1967–69 Firebird Cowl Tag Decoder
Type in what’s stamped on the small plate by your Firebird’s brake master cylinder and see what each line means: paint, top, interior, plant and the week the body was built. Free, no account, and nothing is saved.
Fill in as many lines as you can read. Blank is fine.
Reading the tag
The build date sits above the ST line. The ST line has the model year and the style number (22337 for a coupe, 22367 for a convertible), then the plant and Fisher body number. Underneath are the trim code on the left and the paint code on the right.
In 1967 and 1968 paint codes are letters and top codes are digits, so R-2 is a Solar Red 1968 with a black top. In 1969 they swapped: paint became two digits and tops became letters, so 73 means Verdoro Green and the letter after it is the top color. Two color codes together usually mean a two-tone or a stripe color.
Common questions
Where is the cowl tag on a 1967–69 Firebird?
On the firewall in the engine compartment, on the driver’s side near the brake master cylinder. It’s a small plate riveted on by Fisher Body, which built the body.
Why doesn’t the style number on my tag match my VIN?
On some 1967 and 1968 tags the middle digits read 24 or 26 instead of the 23 in the VIN, so a tag reading 22437 and a VIN starting 22337 can be the same car. By 1969 the tag and the first five digits of the VIN match.
Does the tag show a Trans Am, a 400 or a Sprint?
No. Fisher Body stamped what it needed to build the body: style, color, interior, top. Engine and performance packages like the 400, the H.O., the Sprint or the 1969 Trans Am package aren’t on the tag. The VIN, engine codes and a Pontiac Historic Services billing card are the records for those. One clue for 1969: every Trans Am was painted Cameo White, code 50.
Which plants built first-generation Firebirds?
The 1967s came from Lordstown, Ohio (LOR). Van Nuys, California (LOS) joined during 1968, and Norwood, Ohio (NOR) built them in 1969 too.
My paint code is dashes or says SPEC. What does that mean?
Special-order paint: a color outside the regular list. The tag doesn’t say which color, but a Pontiac Historic Services billing card will.
What does the build date mean?
Two digits for the month and a letter for the week, so 06A is the first week of June. It’s when Fisher started the body.
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. Pontiac used the same paint codes across its whole line each year, so GTO and Tempest references help confirm Firebird colors. Where only one source has a code, mostly the interiors, the decoder says so. We don’t yet decode 1969 top colors or seat letters, because we haven’t found a source we can rely on for them. For deeper research, the First Generation Firebird club’s site and forums are the place to go. Also have a first-gen Camaro? It’s the same F-body: decode its cowl tag.
- The Poorman’s Off Chassis Restoration — 1968 Pontiac body plate data
- The Poorman’s Off Chassis Restoration — 1967 and 1969 Pontiac body plate data
- AutomotiveTouchup — 1968 Pontiac paint codes
Garage Chronicle isn’t affiliated with General Motors. Pontiac and Firebird are GM trademarks, used here only to describe which cars this tool reads.