1971 SS-Optioned Chevelle

1971 SS-Optioned Malibu

Fisher Body Number Plate - Baltimore, Maryland Assembly Plant (B)

Baltimore makes a distinction between an inline 6-cylinder engine and a V8 engine with the style number. Other 1971 final assembly plants also matched the Fisher Body style number with the exact series/model. The words/abbreviation ST (for style), B, BDY on the second line were consistent along with TR (for trim) and PNT on the third line. The body date, style year and number, body number, trim code, and paint codes were stamped for the specific car as it was scheduled for production.

Baltimore tags generally have a 1- or 2-digit machine stamped number in the upper right-hand corner. The exact meaning is not known but is suspected to be the body assembly platform number used during body assembly.

Baltimore did not use a hyphen character between the year and style number such as 71 13637, the body number is a 6-digit number and does not have a space between the Fisher Body plant designation letter and the body number such as B817902. Unlike other 1971 assembly plants this 6-digit number is not the body number from their build sheet but rather the first 6-digit number found in block 24 of their build sheet.

The 3-digit trim code itself was enough to distinguish between a bench and bucket seat type. For example, trim code 705 is a black vinyl bench seat whereas trim code 706 is a black vinyl bucket seat. Baltimore did not separate the lower and upper body color letters/number with a dash (or hyphen) character.

The final line of car-specific information is the Fisher Body assembly date such as 01B. Next are no letters, 1 or 2 letters. The meaning of these letters is not known. These letters include B and D. Sometimes a letter will be stamped by itself, sometimes in conjunction with a second letter. To date, these letters have been found on the following series/body style trim tags.

Letter	Found On
B	Found on Malibu sport coupe and convertible, 13437 sport coupe, 13569 Malibu 4-Door Sedan, Monte Carlo and sometimes with D and does NOT indicate SS Equipment.
D	Found on Malibu convertible and Malibu series Custom El Camino. Sometimes found by itself, sometimes in combination with letter B.

When multiple letters do appear, there may or may not be spaces between them. It is a good bet that other series/body style trim tags will have these letters as well, I just do not happen to have examples of other series/body style tags to elaborate on. Baltimore tags also have a 4-digit number on the right side of the 3rd line. This number is found in block 24 of the build sheet and has no real significance today.