The Official H-Body Internet Community

Posted: **Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:13 pm**

I've updated and made corrections to the original VIN# Decoder found here on H-Body.org and included it on my website. Unfortunalty it only includes the 2nd Gen cars since I'm not familiar enough with the Vega/Astre series to include it on my site. You can access it from the left-hand margin on the main page ... http://monza.homestead.com/monza.html or you can go directly to it via this link ...

http://monza.homestead.com/files/VINdecoder.htm

Dennis, if you wish, you could also make the changes to the Decoder on your site.
Cheers!

Posted: **Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:00 pm**

Nice Job.

I'll see if I can find the diff between an E sunbird and an M sunbird. (was it just changed during the model year or were there 2 slightly different sunbird models)

I'll also compliment this with a trim tag decoder on my site.

Posted: **Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:24 pm**

Nice job Bryan. I really like the colors, makes it easier to follow.

Posted: **Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:20 am**

Its clear and very well done as it is.

You could ad.. for the Plant letter code...after ' 7 lordstown ' put 1979 and 1980
And after 'U Lordstown', put '71to '78.

food for thought.

Posted: **Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:23 am**

Hey Marco
Thanks for the tip. I wasn't sure the the Lordstown breakdown and was wondering about that. The 2nd Gen's were made in Lordstown from 77-80 right or was it 76-80 with some being made in Southgate in 76? I know Ste. Therese was 1975. Am I correct about this? I'll make the changes and add the dates if I've got it all straightened out.

Posted: **Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:26 am**

St.Theres. 75-77

Southgate 75 for sure , 76 maybe, 77 dont think so. I'd stick with 75-76 and wait and see if a 77 or later ever turns up.

Lordstown 78=U, 79=7, 80=7

Posted: **Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:21 pm**

I'm pretty sure Paul in TX has a '76 Skyhawk built in Southgate.
I'll add dates to the listing.
Learn something new everyday, I thought Ste. Therese only built for '75, had no idea they did it for a few years, Southgate too.

Posted: **Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:12 pm**

I have a 1976 Skyhawk that was built in the Southgate, CA plant.

I have the Build Sheet, too. Marco is waiting for me to scan it and post it.

My 1977 Sunbird was built at the Ste. Therese, QC plant.

A couple of questions about the VIN decoder:
1. What is the difference between an 07 Hatchback and a 77 Hatchback body style? (2nd-gen vs. 1st-gen?).
2. Does the engine code for Pontiac need a correction? (both I and V list the same engine/year. 76 and 77 missing).
3. Wasn't the 78 Monza S a round headlight car? And a 77 Hatchback body style, too.

Posted: **Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:55 am**

res0o7eb wrote:I have a 1976 Skyhawk that was built in the Southgate, CA plant.
I have the Build Sheet, too. Marco is waiting for me to scan it and post it.

My 1977 Sunbird was built at the Ste. Therese, QC plant.

A couple of questions about the VIN decoder:
1. What is the difference between an 07 Hatchback and a 77 Hatchback body style? (2nd-gen vs. 1st-gen?).
The 07 hatchback is the regular Monza, Skyhawk, Starfire and Sunbird hatches (both sport and non-sport), the 77 is the 1978 Monza 'S' hatchback (basically a Vega body with Monza front facia)
2. Does the engine code for Pontiac need a correction? (both I and V list the same engine/year. 76 and 77 missing).
This one, your right, is confusing, I got it from the H-Body.org site and took it at face value, and I did forget that the Starfire and Sunbird used that engine in 1977 so there must be a year breakdown somewhere, but I don't know it at the moment. Guess I need some VIN#s to compare. The 76 Sunbird used the Vega 140 ci L4 engine, with 1 or 2 bbl.
3. Wasn't the 78 Monza S a round headlight car? And a 77 Hatchback body style, too. I do need to clarify this one too, on the listing. The '78 'S' Monza hatchback was an M77 car, but the '75 'S' hatchback was an M07 car (quad headlight car, just a barebones R07)

Posted: **Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:41 am**

fyrftr50 wrote:
res0o7eb wrote:I have a 1976 Skyhawk that was built in the Southgate, CA plant.
I have the Build Sheet, too. Marco is waiting for me to scan it and post it.

My 1977 Sunbird was built at the Ste. Therese, QC plant.

A couple of questions about the VIN decoder:
1. What is the difference between an 07 Hatchback and a 77 Hatchback body style? (2nd-gen vs. 1st-gen?).
The 07 hatchback is the regular Monza, Skyhawk, Starfire and Sunbird hatches (both sport and non-sport), the 77 is the 1978 Monza 'S' hatchback (basically a Vega body with Monza front facia)
Yes that is correct
2. Does the engine code for Pontiac need a correction? (both I and V list the same engine/year. 76 and 77 missing).
The V and I are both the same Iron Duke, I believe the 'I' was the California Emission verion.

This one, your right, is confusing, I got it from the H-Body.org site and took it at face value, and I did forget that the Starfire and Sunbird used that engine in 1977 so there must be a year breakdown somewhere, but I don't know it at the moment. Guess I need some VIN#s to compare. The 76 Sunbird used the Vega 140 ci L4 engine, with 1 or 2 bbl.

3. Wasn't the 78 Monza S a round headlight car? And a 77 Hatchback body style, too. YES I do need to clarify this one too, on the listing. The '78 'S' Monza hatchback was an M77 car,<true but the '75 'S' hatchback was an M07 car (quad headlight car, just a barebones R07) <NO...The 1975 Monza S was the Notchback Edition (M27). The 'S' letter was later dropped and it was just known as the Monza Town Coupe
The 'S' gets confused because later on Buick had an S verion of the Hatchback '07' car.

Posted: **Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:47 am**

Way ahead of you there Marco, the 'S' Skyhawk is a T07 VIN code car, whereas the regular Skyhawk is an S07 car. It was available for all years 75-80.

Posted: **Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:14 pm**

I hate to nitpick (not really, I love to)...
There's two kinds of h-bodies in this world, my friend. Station wagons and coupes. There's the notchback coupe and the hatchback coupe. That's according to GM. So under body type, 27 should read notchback. Under carline series, where M refers to Sunbird, it should read Sunbird Sport. According to my 1978 Fisher body manual, the Sunbird Sport (M designation) included 07,27 and 15, whereas and forthwith, the E Sunbird only came in 27. Also from the FB manual, the R designation is listed as Monza Sport Coupe, available as 07,27.

Posted: **Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:08 pm**

This information is getting confusing in a hurry....

The R27 wasnt available after 1978 It was a 77/78 only thing.

I'd swear my first 2 sunbirds were 1980 2E07 cars.

Posted: **Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:48 pm**

marco_1978_spyder wrote:This information is getting confusing in a hurry....

I'd swear my first 2 sunbirds were 1980 2E07 cars.

That could have changed too. I'm just quoting the 1978 Manual. I have some parts lists that if I recall correctly, said that the 1978 Sunbird Sport had a satin finish on the grill inserts, while the E Sunbird had a plastic chrome finish. So far that is the only difference I ran across. But you know how GM was back in those days. Nothing set in stone and cars could end up being ordered smorgasbord style.

Posted: **Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:56 pm**

I appreciate what your trying to say, but I'm trying to keep it as simplistic as humanly possible. Coupes and notches (which was primarily a 1st gen term) are the same, a trunk, whereas hatches are hatches, whether sport or not. I could get really technical and call them 2+2s since Chevy didn't use Sport Hatch till 77 or 78 (can't recall off top of my head).
Yes, I have seen the literature refer hatchbacks as hatchback coupes, but for easy of understanding for those of us who don't know the car lines as well as we do, I stick with hatch and coupe.
Also, the M doesn't necesarily refer to 'Sport', the Sunbird wagon isn't designated a sport wagon, yet it is an M designation which is why I didn't include it in the terminology. I suppose I could include another M for Sunbird Sport and keep the one for Sunbird Wagon but that would be redundant since the 15 designates it as a wagon, from something else. I'll include Sunbird Sport and Wagon on the same line, since the next part of the VIN# will tell the difference.

Marco
The R27 designation fo the Sport Coupe was only for 1978, the '77 Sport Coupe was just an option for the Towne Coupe.

I'm glad you guys have your eyes open seeing things that I may have missed, keep it up, I want this to be foolproof, or at least me-proof.

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