[SK68GTO]

Hi everyone, brand new member here. I'm in the process of restoring a 68 GTO that I bought back in '87 in San Diego. I was hoping someone could help me figure out my dataplate. At one time or another, I suspect something fishy has happened. You can see an extra(probably the original) set of mounting holes in the cowl. Also, in the top row to the right of the time built code, there seems to be extra info that's not listed in any of my resources. The most troubling thing is the interior code: 36? Any help will be much appreciated!

[Keith Seymore]

Welcome -

I'm sorry, but I can't quite read the tag in this pic.... can you take a better picture, maybe scuffing a little bit of the paint off the highest part of the digits?

At any rate, it appears to be a Fremont built car and Fremont includes the manifest sequence number on their data plate. Not all of the plants did, so it throws a lot of people off.

I suspect that is what you are seeing. It is simply an incremental, sequential count of each car built (ie, one car is 100078, the next car is 100079, etc). This is significant because not all plants built in VIN order, and because the first digit of the VIN can be different as a result of engine type (or vehicle brand - Chevy, Olds, Pontiac) in some plants, causing the VINs to skip around slightly as the cars came off the end of the line.

In either case, it has no permanent value to anyone once the car has left the assembly plant - other than to historians and enthusiasts like ourselves.

K

[SK68GTO]

Thanks Keith,
Yes, it is a Freemont car. Thanks for the info on the manifest numbers.
A new pic will be kinda difficult now that the hood is back on. I have all the info though:

01B 035364 990553
ST 68-24237 BF05107 BODY
TR 36 BBO DD PAINT

The middle character in BBO could be an 8?

I'm really trying to figure out the interior. The headliner, door panels, inside quarter panels are all parchment, and the carpet and dash are black. Could they have dropped the "2" on the interior code making the "36" code on my dataplate a "236" code? Though that would be parchment with a bench seat Other curious things that lean to this are that it now has black '69 bucket seats and a black '69 rear seat. Also, it has an center console with hurst dual gate that I thought might have been replaced at one time - up under the dash, I found the wire harness to the console spliced in with a different color harness. I guess the seats and console could've been installed to delete the bench seat. If that was the case, would it have had a column shift with the bench seat as well? It has a TH400.

I thought I saw a service at one time to research a VIN number. Are you farmiliar with that?

Thanks for helping unravel my mystery,

Scott

[Greg Reid]

Well, the color code is DD...That's Alpine Blue, upper and lower. The 36 is a bit of a mystery but...maybe it was meant to be 236...Parchment...The 36 would be indicative of a bench seat in that case.

EDIT: I missed the last part of your post. I think you're right, now that I see the car has parchment interior. Sounds like a NICE color combo. Bench seats in GTOs are cool to me. The black seats with parchment guts is more evidence that the seats have been changed IMO.
The Pontiac Historical Services will tell you everything about the car according to the VIN...Including price, options, original dealer, etc.

I'd like to see pics of the car if you have any?

[johnta1]

I'd say the 36 should be 236 which is what you said.

The BB0 is probably B80, which is roof rail trim.

The extra holes, I don't know?
Rivets look like original.
Maybe factory screwed up?

For $50 you can send the VIN to PHS and get a lot of info on your car.

PHS

[SK68GTO]

Thanks a lot guys, I think it's looking like it was supposed to be 236. Somebody tell me that's a rare, highly sought after option!
I assume bench seat, automatics were all on the column? The only pics I can find of cars with benches and shifters on the floor are manuals.
PHS is the service I was remembering seeing, I'm goning to definately give them a call. Thanks also for decoding the roof rail trim.
I'll make a new thread to post some pictures of it. It's had quite a history, having a tilt frontend made out of the original sheet metal by a privious owner, and now being converted back to original by myself in the last 7 months.

[Greg Reid]

Yeah, if you opted for the console, you had to have floor shift and buckets but since you could get a manual with or without the console, you could choose buckets or bench.