[Father&Son73T/A]

I know they were on other sheetmetal,but were they and where on decklids?

[Scoles]

I'm surprised no one gave any input to this thread. I would like to know the answer to that question too.

Brian,

[70RAlll]

I have three 1970-71 TA hoods, the corect early ones. They have a stamping, but it odesn't make any sense. I will post some pictures later tonight. It isn't like the normal
0B25( Feb.25'70) etc.. I can not figure it out and would love to find out how to dechipher these hood codes..

[70RAlll]

Here are two of my 3 1970/71 TA hoods date (I guess date) stamps. One came from a 70 and teh other a 71, they are early style hoods with the round holevs oval and the two squares vs 4. Can anoyone decipher these??

[Held for Ransom]

He did say decklids, right? I don't believe that there are any. Unless the letter and 2 digits stamped mean something.

[70RAlll]

Yes HFR,I misread the post.Thought he was asking about hoods. ANyway, I will re ask... does anyone know how to read teh codes I pictured?? I think I have seen some numbers on deck lids.I have 2 extras here,will look at tomorrow.

[Jim Robertson]

70RAIII,
Do you have any pics you could post of the "early style hoods with the round holevs oval and the two squares vs 4."? A quick search on the forums produced no pics of the area you referred. Thanks,
Jim

[70RAlll]

Originally Posted by Jim Robertson

70RAIII,
Do you have any pics you could post of the "early style hoods with the round holevs oval and the two squares vs 4."? A quick search on the forums produced no pics of the area you referred. Thanks,
Jim

Jim- I will be more than happy to post some pictures. Check back tomorrow mid morning. The "webbing/underhood structure" is different on the 70-72 hoods vs 73-76 hoods. They all have the same scoop opening, butthe underside is different. The two most apparent differences will be the round vs oval hole and the two vs 4 square holes.But as I stated, these aren't the only differences, it is an entirely different webbing/support structure. But yes, I have both style hoods and will post pictures tomorrow. I may have an extra 70-72 Hood that might be for sale soon. Willhave to see.
Bill

[Jim Robertson]

70RAIII,
How are the pictures of underside of the hood coming? Might start a new thread with a more appropriate title. Thanks
Jim

[70RAlll]

Originally Posted by Jim Robertson

70RAIII,
How are the pictures of underside of the hood coming? Might start a new thread with a more appropriate title. Thanks
Jim

Jim-
I am so sorry. I completely forgot all about the hood pictures. Will get some this a.m. and post this afternoon.
bill

[John V.]

Don't know if this will help, but on my '64 GTO, I have found some date codes. Was told about this by somebody on the PY forums. I'm a nos. fanatic and knew about codes on all sorts of things but in all my years of studying Pontiacs, never knew that stamped metal components were date coded.

On my '64, as example, there are 3 braces under the cowl vent. IIRC, 2 are marked Z45, the 3rd is Z46. According to how I came to interpret this coding was as the 45th (or 46th) week of the calendar year. The Z was uncertain. My car was built at Fremont. The VIN Plant code for Fremont was "F" in '64, became "Z" in '65. Perhaps it is related, but I seem to recall that I concluded the Z was not specific to the Fremont Plant.

My car was built around Nov. 20, 1963 so sheet metal components stamped out during the 45th week of the '63 Calendar Year made sense to me.

I do not know if every Assembly Plant had their own metal stamping operations. The home Pontiac complex did, I assumed the others did also, but perhaps not. So perhaps multiple Assembly Plants received their sheet metal components from a single sheet metal plant identified by "Z".

Found this, although it pertains to Ford, likely was similar to what Pontiac would do.

http://www.fomoco.org/Date%20Codes.htm

Difference being, it appears that Pontiac coded by week whereas Ford coded a specific day.

The main use of these codes seems to be to establish that generally all components were stamped around the same period of time, thus establishing "original" sheet metal.

I looked for codes on other pieces, found a Z45 on the firewall as example. Don't remember if I ever found one on the '64 decklid. I found p/ns rather than date codes on the front fenders, though haven't gone over them with a fine toothed comb. I remember finding codes on the bumper that didn't seem to relate to the codes on the sheet metal stuff.

If my logic is correct, the "22" would suggest a car assembled in June, "16" would suggest a car assembled in late April, early May. As to the A3 and B3, perhaps they indicate a Plant & Shift like the Ford format. The fact that the format is sorta reverse between the two examples posted here, who knows?

A thought that just occurred to me, since no year seems to have been coded as it is in the Ford format, perhaps the letter identifies the year? "A" for 1970, "B" for 1971? Whether this would be Calendar Year or Model Year, I guess you guys could figure that out if you looked hard enough.

Not to hijack the thread, but any chance I saw a couple of you guys last Thursday? Saw two Polar White with Blue Stripe TAs ('70-'72) following each other, westbound I-70 about 15 miles west of Wheeling, WV. I was eastbound so only got a quick look.

[Father&Son73T/A]

Anyone know the date codes for the front qtrs for a 73?
I am still interested in the decklid possibly having codes....

[70RAlll]

Originally Posted by John V.

Don't know if this will help, but on my '64 GTO, I have found some date codes. Was told about this by somebody on the PY forums. I'm a nos. fanatic and knew about codes on all sorts of things but in all my years of studying Pontiacs, never knew that stamped metal components were date coded.

On my '64, as example, there are 3 braces under the cowl vent. IIRC, 2 are marked Z45, the 3rd is Z46. According to how I came to interpret this coding was as the 45th (or 46th) week of the calendar year. The Z was uncertain. My car was built at Fremont. The VIN Plant code for Fremont was "F" in '64, became "Z" in '65. Perhaps it is related, but I seem to recall that I concluded the Z was not specific to the Fremont Plant.

My car was built around Nov. 20, 1963 so sheet metal components stamped out during the 45th week of the '63 Calendar Year made sense to me.

I do not know if every Assembly Plant had their own metal stamping operations. The home Pontiac complex did, I assumed the others did also, but perhaps not. So perhaps multiple Assembly Plants received their sheet metal components from a single sheet metal plant identified by "Z".

Found this, although it pertains to Ford, likely was similar to what Pontiac would do.

http://www.fomoco.org/Date%20Codes.htm

Difference being, it appears that Pontiac coded by week whereas Ford coded a specific day.

The main use of these codes seems to be to establish that generally all components were stamped around the same period of time, thus establishing "original" sheet metal.

I looked for codes on other pieces, found a Z45 on the firewall as example. Don't remember if I ever found one on the '64 decklid. I found p/ns rather than date codes on the front fenders, though haven't gone over them with a fine toothed comb. I remember finding codes on the bumper that didn't seem to relate to the codes on the sheet metal stuff.

If my logic is correct, the "22" would suggest a car assembled in June, "16" would suggest a car assembled in late April, early May. As to the A3 and B3, perhaps they indicate a Plant & Shift like the Ford format. The fact that the format is sorta reverse between the two examples posted here, who knows?

A thought that just occurred to me, since no year seems to have been coded as it is in the Ford format, perhaps the letter identifies the year? "A" for 1970, "B" for 1971? Whether this would be Calendar Year or Model Year, I guess you guys could figure that out if you looked hard enough.

Not to hijack the thread, but any chance I saw a couple of you guys last Thursday? Saw two Polar White with Blue Stripe TAs ('70-'72) following each other, westbound I-70 about 15 miles west of Wheeling, WV. I was eastbound so only got a quick look.

By all means, hijack this tread all you want,with info like this. Your therory makes more sense than any I have heard. I guess the A is 1970 and the B is 1971 and teh 16 or 22 is teh week, the 3 could be shift, etc...It finally makes sense to me.Using the 22 or 16 as weeks, fits perfect to the build dates of the two cars these came from. Well, I say perfect, with in a month or so,which for me is just fine.... Thanks again!!!

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by Father&Son73T/A

I am still interested in the decklid possibly having codes....

Do you have a code stamped here?

[x-bird2]

i have a "24" by the narrow oblong hole that's on the center of the decklid frame towards the front of the car. couldn't find anything else, pretty sure it's the original lid.

[SD Formula]

Here are a couple of stamped codes from the inner deck lid panel. Both are from 74 Norwood Firebirds T5 A38M & 54T A55M

[Father&Son73T/A]

Originally Posted by SD Formula

Here are a couple of stamped codes from the inner deck lid panel. Both are from 74 Norwood Firebirds T5 A38M & 54T A55M

Thanks for the info,when it get's above -0 I'll check out the 73's deck lid.

[roundportponchos]

If anyone can make a little chart, that would be great... I always tried to make rhyme/reason w/those funny codes...

[Father&Son73T/A]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

Do you have a code stamped here?

Yup,it reads "T02"

[6d7gto]

Almost every part including sheet metal has date codes. Like John V said. Some are expressed as weeks (X23= 23rd week), some (like fenders and bumpers) as month (6=June). I've found the prefixes W,X,Z,T's and sometimes they are followed by an A (eg. ZA). I've always assumed the date following the A (assembled) is the date when 2 or more panels were put together to make one panel. For example panel Z23 is welded to panel Z22 on ZA24. I like to think of these codes as tiny VIN's as they match the vehicle and you can tell when a panel has been replaced. Also, a great way to tell a clone vs. original. Gives a whole new meaning to 'numbers matching'.