1970 El Camino Fisher Body Number Plate General Information

• Both Baltimore and Kansas City showed the distinctive style number on their trim tag and differentiated between L6 and V8 VIN series. It is known that Van Nuys did the same in 1971 but it's uncertain if they did in this in 1970 as well as, to date, no 13380 or 13580 trim tags have been found for 1970 Van Nuys El Caminos.

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• The SS Equipment option package (RPO Z25) was dropped from the 300 Deluxe (aka, Standard) series 2-door hardtop & 2-door sedan and was limited to the Malibu series 2-door hardtop, convertible, and sedan pickup. Although there are theories about certain letters appearing on certain final assembly plant body number plates indicating the SS option was installed on the car, there is NO PROOF in the form of GM documentation. The Monte Carlo only offered the SS454 package (RPO Z20) with the 454 engine.
  * Strong evidence, yes.
  * Proof, no.

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• Indications are the body numbers are sequential for the particular series/model per plant at some plants but not all. Baltimore, for example, showed a data processing number from block #24 on the trim tag and not the body number from the build sheet.

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• Numbers in parentheses after the STYLE are number of units produced and are for total production of the series/model depicted on the body plate except where noted.

• A popular publication states, "On all 1965 through 1971 trim tags, the engine identification portion of the model identification number always indicates a V-8 engine. No 6-cylinder engine identification numbers are stamped on any trim tag." This is an incorrect statement for not only 1965 through 1971 but includes 1972 as well. There are numerous examples of trim tags with an odd 3rd-digit style on this website.

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• Atlanta, Flint & Van Nuys continued their trim tag physical size of 1 3/4" x 4" compared to 2 3/16" x 3 1/2" of Arlington, Baltimore, Kansas City & Oshawa. This size change also affected the text along the bottom half of the tag to be printed on 5 lines instead of 4.

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• Links to Fisher Body Number Plates (a.k.a., trim tag, cowl tag, firewall tag, etc.)

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• B ~ Baltimore, Maryland
  
  Click tag for more Baltimore examples...
  • Assembly month padded with leading zero where applicable.
  • All examples of 2-door sport coupes (37), 2-door convertibles (67), and sedan pickups (80) have either the letter "B", the letters "B" and "D", or the letters "B" and "L" following the assembly date. The meaning of these letters is not known. It is suspected the "B" is for SS cars but not confirmed.
  • Numbers following plant designation code (B for Baltimore) are not the body number shown on the build sheet (in this case BB00292) but rather the first 6-digit number from block 24.
  • The 4-digit number at the bottom right is a data processing tracking number and has no significance today. This number is found in block 24 of the build sheet.
    
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• BL ~ Los Angeles (Van Nuys), California
  
  Click tag for more Van Nuys examples...
  • Assembly month not padded with leading zero where applicable.
  • Two pair of 6-digit numbers are found on the last line. These are data processing tracking numbers and have no significance today. The first 6-digit group and the last 4 digits of the second 6-digit group are found on the build sheet in block 24. The first 2 digits of the second 6-digit group are found on the build sheet in block 10.
  • Special paint trim tags show DuPont mixing formula such as 926-99616.
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• KAN ~ Kansas City, Missouri
  
  Click tag for more Kansas City examples...
  • Assembly month padded with leading zero where applicable.
  • A 5-digit number follows the assembly date. This is a data processing tracking number and has no significance today.
  • Controversy continues over the letter "L" that appears after the data processing number. Of the examples I have, the letter "L" appears on every known SS-optioned Chevelle Malibu and does not appear on Chevelle Malibus known NOT to be SS-optioned. Other Chevelle owners have stated they have seen the "L" on other known non SS-optioned Chevelles and not just the Malibu series. Other body plates are displayed with the letter "Z" or no letter at all.
  • To continue with this, it appears that sometime around late March, early April, Kansas City began including "B" or "W" when applicable to indicate black or white hood & deck stripes. If you have access to a late March, early April or later Chevelle with "B" or "W" on the trim tag and can document via build sheet that it does indeed have black or white stripes, please contact me with particulars.
  • Conversely, if you have access to a late March, early April or later Chevelle that has "B" or "W" on the trim tag but build sheet does NOT show hood & deck stripes or vise versa, no "B" or "W" on trim tag but build sheet does show hood & deck stripes, I'd be very interested in those cases as well.
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