can someone help me decode the following data plate on my 72 supreme


st 72 34297 R 01084 BDY
TR 984 57 T PNT
o 8D 144
thanks

 

I think you made some errors in copying the characters. It's ALWAYS better to take a photo of the plate and post that.

First, the "97" in 34297 is not correct. The 3 means Oldsmobile, the 42 indicates Cutlass Supreme, and the last two digits indicate the body style. But 97 is not a valid code for any Cutlass. The only 7's that go with 42 are 57 or 67. 57 would indicate Cutlass Supreme hardtop coupe while 67 would be a Cutlass Supreme convertible. What car do you have?


Also, the "144" doesn't mean anything that I can find. Trim codes always started (I think) with a letter and then two numbers, or sometime two letters and a number. The only code I can find with "44" as the second two characters is B44, which indicates "removable load floor carpet."


What we can decode is this:

TR 984 = Covert Gold cloth and vinyl bench seat with armrest
57 = Baroque Gold body color
T = Covert Gold vinyl top or convertible top color
R = Arlington, Texas assembly plant

The 01084 is just the body sequence number at that plant and doesn't decode into anything.


Another slight error in your transcription is the "o 8D." It should be 08D, and that's the build date, indicating the fourth week (D) of August (08), so this would be August 1971, indicating that your car was built early in the model year.


Again, I'd suggest looking more closely at the tag and, even better, posting a photo if you can. I could be wrong about what I'm saying above about the 42"97" and the "144", but I don't see these in my reference.

 

thanks my plate is little dirty/chewed up will look again, so the car did have vinyl top originally?

 

That's what my reference suggests, but I could be wrong. Others will undoubtedly reply here and may have better information.

So obviously your car is a hardtop. What color is the top now? What color is the car, for that matter? Does it match up with my decoding?

Better yet, let's see some photos of this thing! Everyone will want to see photos.

 

well here is the deal the car does not have a vinyl top and it is currently a lighter gold with black stripes and non original interior, car was like this when I bought it, kinda like not having the vinyl top and I like the current color but I am kind of a purist so eventually I might go with the original color. Just looked at it on line not big fan but it may grow on me. is the carpet color also called covert gold? I will post some pics in not too distant future.

 

That I don't know, but I would guess it could be as I think it was not uncommon for carpet colors to match interior colors.

 

Dan has most of this, but here it is in sequence, as laid out on the cowl tag.

ST 72 - 1972 model year. (production for model years started usually in late July of one year and ran 11 months to the next)
3 - Oldsmobile Division of GM
42 - Model: Cutlass Supreme
57 - Body style: Hardtop coupe. (If 67: Convertible)
R - Production: Arlington TX
BDY 01084 - Fisher Body Works assigned body number. Not related to VIN
TR 984 - Covert Gold (Combination Fabric/naugahyde) This suggests your car came with the A65 split bench seat with center armrest.
PNT 57 T - Baroque Gold lower body, Covert Beige top (vinyl roof if HT, or Vert top)
08D - Time build code (Fisher Body Works - Arlington) Body plants were located close by to the assembly lines. This code is a general reference frame of the week the car panels were started being assembled. Everything from body/paint/glass/interior/dash/trim were installed prior to the body being shipped to the Assembly line. At the AL, the car generally got its front clip, hood/deck lid, bumpers, chassis, steering, brakes, engine and driveline, exhaust, and remaining exterior trim/badging.
144 - reference number used by Fisher Body Works - Arlington.

 

Your VIN should start like this: 3J57K2R10XXXX. That would be consistent with early Arlington production of 72 Cutlass Supreme HT. Arlington did not produce a high number of these cars. The big producer was Lansing and then Freemont.

 

Oldsmobile recommended colors for headliner and carpet (cars with Covert gold interior) were
1. Light Covert
2. Midnight Covert (darker hue of Covert gold)

Instrument panel and dash color - Midnight Covert
Seat belts (standard) - Black.
Seat belts (Deluxe) Medium Covert

If your car still has it's original fuel tank, Arlington may have left the build sheet on top of it. Also look under the package tray - they were sometimes left there. Since the car no longer has its original interior, I'd hazard a guess that any broadcast cards that were originally left there are now long gone.

 

thanks for all the info. let me throw a wrench in the dash appears to be like a greenish color, not gold maybe faded because of sunlight? I will get around to taking some pics and post them.

 

That would be the midnight covert gold. It looks that way. The original body color of Baroque Gold wasn't all that popular and not a huge seller.

Here's what your car could have looked like from the factory (without OAI hood). Note the color appears more green than gold in the sun. In the shade it appears more of a gungy brown green. The recommended interior colors from Olds were guidelines, and could have deviation colors if the car was special (customer or dealer ) ordered.

 

thanks a lot for all the info,not too crazy about the baroque gold but the interior isn't bad, wish I wasn't such a stickler for originality

 

do you think that maybe this color wasn't a big seller it would make it fairly rare and maybe a little more valuable?

 

No. Don't make this mistake which a lot of people do about old cars. Rarity alone does not automatically make something valuable. If it did, the four-door Cutlasses around today would be worth more than their two-door coupe and convertible counterparts because few of the four-doors have been preserved over the years compared to the number of two-doors. But they're not.

Three things together determine value: rarity, condition, and desirability. A car can be in beautiful shape and be one of only two left in the world, but if no one wants it, it won't be valuable. In the case of your car, if the color wasn't popular back in the day, there was probably a reason for that, and it likely won't be any more popular now.

 

We had an excellent example of what constitutes 'rare' vs desirability recently. A member bought a 72 CS Hardtop that had poverty caps and 3 speed manual column shift transmission. Believe it or not, that was the standard cheapo offering from Olds in the CS lineup that year. It's likely one of only a select handful with those options in 72. Desirable? No. Condition? Very good to excellent. Rare? Not a snowball's chance in hell. Even those who like MT's would rather have the TH350 than the slug of an M15 MT.

It's 'rare' to find that kind of production but it certainly doesn't make it worth more. In that case it actually hurt the cars value.