kutekay

We have several and would like to know where to find the Manufacture date,place and what info is needed.

jaunty75

What info is needed for what?

The VIN tag, which is located on the pillar where the left front door attaches to the hinges, will tell you the plant in which the car was manufactured. The VIN's for 1964 were very simple. All Starfires had V-8 engines, so the first digit is an 8. The second digit will be a 6, indicating the Starfire series. The third digit will be a 4, indicating 1964. The fourth character will be a letter indicating the manufacturing plant:

M = Lansing
A = Atlanta
K = Kansas City
L = Linden, New Jersey
C = Southgate, California
T = Arlington, Texas

The last six digits are just the production sequence number for that particular plant and cannot be decoded into useful information. No information in the VIN will tell you the date of manufacture.


The body cowl tag, called the "Body and Style Number Plate" in 1964, is credit card-sized metal plate attached to the firewall on the passenger side under the hood. It will have codes on it indicating options installed by Fisher Body. It will also have a code that indicates the month and week of manufacture. It will look something like 09D or 03A, where the number indicates the month (01 = January, etc.), and the letter indicates the week of the month (A = first week, etc.). Manufacturing dates can't be pinpointed down to a particular day.

If you want to have the info on the body cowl tags decoded, it would be best to take clear photos of them and post them here, rather than trying to transcribe them as errors are commonly made by people trying to copy what they see. Sometimes the numbers and letters stamped into the plate are difficult to read.

kutekay

Thank you so very much for the info. We will get right on it !

jaunty75

We'd like to see some photos of these cars. How do you happen to have them? What are your plans for them? What condition are they in?

kutekay

I will have to scan photos then post them later.

We bought a '64 coupe in 1966 and used it as a family car. Needing some parts my husband bought a "wrecked" convertible. He found it too nice to parts it so it sat in storage for quite a number of years. It has been worked on by several do-gooders who found more important vehicles to work on ! So after about 15 years of neglect we have found a young man who is enthusiastic about the job and is as much of a purist as my husband. The painting is done and he is getting all the parts to finish putting it together...hopefully yet this summer. It is a midnight blue with light blue interior.

My other convertible has a similar story. Answered an ad, took it to a body shop, where they gave us an estimate and we made the down payment for work to be done. Ten years later and much aggravation (and money) it was done. I first got to drive it last summer. It was white with a white top and black interior. I chose to have it painted rosewood (actually a color from that year) with a black top.

One of our sons bought a red convertible out of Texas. Was originally blue but still a nice car.

Last fall my husband bought a blue with light blue interior. He seems to think it was one of the earlier models because the star bursts are over the headlights and the radio antenna is in the back instead of in the front fender.

Another son has a '63 coupe but hasn't had the time or money to completely restore it.

We could have our own parade !!

jaunty75

Very cool. We want those photos!

kutekay

Mom's Starfire.jpg

Randy's Starfire.jpg

Dad's Starfire.jpg

jaunty75

Beauties, but that third photo looks more like a painting than a photograph.





The other two look like they were take some time ago. You said you had to scan them, so they were obviously prints, not digital images, which suggests a decade or more old. Anything recent?


Regardless, nice cars.

kutekay

These did not come from my camera so, no, they are not digital. The one that looks like a painting is the picture that was on E_Bay. We just got it last fall so have not taken pictures yet.

kutekay

Hubby wants to know if anyone out there can tell us where to send a cruise control to be refurbished. This is for the "64 Olds Starfire convertible that is still "in progress".

Don R.

Wow, you have almost cornered the market on Starfires. Let me congratulate you and your whole family on your good taste in cars and thanks for keeping all those big cars on the road.

rocketraider

Is it factory cruise control? I ask because the factory setup was a Perfect Circle electric motor operated unit and there are only a few people able to service or supply parts for those.

Alan Kriss in NJ comes to mind but don't know if he still does them.

If it's the factory unit make sure you understand the operation of that Cruise Control. It IS different than later vacuum units. Your owner's manual will tell you how to operate it.

rocketraider

May have been a special order but wasn't on the 64 Olds color selection. Pontiac had a similar color called Sunfire Red.


All convertibles had the stars on the front fenders. Coupes had them on the roof sailpanels. The stars are different between convertible & coupe.

All power antennas were on the right rear quarter, and all factory A/C cars had them on the rear whether or not it was power antenna.

Just tidbits gleaned from 31 years of 64 ownership!

kutekay

Don, Thank you for all the nice comments. We do love our cars. The coupe hasn't been out of the garage for a while but we still have it. Just how many cars can two people drive? My winter car is a 1981 Cadillac ElDorado Biaritz. That was my birthday present in 1985! That came out of Texas.

Rocketraider, Thank you also for all the info. Do you happen to have a number or address for Alan Kriss? Yes it is factory cruise. We will check the manuals. As for the stars...both the coupe and the blue Starfire have stars on the headlights. My husband said they were disbanded(?) because of the visibility hazard.

Thanks again,Kay

deaddds

Wasn't that rosewood color a 63 full size color? Looks an awful lot like Steve Westlakes 98s color.

rocketraider

May be the resolution on me monitor but kutekay's convert looks darker than 1963 Antique Rose to me. It really looks more like a Cadillac FireMist rose color. Looks real nice anyway- a Starfire is a car that can wear outrageous and flashy colors better than most.

OK- thought you were talking about the star emblems on front fenders. The tri-bar headlight ornament was discontinued early in the 1964 model year, probably due to cost though I'm sure a few states still had archaic lighting laws on the books that prohibited them- Virginia and Pennsylvania come to mind off the top of my head. Never mind it's only an ornament- it looked like a European hi-wattage headlight so as far as they were concerned that's what it was, and illegal.

Over the years Starfires had several factory installed items that ran afoul of state and local laws. Local PD here dogged every 62 Starfire sold about exhaust, even after the factory people told them it was a factory installation. They put a beat cop near the dealer to watch for a new Starfire on the lot and when it was sold, before the new owner had gotten a mile from the dealer they'd pull it and ticket it. Even after being told it did indeed come from the factory with that exhaust tone, that old hardheaded police chief said "if it's in my town it's gonna get a noise ticket". So every 62 Starfire sold here had its Arvin mufflers replaced with regular Dynamic 88 mufflers to satisfy that old fool.

Do either of your 64s still have the chambered exhaust system intact? You can get repro chambered sections here http://www.sweet-thunder.com/chamber..._starfire.html but a muffler shop will have to make them up into your head pipes. The front resonators are difficult to find too, the rears are still pretty easy to find. Yes, the Commonwealth of Vajenya still has its 1969 law prohibiting chambered exhaust on the books too. http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...+cod+46.2-1049 and I am in violation all to be damned

kutekay

OK back to the color..the body shop that restored the car told us that the color was rosewood but they fouled up so many other things that I wouldn't doubt that that was a mistake also. Now you have my curiousity peaked and I must find the paint can and the color chart from which I chose the color.

Just in case you got the impression that I am a car whiz kid I must tell you that my husband is the technical expert and I am the computer "expert". But in my defense I must say that I am probably more car savvy than the average gal ..just from years of exposure !

That said, the Starfire "in progress" does have the chambered exhaust system. New pipes came with the car and it has been installed. Hubby would like them for the other cars so the website is appreciated. Also he would like to know if any Starfires came with single exhaust.

Freaky1

Very cool, I'll be following this tread from here on!

deaddds

I dont believe Ive ever seen a single exhaust Starfire in 63 or 64. Maybe it could have been special ordered but I doubt it. Thats why the left bank manifold is so expensive as its specific to those model years.

Oldskeeper

Pat, I did read somewhere that dual exhaust was the standard but you could order a Starfire or 98 custom sport coupe with single exhaust.I'll try and see if I can find it in my paperwork.
Steve

deaddds

I did pick up a 61 Starfire engine/ trans and it has a single manifold setup. Were 61/62 available in single?

Oldskeeper

Hi Pat, I'm not sure so I would talk to Everett Horton, he would know or know who would know.