1968–72 Chevelle Trim Tag Decoder
Type in what’s stamped on the Fisher Body plate on your Chevelle, Malibu or El Camino’s firewall and see what each line means: body style, plant, the week the body was built, paint, top and interior. Free, no account, and nothing is saved.
Fill in as many lines as you can read. Blank is fine.
Reading the tag
The top line has the model year, the style number, then the plant and body number. Below that is the trim code (interior) and the paint code. The build date sits on the bottom line on most tags, sometimes with other codes the plant used for its own scheduling.
The five-digit style number starts with 13 for every Chevelle. The next two digits are the series (32 for the Chevelle 300 and Nomad, 34 for 300 Deluxe or the base Chevelle, 36 for Malibu, 38 for Concours and the 1968 SS396) and the last two are the body: 37 is the sport coupe, 67 the convertible, 69 the four-door sedan, 80 the El Camino.
Seven plants built Chevelles in these years and each one did things a little differently: how it marked special paint, whether it padded the month with a zero, what it put on the bottom line. If a line doesn’t look like the examples, type what you see and the decoder will tell you what it can read.
Common questions
Where is the trim tag on a 1968–72 Chevelle?
On the firewall in the engine compartment, on the driver’s side. It’s a small plate riveted on by Fisher Body, which built the body, and people call it the trim tag, cowl tag or body tag.
Does the trim tag prove my Chevelle is a real SS?
Only for 1968, when the SS396 was its own series with style numbers starting 138 (13837, 13867, 13880). From 1969 the SS was an option package on a Malibu or El Camino, so an SS and a regular Malibu carry the same style number. A few plants stamped extra codes on the bottom line, but they varied by plant and aren’t proof on their own. A build sheet, Protect-O-Plate or original window sticker is the evidence that counts.
Is the style number the same as the VIN?
Close but not always. The VIN’s third digit says six-cylinder (odd) or V8 (even). Most plants in 1968–69 stamped the even number on the tag no matter which engine went in. From 1970 more plants matched the VIN, and by 1971 all U.S. plants used the odd number for a six-cylinder.
What are the plant codes?
They changed twice. 1968–69 tags use three-letter codes such as ATL, BAL and KAN, with BF for Fremont. 1970 tags use A, B, BL (Van Nuys), BT (Arlington), FL2 (Flint) and KAN. 1971–72 tags use a single letter: R for Arlington, B for Baltimore, K for Kansas City and L for Van Nuys. Oshawa, Canada is OS throughout.
Why is my paint code a long number or just dashes?
That’s special-order paint. Depending on the plant, the tag shows dashes, a blank, or the paint maker’s mixing formula, such as a DuPont number starting 926 or 927. Hugger Orange and Daytona Yellow 1970 Chevelles often show up this way, because neither was a regular 1970 Chevelle color.
What does the build date mean?
A month number and a week letter, so 04D is the fourth week of April. It’s when Fisher started the body. Each plant counted its weeks its own way, so treat the week as approximate.
Is my tag information saved?
No. The decoding happens in your browser. If you start a page for your car, only the year, model, body style and paint name carry over. The body number never does.
Where this came from
We compiled these codes ourselves and checked them against each other. Paint codes are checked against GM’s Chevrolet-wide color lists, which the Chevelle shared with the Camaro and Nova. Plant codes, style numbers and interior trims mostly rest on one deeply researched reference, so the decoder flags those for you to check against your paperwork. Also own a first-generation Camaro? Decode its cowl tag.
- Chevellestuff — trim tag decoding by year and plant
- Chevellestuff — 1970 Chevelle paint codes
- PaintScratch — 1970 Chevrolet paint codes
- AutomotiveTouchup — 1971 Chevrolet paint codes
- Camaro Research Group — 1968–69 Chevrolet paint and top codes
Garage Chronicle isn’t affiliated with General Motors. Chevelle, Malibu, El Camino and Chevrolet are GM trademarks, used here only to describe which cars this tool reads.