Tying to help a friend with a 1970 GS350 figure out why the Sloan info says his car came out of the factory Cornet Gold with Sandlewood interior while his body tag says Burnished Saddle paint with Dark Saddle interior. The car appears to be a survivor and the color combo matches the body tag. Sloan micro film for the original dealer and delivery date was, unfortunately, unreadable as stated in the Sloan letter. He called Sloan and was told this is extremely rare but has happened. So, is it likely that his car was a re-body or has a VIN tag from another car? Below are both tags. Given the late build date on the body tag, the last 6 on the VIN seem like early production. But, this is a Framingham car so I'm not familiar with comparing VIN numbers with Body Numbers like I've done with Flint cars. Can anyone with a 1970 Framingham GS compare their build date with their VIN number to get some correlation on how the numbers track in time? Appreciate any info I can get for him.
Do the VIN on tranny and engine match the VIN tag under the windshield? That would make it not impossible but more highly unlikely it was re-bodied.
Unfortunately, no. Sloan disclosed in their cover letter that he microfilm for that number was in very bad shape and the Build Date, Body Number and invoiced dealer was all unreadable. What bad luck. And, there are several other differences. Sloan VIN docs say car is Cortez Gold, Black vinyl top, Sandlewood (non-deluxe) Bench seat interior, column shift, and factory A/C. The car, as it sits, matches the cowl tag. Burnished Saddle paint, Black vinyl top, burnished saddle buckets & console and no evidence of factory A/C. Almost smells of a VIN tag replacement from a parts car? By the way, the Florida Title matches the VIN tag.
The VIN tag being crooked like that is interesting. I don't think I've seen one that isn't straight. So you might be onto something with the tag swap. That VIN tag frame just pops out so we can see the rivets.
The factory makes mistakes. My car has a cowl tag that says it was originally Artic White. I stripped all the paint off this car and completely disassembled it. There was no white paint anywhere on this car. No overspray, nothing but the green mist and primer.
The VINs we have found on frame were on the top of the frame rail. We had to pull the body from the frame to find it. On a crusty frame it might not even be there anymore. VIN on the firewall: On our '70 GS it was right here:
Pull the plastic cover on the VIN and look at the rivets. Check the numbers on the left rear of the frame.
