Author Topic: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?  (Read 4823 times)

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Offline speedtigger

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Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« on: September 18, 2010, 09:47:56 AM »
My firewall data tag has a 3 character color code. everything I have read says it should be 2 characters. Can somebody enlighten me?


Offline Loren At 65GS

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2010, 01:57:55 PM »
One explaination may be that the car has a top painted different color then the main body plus it has a vinyl top over the painted top.
One of my '65 GS cars has that.

Loren
65 GS hardtop BCA Senior
 65 GS thin pillar coupe
 65 Skylark coupe v-6
 65 GS hardtop restoration project
 65 Sport Wagon
 70 GS 455 htp / original engine
 94 Roadmaster wagon
 96 Roadmaster wagon- parts car
 63 Riviera

 BCA 14371
 BCA 65 Gran Sport Division

Offline WkillGS

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2010, 05:47:12 PM »
The 3rd digit could be pinstripe color, or even wheel color.
I might've read that on the www.442bro.com site.....you guys DO know about that site, don't you? It's awesome!
Walt K
Eastern Pa

66 GS Astro Blue/blue 425 auto
66 GS Silver Mist/black 401 4 spd
66 GS Flame Red/black 401 5 spd
66 GS Saddle Mist/black 401 L76 auto
66 Special Flame Red/black 300 5 spd
65 GS vert Verde Green/ Saddle buckets 401 4 spd
79 Turbo Regal

Offline Loren At 65GS

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2010, 06:54:50 PM »
Sorry but '65 GSs were not striped from the factory. Unlike the brother Olds, Buick steel wheels came black only.
I had a great friend that owned a '67 442, the "little old lady's car", absolutely 100% original right down to the body color steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps. I've never seen a '65 GS with factory steel wheels other then black.

Loren
65 GS hardtop BCA Senior
 65 GS thin pillar coupe
 65 Skylark coupe v-6
 65 GS hardtop restoration project
 65 Sport Wagon
 70 GS 455 htp / original engine
 94 Roadmaster wagon
 96 Roadmaster wagon- parts car
 63 Riviera

 BCA 14371
 BCA 65 Gran Sport Division

Offline gssizzler

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2010, 12:31:59 AM »
The steel wheels for my GS are painted silver on the front and hub of the wheel this is very hard to document! The copy of the salesmans dealer price sheet that I have lists optional wheel color for  4300- 4400  code 33 no charge! A 65 skylark that I parted  that was a dd  code had blue body colored wheels on it dated 65?! Jon

Offline WkillGS

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2010, 10:59:24 AM »
Okay Loren, no pinstripes on 65! Thanks for the enlightenment!
66 GS's did have pinstriping.
I do have some body-color (blue) wheels on 2 different '66 Special parts cars.

I did find info on 442bro mentioning the third digit in the paint codes states wheel color. That was done only in the Fremont plant. I believe the code on Steve's car was 'A' ......black.
Here's the section on the Fremont tags:
http://442restoration.homestead.com/AccCiphers.html#anchor_94
>>>>The next Fremont only code is the wheel color code.  Cars that used steel wheels and poverty caps got a third letter in the paint code.  The plant used enamel paint instead of laquer to paint the wheels according to this code.  Fremont used the third letter system until July 1965.
Thanks to Jasen Ramsey<<<<<
Walt K
Eastern Pa

66 GS Astro Blue/blue 425 auto
66 GS Silver Mist/black 401 4 spd
66 GS Flame Red/black 401 5 spd
66 GS Saddle Mist/black 401 L76 auto
66 Special Flame Red/black 300 5 spd
65 GS vert Verde Green/ Saddle buckets 401 4 spd
79 Turbo Regal

Offline Loren At 65GS

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2010, 04:52:55 PM »
Jon, Walt,
Again, some more enlightenment.
Still learning some fine details.

Loren
65 GS hardtop BCA Senior
 65 GS thin pillar coupe
 65 Skylark coupe v-6
 65 GS hardtop restoration project
 65 Sport Wagon
 70 GS 455 htp / original engine
 94 Roadmaster wagon
 96 Roadmaster wagon- parts car
 63 Riviera

 BCA 14371
 BCA 65 Gran Sport Division

Offline speedtigger

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2010, 08:50:07 PM »
So, has anyone seen a 3 character color code on the tag before?


Offline Loren At 65GS

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2010, 08:52:36 PM »
Yes, I have one.

Loren
65 GS hardtop BCA Senior
 65 GS thin pillar coupe
 65 Skylark coupe v-6
 65 GS hardtop restoration project
 65 Sport Wagon
 70 GS 455 htp / original engine
 94 Roadmaster wagon
 96 Roadmaster wagon- parts car
 63 Riviera

 BCA 14371
 BCA 65 Gran Sport Division

Offline nut465gs

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2010, 09:52:45 AM »
I've done a little research into the Registry which is here online and the Archival Registry which I am currently the "Keeper of the Registry" records. Of course, these records do not have all the information needed for a complete analysis. Meaning that; the owner did not include the information from the firewall trim tag.

Typically, on a hardtop or post car, one would first read the body color (letter code) followed by another letter code to indicate the top color, whether it is painted or a vinyl top. For convertibles, the first letter is the body color followed by a number code to indicate one of the four colors of convertible tops available. That being said, the 1965 Buick GSs that were built in Fremont, California do not follow this pattern. This is not unusual as the Fremont plant's firewall trim tag is entirely different from those '65 GSs that were built in Flint, Kansas City or Baltimore. Generally speaking, the paint code on the Fremont cars either had two letters or three with the last letter always an "A".  Examples  TT,  CC,  KK,  CC A,  RR A,  ZZ A. Here is a short list of the Fremont built cars and their codes as recorded in the '65GS Registry. BTW, a Fremont built car will have a "Z" in the VIN.

YY A = Coupe, Bamboo Cream, Black vinyl top
CC A = Coupe, Artic White body and painted top
CC A = Coupe, Artic White body and painted top
AA A = Coupe, Regal Black body and painted top
KK   = Coupe, Turquoise Mist body and painted top
VV A = Coupe, Shell Beige body and painted top
CC A = Coupe, Artic White body and painted top
TT   = Coupe, Champagne Mist body with Black painted top
TT   = Coupe, Champagne Mist body and painted top
CC A = Coupe, Artic White body and painted top
ZZ A = Convertible, Silver Cloud body with White convertible top
RR A = Convertible, Flame Red body with Black convertible top
CC  = Convertible, Artic White body with Black convertible top

I wish I had more complete data from our Fremont, CA built cars, but this is enough information to see that they either had two or three letter codes. They seem to ignore the convertible top color number code altogether. The first paint code just appears to be redundant. The last A code could be the standard silver wheel insert color (silver/ gray) as Walt pointed out, similar to the Olds 442 in '65. BTW, the Oldsmobile 442 was also built on the same assembly line as our GSs.

That's all I have for now.

John Egel



Offline speedtigger

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2010, 01:06:27 PM »
Thanx John. That is great info. I have only ever found one picture of a champaign mist 65. I would like to see some more.

Offline Mark Ascher

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2010, 02:06:40 PM »
Ho many pics would you like?????

Mark
65 GS HT 4 Speed - BCA Senior 2015; AACA Senior Grand National 2021
66 Impala 396/TH400/12 Bolt "Project Rodent Remediation" - Almost Done
69 Bel Air 2 Door Sedan "Project Junior Stock" - In Process
19 Chev Silverado Pickem Up (daily driver)

Offline speedtigger

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #12 on: September 20, 2010, 06:38:01 PM »
Ho many pics would you like?????

Mark

Enough variety so I can figure out if I want to put my 65 back to the original color I think. I have only ever seen 1 picture of a 65 in Champaign Mist and it looked like a repaint, so I could not tell if the color was accurate or not.

Offline Mark Ascher

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #13 on: September 20, 2010, 08:14:12 PM »
Speed,

Slide over to this link:

http://65gs.com/board/index.php/topic,20.0.html

The paint you see in the form when I bought it is not accurate, it was a cheap repaint.
The photos in new paint are a little deceptive due to the lighting.

Mark
65 GS HT 4 Speed - BCA Senior 2015; AACA Senior Grand National 2021
66 Impala 396/TH400/12 Bolt "Project Rodent Remediation" - Almost Done
69 Bel Air 2 Door Sedan "Project Junior Stock" - In Process
19 Chev Silverado Pickem Up (daily driver)

Offline speedtigger

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Re: Data Tag Color Code has 3 characters?
« Reply #14 on: September 20, 2010, 09:35:49 PM »
Speed,

Slide over to this link:

http://65gs.com/board/index.php/topic,20.0.html

The paint you see in the form when I bought it is not accurate, it was a cheap repaint.
The photos in new paint are a little deceptive due to the lighting.

Mark


It looks much more green than i imagined.