[MOJO Catalina]

I know one of you guys can tell me the specifics of what these codes are:


04D
Style: 60-2145 Body: EP 4926

Trim: 219 Paint: FH W
ACC: BKXDTF


I look forward to the response.

[Safari Larry]

04D = ??? (is that on the data plate?)

Style: 60-2145 = 1960 Catalina 4-door Safari

Body: EP 4926 = Fisher Body Euclid plant, 4926th body of this style produced

Trim: 219 = Light Blue and Metallic Medium Blue Imitation Leather

Paint: FH = Newport Blue Lower, Skymist Blue Upper, Newport Blue wheels. I don't know what the "W" after "FH" is?

ACC: BKXDTF = accessory codes. I don't have the list for 1960 but they are probably the same as or close to 1958.
B = Basic Group, KX = Latex Foam Cushion Front,
D = De Luxe Radio and manual antenna,
T = HD Trans Oil Cooler (can't be correct with stick shift),
F = Back-up Lamps

[MOJO Catalina]

Thanks..
Yes, the 04D is right above the "style" word in smaller letters than everything else..

This car has no radio or antenna (or evidence that it ever did) so the D must mean something else.. Maybe the T means Heavy Duty Trans for the '60?

I haven't been under the car to count the bolts on the trans cover yet..

[Engine-Ear]

I think 04D is the final build week and month (or vise versa) 4th week of April.

Radio delete car so not sure if the D means Deluxe Radio in this car's case.

[Safari Larry]

Originally Posted by MOJO Catalina

Yes, the 04D is right above the "style" word in smaller letters than everything else.

Are the letters pressed in from the back like other letters or are they stamped on the front side? Maybe a photo? (you are doing a nice job with the photos, makes it interesting)

Surely someone here has the ACC codes for 1960. In earlier years the codes could be found in the "Accessorizer", 1960 might be the same. I have the 1955-58 Accessorizers all online but don't have anything past that, I don't deal with those "modern" years.

Any other '60 owner out there with a three character code on the Fisher Body Data Plate?

It is interesting that this wagon body was made in the Euclid FB plant, in previous years wagon bodies were all made in the Cleveland FB plant.

[60 SHARK]

HAY GUYS, IM HAVEIN FUN KEEPIN UP WITH THIS I.D. STUFF THIS IS THE PLATE FROM MY 60 SAFARI. WHITE EXT. , TWO TONES OF RED, WITH WHITE INTERIOR, 9 PASS., STANDARD AM RADIO, BACK UP LIGHTS, STAINLESS SIDE WINDOW TRIM, "E" MODEL ENG. W/ JET-AWAY 4 SPEED AUTO TRANS, 2:69 REAR GEAR. I DE-CODED THIS TAG YEARS AGO, AND AM NOW TRYING TO FIND THE INFO I USED TO DO IT. I'LL LET YA KNOW WHEN I LOCATE IT. ALSO, F Y I , THE CLEVELAND FISHER BODY PLANT IS ONE AND THE SAME AS THE EUCLID FISHER BODY PLANT. I LIVE IN EUCLID,OHIO. THE FIRST SUBURB EAST OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND. THE OLD PLANT IS STILL HERE, BUT HAS BEEN RE-PURPOSED. HOPE THIS HELPS.

[CATBIRD]

MOJO.....all 1960 Safaris were four door. The "45" in 2145 means that it was a wagon with three rows of seats. 2135 or 2835 was two rows of seats. All Chevrolet and Pontiac wagon body shells for the satellite assembly plants were made in the Fisher Body plant in Euclid Ohio at least into the early 60's. I'm not sure about the home plants (Pontiac and Flint) though.
It would appear that the 04D was the body build date as mentioned. This must have been the first year for this, as 1959's did not have this code on the trim tag.
As for the ACC codes, "B" is Circ-L-Aire Heater and Defroster, "KX" is the foam seat cushion, "F" is back-up lamps. These are from my 1959 confidential price lists and I've found that they match up well with 1960. There are two things that don't fit. "D" is for the Wonder Touch Super Deluxe Radio, which you state you don't have. Could that be a different letter? "T" is for Heavy Duty Radiator and oil cooler (a police and taxi option.) This makes no sense, since Fisher Body couldn't give a rat's butt what was on the chassis. They must mean something different for 1960.
I'm guessing, but I think the "W" was for the wheel color. I seem to recall that the wheels were lower body color with full covers and black with poverty caps, or vice-versa......John

[CATBIRD]

60 SHARK.....your's is basically the same with the addition of the "I" which is E-Z-Eye glass. The CC is Cameo Ivory or Cameo White, whatever name they chose to call it for 1960......John

[CATBIRD]

Forgot to add this to one of the last posts. If anyone is interested, the November issue of "Hemings Classic Car" published an interview with a gentleman who worked the line at the Fisher Body plant in Euclid Ohio from 1955-59. One of his jobs was to mask off bodies after they left the first paint booth, and before the second for two-tone cars. Easy job in 1959, as only the roof was different; but can you imagine the work for 1955-1958 Chevrolets and Pontiacs? Anyway, that seems to have answered my question as to whether the bodies were painted or not before shipping to the satellite assembly plants. This arangement was also used for convertibles except that the Fisher Body plant was in Lansing Michigan......John

[Safari Larry]

SHARK, good photo of your FB data plate. That makes sense that the three letter code is probably the date code. It could be that only the Euclid plant did that so it would be only on station wagons. Who has a 1960 non-Safari -- does it have the 3 letter code?

SHARK's PAINT code also has a third letter after the 2-letter code. I don't know what that is but I don't think it has to do with wheel color. The two letter code specifies upper, lower and wheel color per the Master Parts Catalog (see MPC Paint Codes). This page of the 1960 Master Parts Catalog show what the codes on the Data Plate are. It does not show a date code nor does it show a third letter after the two letter PAINT code

Cleveland and Euclid were separate FB plants about 2.5 miles apart. The Cleveland plant has been torn down and a few buildings have been rebuilt there (I've been watching it on Google Earth). The Euclid plant is still there. For more info about the two plants, see this link.

Up through 1957 and I believe 1958 all Pontiac and Chevy station wagon bodies were made at the Cleveland FB plant. We now have evidence that 1960 station wagons were built at the Euclid plant. Don't know about 1959 (anyone have a 59 wagon?) So it appears station wagon body build was moved from the Cleveland plant to the Euclid plant in 1959 or 1960.

This arrangement was also used for convertibles except that the Fisher Body plant was in Lansing Michigan

Convertible bodies were made at the FB Lansing plant in 1955. 1956-57 convertible bodies were made at the Pontiac MI FB plant and it appears all convertibles were assembled at the Pontiac MI Pontiac assembly plant. I don't know about any later years but I had suspected they continued to make the convertible bodies at the Pontiac MI plant and assemble them next door at the Pontiac assembly plant.

For research I've done, see http://www.pontiacsafari.com/PlantCodes/. I would like to get Pontiac plant code on MOJO's and SHARK's 60 wagons so I can add them to my list, they provide insight to the Euclid plant.

[MOJO Catalina]

Facinating stuff this data tag decifering..
I didn't have my camera last night but I did a rubbing on a piece of paper.
Here's what it looks like:


Definitely not a radio or transmission cooler in this car..

[MOJO Catalina]

Here are two other cowl tags.. The upper is my '60 4 dr sedan and the lower a '60 4 dr Ventura I scrapped.. The vin number belongs to the Ventura..



I see the date code is in larger lettering than the wagon tags posted..

As Larry's page confirms, the BA is Fisher plant in Doraville GA and the D means Doraville BOP assembly plant...
Is it odd that there are no accessories listed on the Ventura and that the number "5" seems like it's in the wrong place??
Even my "Plain Jane" wagon has a few options listed.. Maybe the 3rd shift Teamsters just missed the stamping? Or was it that the Ventura came with a long list of standard equipment that would have been optional on other models so noting them on the tag was unneccessary?

And it looks like the only difference in options between my Wagon and the Sedan I have is that the sedan has an "I"
As noted previously, the sedan was also not equipped with a radio but it does have the hydramatic..

I think we have another clue here, too. The sedan tag has dashes between the option codes that groups the letters so the individual "D" I suppose would not apply to deluxe radio.. the code groups it as DT.. Maybe that's the stainless trim on the window frames (Deluxe Trim?)? My 4 dr and wagon both have that... They also both have 2 speed wipers/washers.. Would that show up on the Fisher Body tag?.. Neither car has a clock..

Here's the blow-up of Shark's tag for ease of reference:



Our two wagons are from the same litter for sure... Same font on the date codes and of course EP build plant...

[MOJO Catalina]

OK, I took a proper photo of my wagon cowl tag today..

[Engine-Ear]

I always find it interesting that the cowl tag with its limited room for info about the car takes the real estate to advertise to someone (who?) that the car is finished with Magic Mirror Acrylic Lacquer.

[MOJO Catalina]

Yeah, I guess some marketing guy got a big "Attaboy" for demanding that placement..

Maybe the 5 on my Ventura tag means "5 coats" of Magic Mirror Acrylic Lacquer..

[CATBIRD]

MOJO.....You have solved the mystery of the codes. For 1960 the "D" and "T" belong together as the trim package for Catalinas. I don't know what it was marketed as for '60, but in '59 it was "Decor Group" (DC.) Looking at your dash I can see that you have it. The package consisted of the deluxe steering wheel, deluxe wheel covers. stainless trim around the windows on the outside, and the chrome trim that spells Pontiac across the ashtrays and glove box. All of these could be ordered seperately except the dash trim. If you have that, you have to have the "DT" package.
Larry.....1959 and 1960 convertible bodies were Lansing made and shipped out. My 1959 Catalina is Lansing/Kansas City, and I Know of three 1960 Lansing/Southgate cars, one Catalina and two Bonnevilles. My thought is that it was cheaper to build special bodies in one plant and ship them out, than to have expensive fixtures (jigs) in all the satellite plants. I would think that Pontiac, being the home plant would be able to build all body styles. I just recently aquired a 1959 Fisher "Body in White" assembly manual for all "A" body cars, both Chevrolet and Pontiac. An interesting read, but it seems to indicate that convertibles and wagons were much more complicated to put together......John

Forgot to mention this practice stopped for convertibles somethime prior to 1965. I'm aware of a 65 Bonneville Kansas City/Kansas City, and I personally watched several 65 convertibles being built at Fisher Body Linden N.J.

[MOJO Catalina]

OK that makes sense.. I can confirm the wheel covers on both cars and my Cat Sedan does have EZI glass.

The sedan has the number 7 all the way to the right on the ACC line and the Ventura tag has that stray 5, which probably was supposed to be on the ACC line.. There has to be a '60 Pontiac lover out there with a code book that can tell us what those stand for...

No progress on the engine today but I took a couple of photos of the trans from underneath.
I guess it's the regular "doody" trans..



I hope to get some time tomorrow to do some more cleaning of the engine parts. Probably won't get it back together for another week with the TG holiday coming up.

[Safari Larry]

Thanks MOJO for the data tag photos. I added those and SHARK's tag to my list of observed codes.

The stray 5 and 7 on the tags are a mystery, I doubt they belong on the ACC code line. Pontiac did not use numeric ACC codes up through 1958 but I don't know about later years but doubt they did. The other mystery is the third letter (W, A & K) seen on the PAINT codes, on three of the four data tags.

Good info on the ACC codes, I'm a bit surprised no one has the code list for 1960.

I'll reply to CATBIRD over on a "Fisher Body" thread which I started some time ago so keep your eyes peeled for that CATBIRD. MOJO, we're getting a little sidetracked and don't want to hijack your thread -- this should be about your beautiful wagon. We're already on page 4 and you haven't even waxed and detailed the car yet! Keep up the good work, it's an interesting project.

[twooldgoats]

This is the cowl tag off my '60 2-dr HT. It was equipped with power steering, AM radio and a 2bbl engine.

Jim

[stevep]

Doug Bendle from TN is the one to decode your trim tag, but I heard that he may be very ill.