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Need help decoding this 63 data plate


Cornpanzers Riv

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The easy way you can tell if it's a posi. The fill plug on the side of the diff. pumpkin. If it has a 3/8ths. square that you would fit a 3/8ths. extension into it is NOT posi. If it has a 3/4" square nut that you can put a 3/4" open end wrench on it IS posi. Very easy way to tell by just looking under the right rear of the pumpkin.

 

 

Tom T.

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As Tom T. says, the only way to tell if it's a posi or not is to do as he says or jack up the car and spin the axle and see how the wheels turn.  The gear ratio is stamped on the underneath side of the pumpkin housing.

 

The Data Plate only tells you what options were installed by the Fisher Body Plant before it went to final assembly.

11B - build date :  2nd week of Nov, 1962.  

FB 2721 out of 40,000

718 Custom Blue leather  (Power seat would have a J2 following the 718) Custom interior has the wood paneling on the doors and  power controls for the windows on the arm rest extension.

FF Marlin blue paint

D - provisions for a radio (rear seat speaker installed - no front speaker in '63)  The type of radio would be installed in final assembly

K4 - Rear defogger

N2 - Air Conditioning

S - Remote mirror and door edge guards

U8 - power windows and power vents

X - wiring harness for Guidematic and Twilight sentinal

Z4 - Remote (vacuum) trunk release

 

Options that could be on your car but not on the data plate.  You'll have to visually inspect the car for these

Twilight sentinel - headlights on / off at dusk / dawn - Looks like a black pill bottle cap on the dash

Guidematic - auto headlight dimmer - looks like a torpedo on the dash

Four note horns - pretty obvious.  Two trumpet horns on the under side of the hood

Tilt wheel - obvious

AM, AM Wonderbar, AM/FM (Highly unlikely this early build date) w/ or w/0 power antenna

Cornering lights

The kind of wheel cover - three choices, base, spoked, cast aluminum

Oversized (7.60 x 15) tires.  If your car has 6" wide rims (measured INSIDE the mounting bead) it came with the bigger tire, not the standard 7.10 x 15

 

I find it strange, unless Fisher Body wasn't stamping this yet) that this well equipped car does not have a power seat and even more strange that it does not have tinted glass - code I ("eye" not 1)6.

 

It is probably equipped with a 401 engine, the 425 was a later option.  But, the only way to tell for sure is to look at the Production Code Number stamping on the block.  JT for a '63 401, and JW for a '63 425.  The Engine Serial Code should match the VIN on the cowl. (This photo is from a '66 - M, 401 -T but it shows where you'll find the numbers.

 

Nailhead production code stamping.jpg

 

Jim Cannon would like to add your info to his registry.  Please make sure he gets it.  There are questions that he'd like answered about mid-year production changes.  I.E. ribbed dash, spare tire location, vacuum tank configuration, etc.

 

It would be great to see some interior shots of the seats, console, dash, and door panels.

 

Where you'll find the rear end ratio.  This particular one is a 3.07.  3 on top of 07.

Rear end ratio ID (1).jpg

Rear end ratio ID (2).jpg

 

 

 

Edited by RivNut
additional picture (see edit history)
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 Thank you all for your help. I did join the ROA, but I think I lapsed recently.

 

 Determined that it is not a posi.  Have not checked the ratio yet. 

Car does have original AM/FM, Tilt, AC, Power vents and windows. It has the switch for rear de-fog, but the blower is gone.  It does not have power seats. 

 

It is a smooth dash car. It has a small black rotary knob on the lower left fuse box cover. What would that have been for?

 

sadly someone took out all the blue interior and replaced it with Brown. Wanted to match the horrible beige paint I suppose. Verified that it is a 401.

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Tom, 

Was this something outfitted on early production models?  My 63 has the factory, not dealer, installed twilight sentinel (window sticker) and it does not have this switch.  It turns off by turning the cover on the sensor itself to an "off" position.

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Hi Ed,

  Double check your car. I dont recall ever seeing a twilight sentinel without this switch. I have parted a few cars with this option and they all had this switch as part of the system. Having said so, it wouldnt be hard to setup this switch`s function a different way, so???

  Tom

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I have added this car to my database.  It is a pretty early car, so smooth dash is correct.  The firewall under the hood should be painted body color, when you repaint it.  The driver's door side view mirror is in the correct location.  It was moved forward later.  If it really had a factory AM/FM radio, then it would also have a power antenna.  If no power antenna, AM/FM radio was put in at a later time.  The 425 CI engine was not available yet in November.  Pretty rare to have a car with no tinted glass, only ~2700 jobs like that.  Yet it has the Rear Window Defroster; only ~1700 sold with that!

 

Any idea where it was sold new?

 

 

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23 hours ago, Cornpanzers Riv said:

Jim,
 It does have a power antenna. I am in the process of removing the AC, and AM/FM Radio to use in my car.  The rest of it is going to a friend who will part it out. It is way too rusty to save

 

Oddly enough, it has power vents, but no power seats.  Weird...

 

This was in the day where anyone could order any car with whatever options they wanted.  "I don't need no stinking power seat!"

 

I understand you are moving many parts from this car over to your car.  If you move the AM/FM radio, if your car does not already have a power antenna, be sure to move that over, too.  They went together.  (That AM/FM radio was so expensive -- $179 in 1963 (equivalent to over $1400 in today's money!) -- that Buick justified some of the cost by lumping the electric antenna in with the radio.)

 

Does the car have a tilt steering wheel?

 

 

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