1956 trim code help

[Retrorocket88]

Greetings, I have a 1956 Olds 88 that I am trying to decode the vin and trim tag. The vin is, 567M7387 the trim tag reads as follows, style,56-3637, body L 2324, trim 348, paint 40-60 and top only reads ACC. Thanks for any help you can provide, Joe

[Retrorocket88]

Bueller? Anyone? Is this thing on???

[Oldsfan]

567 means it's a '56 (56) base 88 (7).

M means it's a Lansing built car (those are the good ones).

7387 means it's the 6,387th base 88 out of the Lansing plant (numbers started at 1001). I used to think that this would have been the 6,387th Olds out of Lansing, but something recently brought to my attention has led me to believe that it is just for base 88s. There also would have been a 568M7387 Super 88 and a 569M7387 Ninety Eight. The final production base 88 from Lansing was 567M81004.

Style:

56 means it's a '56

3637 means it's a Holiday Coupe

Body Number:

L means it's from the Lansing Fisher Body Plant

2324 means it was the 2,324th base 88 Holiday Coupe body built at Lansing Fisher Body

Trim 348 is for Ivory vinyl bolsters with Blue/White pattern cloth

Paint 40-60 is for Cirrus Blue (40) body with an Alcan White (60) roof. If this were a special two tone, with one color on the hood and one color on the trunk, it would have an S in front of it.

Top is the convertible color, which you don't have, so it's blank

ACC is for accessory codes - things that would affect the build of the body, such as air conditioning, power windows, etc. You have none of those, so it is blank as well.

Paul

[Retrorocket88]

Thanks!! I have been trying to find something online that covered 50's era oldsmobiles but was having no luck. Thanks again for the help!!

[FireballV8]

Paul

Would you happen to have a list of the top color codes for the convertible top and a list of codes for the accessories? Also if a car has a different color trunk and a different color hood and a different color hardtop would the code look like this S40-60-40? And how do you know which code is for what section?

I also have a 56 Olds and always wondered about the codes.

Thanks

Steve

[Oldsfan]

I'm pretty sure I've got convertible top color codes. Will have to check tonight. I do have a list of accessory codes. It's probably easier for you to give me the codes on your plate, than for me to list them all.

'56s don't have more than two color codes on the data plate. The S is what tells you whether the roof is painted differently or not. I'm pretty sure the first number is always the lower body color, but I'll check that tonight as well.

Paul

[Oldsfan]

I do not have convertible top codes. Tops were available in black, white, tan, dark blue and dark green.

There were three two-tone paint options available in '56.

Conventional two-tone paint was available on all Oldsmobiles, except convertibles, at extra cost. There was no extra charge on for this option on Super 88 and 98 Deluxe Holiday coupes and Deluxe Holiday sedans. The combination had the body in one color and roof in another color. Shown on the firewall as XX-ZZ. XX being the color of the body, ZZ being the color of the roof.

Special two-tone paint was available on all Oldsmobiles, including convertibles, and was extra cost on all models ($25). Shown on the firewall as SXX-ZZ. XX being the color of the deck, rear fender and lower body, ZZ being the color of the roof, center pillar, window area, hood and upper body.

Another optional Special two-tone paint scheme was supposedly only available on 2-door and 4-door sedans, and not available on Holiday models or convertibles, same $25 cost. Shown on the firewall as TXX-ZZ. XX being the color of the roof, center pillar, window area, deck, rear fender and lower body. ZZ being the color of the hood and upper body.

So, in any two-tone combination, the lower color is always first, upper color is always second. With Special two-tones, roof color is indicated by the presence of the S or the T.

Paul