1970 Firebird trim and VIN tag decoding

[flowmann]

I recently found a 1970 Firebird in storage for 22 years. it looks like a Trans Am but the owner says the fenders and hood were added. The cowl tag says 228870BL****** but the VIN tag starts 226870L****** Should these two numbers line up? Why are they different? Any clue. There does not appear to be any tampering with either tag. They look perfect. Any thoughts? PHS says its a Trans Am but only has the VIN as 22687L***** Does it make this a Forumla Firebird?

Oh yeah - The cowl tag says its a Polo white car (code 10) with deluxe Bright Blue interior (code 211)

Help!

 

[melsg5]

Yes they should be the same. When you say VIN tag, do you mean the VIN located near the base of the windshield? As far as the cowl tag, there are companies that sell tags with glue on rivet heads. I believe they are not supposed to change the serial number but may change other data. Did you get the package from PHS or you only asked them the question about 22887 versus 22687. What engine is in the car,2 letter code below passenger side cylinder head?

 

[flowmann]

more news - thanks for help

The car has allegedly bee in storage for 16 years - and I think that is probably true noting where the car has been sitting - and sitting on Firestone wide oval 60's. The tags look very original - and i've seen a lot of these faked over the year. What I'm hearing is that there are examples of Pontiac making mistakes and using a 6 instead of an 8 for the Formula vs Trans Am coding. The hard part is that it is nit right - the Cowl tag clearly states Trans Am. PHS docs for car - matching the order in which it was produced - clearly says Trans Am and has an 8 in the code. It all would mean nothing if not for the fact that if it is a TA, it is a manual trans RA IV. The engine is not original. Its a 400 but not the right one. Looking at other parts that may make it an RA IV aside from the engine - Manifolds are wrong so that is out. Thanks for your help.

 

[melsg5]

so you are saying you cannt go by carburetor number, distributor number, intake manifold, or exhaust manifolds to determine if they were originally from a RAIV? What is the rear end ratio? Have you checked the serial number on the transmission to see what it matches with?

______________________________

 

[tjs44]

I saw this as a old post and thought I would reply.The car was-is a factory screwup confirmed by PHS.A friend bought the car,it was in so cal and was stored in my garage for about 6 month untill it went to NY state.The owner had a correct complete IV engine and the car is being restored.Car went cheap as everyone thought it was a fake.Tom