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Fisher Body plate question


AK Buickman

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My 1966 Wildcat Custom 2-dr hardtop (#6637) has a "Z" shaped punch out on the upper right corner of the Fisher Body cowl ID plate. On another posting on this website, about the '67 Wildcat/drunk teens, 66400 mentions a punch out on the body ID plate on 1966 GM model year cars to indicate that the car has the reinforcements in the roof panel for shoulder harnesses. While my Wildcat is not equipped with shoulder harnesses, does this "Z" punchout indicate that my car has the shoulder harness reinforcements? Or does it indicate something else?<BR>My Wildcat was assembled during the third week of January, 1966 at the Southgate, California plant.<BR>Thank you.<P>AK Buickman, BCA #1955.........

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My info regarding the shoulder belt comes from the April 1966 Oldsmobile Service Guild Training Manual pgs 33-34. The first paragraph reads as follows;<P>Front Seat Shoulder Straps All Fisher bodies built after Feb. 1, 1966, will incorporate anchorage provisions (anchor nuts) for installation of front seat shoulder straps on both the driver and passenger side. After March 15, 1966, front seat shoulder straps will become available as a factory or dealer installed option. Cars which incorporate the shoulder strap provisions in the body structure can be identified by a 3/16 inch diameter hole stamped in the body number plate at the location shown at the location in Fig. 10.<BR> <BR>Complete installation instructions for shoulder straps will be included in the Service Parts Package.<P> Your Buick with a build date of 01 C will not have the mounts. They are found a few inches in front of the coat hanger hooks.<BR> <BR> <BR> I do not know what the "Z" stands for.<BR>I've looked at lots of '66 GM cars of all makes and models and I've found the hole on all Feb-Jul cars. I do recall seeing the "Z" punch out some but not all "B" bodied Chevies and Oldsmobiles.

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66400;<BR>Is it possible that cars equipped with factory headrests used this "Z" punchout? My Wildcat has the optional headrests, plus the optional right side reclining seat. Both of these features were a seldom seem option on a 1966 GM automobile. With headrests being a safety feature, maybye Fisher Body stamped the body plates on those cars (??)<P>AK Buickman..............

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My Skylark, built February 8, 1966 has the roof belt anchors. There is a round punch at the lower edge of the plate, about an inch in from the right side.<P>Installed "phantom" 1966 shoulder belts with "correct" buckles, supplied by a speciality vendor, last summer.<P>Looks perfectly original, except that the 1966 Buick experts know that the factory never equipped such belts.

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YellowLark, There is nothing "phantom" about shoulder belts installed in a '66 GM car with a build date of later than 02 A. They were offered as an option!<P><BR>My Buick master body parts parts book models 1940 to 1966 inclusive with an effective Mar 1, 1967 date shows on page 1007 the shoulder belts in the parts system.<P>Group # 14.875 Strap, front seat shoulder, standard-painted buckle (includes attaching parts) A list of part #'s follows.<P>next entry in parts book will be<P>Group # 14.875 strap, front seat shoulder deluxe-chrome buckles (includes attaching parts) A list of part #'s follows.<P><BR>AK Buickman, I don't think the "Z" will be for the headrest/recliner option, I recall seeing it on full sized Chevies and Oldsmobiles and I know I would had noticed headrests for sure. If I dig into my literature collection I may find some data in regards to headrest and recline codes.<P>Henry

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  • 3 weeks later...

I recently looked at a 1966 Wildcat 4-dr hardtop for sale that also had this same "Z" punchout on the upper right corner of the Fisher Body cowl plate, as my '66 Wildcat does.<BR>The similarities between both Wildcats were:<BR>--assembled at the Southgate plant<BR>--bodies from the "BC" Southgate Fisher Plant<BR>--both have the extra cost custom interior trim<BR>If anyone else has a '66 Wildcat with this stamp-out on the body plate, I would be interested to find out the significance of this "Z"<P>AK Buickman................

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AK Buickman,<P>I found some codes for seat options. On the bottom line of the body trim tag there is a letter code after the trim # for the interior color and before the paint color code.<P>TR 960 A PAINT C C<P>"A" Bench Seat<BR>"B" Strato Bucket Seats<BR>"P" Reclining Strato Bucket Seat<BR>"R" Reclining Strato Bucket Seat (w/headrest)<BR>"S" Strato Bucket Seats (with headrests)<P>These codes are stamped on the trim tag, they are not punched out like the "Z".<BR> Henry

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Henry-<BR>Thanks for this additional information.<BR>I will take a look at my Wildcat for these additional codes.<BR>What Fisher Body literature explains their coding system?<BR>Some things are explained in the front of each "Fisher Body Manual," but not everything.<P>AK Buickman............

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Maybe the Z was put there in a transition stage for the CA Plant? I know later years the Z represents the Fremont, CA Plant. Just a random thought...

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