many digits are after the B?

hutch400 · Veteran Member

just 5 which would be the production number i believe

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Sounds strange, but I'll take a look at my book tonight.

409Safari · Addicted!

From Pontiac 1962-71 Parts Catalogue.................

1965 Parisienne-01.jpg

1965 Parisienne-02.jpg

67Poncho · Uber Guru

We have had a few "B" VIN's in the past with no real answer as to why... never did see an M! I counted 17 in the registry but definitely Canadian built. Have a look at you data tag as per above.

For example....

Nov. 9th 1964   B76437        V8         Y     (249 black)   Sask.           link
#710203     Parisienne 2dr hrdtp       Crocus Yellow      spotted by 67poncho

Nov. 9th 1964   B76437      283ci          C     (247 turquoise) B.C      link
710439       Parisienne 2dr hrdtp   M35 Ermine White

Nov.25th 1964 B76437 283ci Y (543 fawn) ontario no pic
#719757 Parisienne 2dr hrdtp Crocus yellow spotted by 69Belair

Nov.5th 1964 B76469 V8 V (248 fawn) Sask. link
#708590 Parisienne 4dr Cameo Beige spotted 67poncho

-- Edited by 67Poncho on Monday 26th of March 2018 07:14:35 PM

willard · Veteran Member

could it be made in st theresa

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

My 65 CS VIN starts with 5766370

so
5 = year
766 + Parisienne Custom Sport V8
37 = 2 dr hardtop
0 = manufacturing plant = Oshawa

American Pontiacs follow a slightly different format
first digit = 2 = Pontiac division
second and third identify the series ( eg Bonneville = 62 )
fourth and fifth digits = body style ( eg 37 = 2 dr hardtop )
sixth digit = yeaseventh digit = Assembly plant ( eg b = Baltimore )
last 6 digits represent the basic production number.

This is going to take some more investigating. Can you post a pic of both the VIN, with the last digits taped over, and the data plate?

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Hutch, can you post a picture of your cowl tag? And maybe your VIN tag too with the last few digits of the vin blocked? I've never seen a letter in that position on a 65-66 Canadian Pontiac before. This is one of those deals where I used to just say "impossible " but I've learned not to use that word very often as I get older!

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Whoops and now I just read Ted asked for the same thing!!!!!

67Poncho · Uber Guru

Carl Stevenson wrote:
Hutch, can you post a picture of your cowl tag? And maybe your VIN tag too with the last few digits of the vin blocked? I've never seen a letter in that position on a 65-66 Canadian Pontiac before. This is one of those deals where I used to just say "impossible " but I've learned not to use that word very often as I get older!

Of all the tags I took for Fred and the registry, I never did take a pic of the VIN's... especially of the "B's" I should checked the pics I took and grab a couple of pics of the VIN if I can remember where they are in the vastness out here. There are over 30 '66's in the registry with a "B" on the data tag....

hutch400 · Veteran Member

Here we go...........

there's a "5" on the door tag so that makes a bit more sense.......it's not on the ownership though. Rest of the numbers match though so i'm not concerned. Still shows to me that it's a baltimore built car but has the "764" designation so it's a parisienne.....

also says that the car was blue i believe but there's no blue on the body ANYWHERE i can find and i have a hard time believing it was stripped bare at some point since there's a couple of crappy paint jobs over it already....EDIT THAT. looks like it was "nocturne mist metallic" which makes sense now.........that colour is still around on the car in some spots but it looks more of a "gunmetal" in the shop light....googled it and it looks like a really nice colour actually......

Thank you to everyone for all of the information and help with this. I know it's not a huge deal but it just confused/surprised me a bit and would like to learn as much about this car as possible. Would like to order the GM vintage docs as well but i don't know if they'd be available as it wasn't built in Canada?

Mark.

-- Edited by hutch400 on Tuesday 27th of March 2018 10:30:33 AM

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Well that is quite something. I wasn't expecting to see Canadian style tags but they are both 100% Canadian style except for that B. How on earth did they build a Canadian car there? They would have had to ship a lot of unique parts from Canada to Baltimore. Weird, but cool....!

67Poncho · Uber Guru

hutch400 wrote:
Here we go...........
Still shows to me that it's a baltimore built car but has the "764" designation so it's a parisienne.....
Would like to order the GM vintage docs as well but i don't know if they'd be available as it wasn't built in Canada?

Mark.

With GM Canada stamped on the tag, I would highly doubt that it was built in the States... that would be a very unlikely event, I am sure...

How about Burlington for example or maybe it was a secondary B plant? The only 100% thing to clear all for this up, as stated as there are almost 50 B stamped VIN's in the registry, is to send the VIN to GM and get it documented by them... then we will all know the answer.

Wonder why it wasn't dug into deeper when we posted all these in the registry back then? If it was, I surely don't remember...

-- Edited by 67Poncho on Wednesday 28th of March 2018 10:50:05 AM

CdnGMfan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I don't have the answer but I can add this: in 1965 the Chevies & full-size Pontiacs were built in Oshawa & Ste. Thérèse, so there were 2 plants they could have come from. For 1966 Ste. Thérèse switched painting procedures from enamel to lacquer and dedicated production to only Chevrolets - models that were available in both Canada & the U.S.. Remember the Auto Pact of 1965? With the free movement of new cars between the borders, here in Canada we were starting to see a trickle of U.S. cars, but in order to keep things in equilibrium they also shipped Canadian-built cars to the U.S. Think about it. A Canadian plant building products to ship to the U.S in order to offset the U.S. products coming into Canada. I have seen 1965 Ste. Thérèse cars sold new in Canada but can't recall a '66 or '67 sold here that was. The Impala SS427 was not available in Canada in '67 yet they were built in Ste. Thérèse (I think they built 40 coupes...). By '68 they were selling the Impala SS427 in Canada and a couple or a dozen stayed in Canada. By 1969 Oshawa switched to lacquer paint with black firewalls & spatter paint in the trunks, and cars were sourced from either side of the border more readily. By 1970 they were building Catalinas in Canada, the Beaumont was gone, the GTO that went mainstream in Canada for 1969 was augmented with all Tempests & Lemans for 1970 and the Beaumonts were history. Meanwhile the Acadians as of the 1968 models all came from the U.S.

The Canadian A-body lines didn't differentiate which plant they came from in Canada since they were only coming from Oshawa through the 1966 models. By 1967, Oshawa products were designated "1", Ste. Thérèse "2" (though Ste. Thérèse was only building U.S.-bound B-body Chevrolets in '67).

Make sense?

Greaser · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

409Safari wrote:
From Pontiac 1962-71 Parts Catalogue.................

If the B is assumed to be Baltimore ...what is the M?

409Safari · Addicted!

Greaser wrote:
409Safari wrote:
From Pontiac 1962-71 Parts Catalogue.................

If the B is assumed to be Baltimore ...what is the M?

And for 1966 there is: O, B or M.............

1965 Parisienne-03.jpg

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Hutch, here is my code B nocturn mist 65 so that you know what it originally looked like.

65 Parisienne CS.jpg

65 Parisienne CS hdtp.JPG

Yep, you need to get the GMVVS documents to sort this one out but you probably already know that trim 297 = black.

I'll also send you a PM on the VIN number on the ownership.

-- Edited by norontcan on Tuesday 27th of March 2018 07:06:58 PM

-- Edited by norontcan on Tuesday 27th of March 2018 07:13:40 PM

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Merci JD

hutch400 · Veteran Member

looks like it's time to get off the wallet and order the documentation...........

I always enjoyed the weirdo one off things, so looks like i own one lol

davepl · Poncho Master!

Nice 65! That year has all my favorite Pontiac front ends, I think!

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Going to be interesting what the GMVVS document says as I observe no options stamped along the bottom of the firewall data plate... not even M35 ( I do assume it is an automatic )

hutch400 · Veteran Member

yessir 283 PG

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Good point. I too would say that a power glide should show on the tag. 3 on the tree should be a plain tag.

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Can anyone make out the build date? Looks like 1-7-0 or 1-7-9 on my screen, can't tell.
Most probably 1-7-9 so 1st shift July 9th.
The 2 rivets are in the 2 bottom positions which is consistent with pics I have of other 65 data tags.