hi, my vin tag has a dash dash for the paint and trim code
can any body tell me what this means?
thanks for your time.

The -- means the car was special ordered with a different color than what was on the Camaro order sheet. It could be a Chevy color from another car line, or a Buick, Olds, or Pontiac color. Special Caddy colors usually were not available.

Fyi

Cadillac Firemist colors had courser metallic in them and required special paint guns to apply, so only the Cadillac assembly plants were specially equipped to handle those paints. The other plants could not spray it even if they wanted to without undergoing major retooling.

No Chevy's were ever assembled in the same plant as a Cadillac.

normally it means BLAck

My friend had a 1973 Z28 with the two dash marks for the paint code. He special ordered the car Black which was not available for 73.

it's your cowl tag, not your VIN tag. Just for the record. :)

As long as we are on the record; its not really a cowl tag but the Trim tag attached to the cowl. :D

OK thanks, now i need to know how to find out if this is a matching numbers Z28, on the passenger side front on the pad i can not see the numbers they are not there. now i have found on the back drivers side a casting number i think, it is GM 39700 NO i think it is NO, what dose this mean ? sorry for not knowing anything but i am trying to learn. can anbody help me find this info out or how to find out if it is number matching?
thanks for all the help.

Post up some pictures of your Camaro. We like pictures.

i tried to but keeps saying pics are to big.
(exceeds filesize limit)

OK thanks, now i need to know how to find out if this is a matching numbers Z28, on the passenger side front on the pad i can not see the numbers they are not there. now i have found on the back drivers side a casting number i think, it is GM 39700 NO i think it is NO, what dose this mean ?.

That sounds like the block casting number, 3970010. that tells you that it is a Chevy small block with a 4" bore. That block went into about 90% of the Chevy small block 350 powered vehicles from 1969-1979. It doesn't identify where the block originated. The numbers from the front pad are the identifying ones you need, and if they aren't there anymore, it gets much more difficult.

Thanks,for the info, is it still posable to find out if its orig. Some how? Thanks so much for your help. I realy like this form nice guys willing to help out.

You don't say what year your Z28 is, but yes, if it is a 70-79 Z28, the block casting number should be 3970010, so there is a good chance that it is the original engine. If the front pad on the passenger side of the block has no numbers, it says the engine has been rebuilt and decked to remove the numbers.
All blocks originally had numbers stamped on the block.

sorry it is a 1973 Z28 and the casting number is GM 3970010 and i think to the right of that number i can see a 73
thanks for all of your help !

you can narrow it down a little more by the casting date . the casting date is located behind the distributor . my casting date is C163 which translates into C , the month ( march ) ; the day of the month , the 16th and the year . 3 = 73 http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh155/stinsonz/motor1.jpg the cast dates on all the 73 Z28 motors is with in a week of the trim tag build start date . on my car is 03D which is the 4th week of march . so if your casting date is within a week or so of the build date its more fuel to the fire .

ok, this is what i have found so far can anybody help me decode this.12482

12483

12484

from what i can tell is this is not a number matching Z28 :mad: :mad:
sombody tell me i am wrong!!!:(

i cant find my upside down magnifying glass , so can you tell me what the build date on the trim tag is and the cast date is? the pictures are too small .

trim tag : ST73 1FQ87 N 029753BDY
TR 775 A51 - - PNT
12B Z28 -
350198

the cast date is GM 3970010

then behind the dist there is F 3 6

thanks let me know.

F 3 6 is a 76 motor , june 3 1976 . the trim tag is a 73 sport coupe with the Z28 option . built in the second week of december . black (most likely) exterior with NO Z28 stripes, black standard vinyl interior . stripes were optional in 73