Hi everybody, I'm new to the forum and I had some questions about my 1971 El Camino. I'm trying to figure out if it is an SS. This car was a total wreck when we got our hands on it. It has kind of been pieced together-'73 dash, '69 front clip, but the vin and cowel tag are the original. If someone could help me find out....I know it's a custom El Camino, but from there....?
VIN #136801L144473
Cowel
ST 71 13530 L 05688 BDY
TR 72L 53 8(B?) PNT
13C 585573 150706

Some of the letters and numbers are hard to make out, so if something doesn't look right let me know and I'll do a re-check. Thanks in advance for any help!
Here's what she looks likehttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/759557/Picture001.jpg

i think its a super sport becuase its deff not a malibu asue the vin doesnt match up and if you said u know its a custom (a malibu or a ss) then it must be but it might not be a 396 it might be the 350/350 ss but i dont know much about cowl tags but i might be able to figure it out for ya ill let you know cause i have a 68 malibu. ubut illl let you know wat i find.

WAIT!!!!!! I made a mistake the 1 means chevy and the 3 means malibu sry bout that dont know waht i was thinkin when i wrote the last thing and the 6 means it had a v8 probably a 327/350 so to answer your question no its not a ss its a malibu

Thanks for the reply. I had thought that you weren't able to determine if its an SS by the vin because it wasn't a seperate model that year, just an option package. It has a 350/350, and I know that year they made 350 and 396 SS El Caminos, when I found out it was a custom I got my hopes up.

yea well it might also me a ss MAlibu they have that in the 1970's hso hey you nver know but i my self would rather hav a malibu then a ss becuase to many people have ss's and the malibus go for a lot of money

Nope, not a Malibu, I think if it was there'd be a trunk instead of a bed. My personal experience leads me to believe it's an El Camino. Whether it was originally an SS or not would be hard to tell. I would think however if someone rebuilt the car, and it was an SS originally, they would have taken care to restored it back to an SS. And a restored SS with matching numbers is worth more than a Malibu or El Camino unless it was a COPA (which I'm not even sure a COPA El Camino was ever made by the way). It's a nice looking El Camino...so don't worry be :)

It's a custom elky built in VanNuys, CA. The book I have isn't quite matching up with some of your numbers, the 13530 shows a 13680 in my book for a 71 custom. The TR 72L I believe should be 3 numbers, I show 726 Blue (Trim) or 721or 722 Saddle. 53 shows Placer Gold Metallic, and the 8(B) could be BB for a black vinyl roof.
I'm not sure about the rest.

Not a bad looking ride, you've done good! Give us some RPO codes and maybe we can figure out the options.

Lee "Caveman49"

WOW 8O you dont know elky's do you? the el camino along with its sister the "chevelle'' had a malibu package that came with a 327/350 with a 350 turbo tranny and a 10bolt posi rear. and there was also a ssmalibu which had the ss stripes and interior but with the 327 but im not sure if that came out in 1970 or 1971 but the chevell had the ssmalibu in the late 60's like around 67 i think is when that first hit the street. just a litle bit of history for ya but hey i know the old ones like the first through the 3rd gen. not the 80's and to meit sounds like you dont know the diff packeges that came of the car but hey like i said just so history for ya

yea caveman your right some of the numbers dont match up

Like Caveman49 says, some of the numbers just don't add up. I agree with most of what Lee says.

VIN #136801L144473
Here is what I get when I look at the numbers book.
1= Chevrolet
36= Malibu, Custom El Camino, Concours, 8-cyl
80= 2-dr sedan pickup
1= 1971
L = Los Angeles/Van Nuys, CA assembly plant
144473 = Last six digits are the basic production numbers
Cowel
ST 71 13530 L 05688 BDY
TR 72L 53 8(B?) PNT
13C 585573 150706
ST 71 = model year 1971
13530 = Style 13580 is a Custom 6 cyl. I do NOT see a 13530 in the book. a "13680 is Custom 8 cyl.
L = assembly plant Los Angeles/Van Nuys, CA assembly plant
05688 BDY = is the body production sequence number
TR 72L = trim number, I don't see a 72L in my book. Now, I do see a "721" in a 1971 cowel tag id, that stands for Saddle Vinyl.????
53 = is the paint code, but I don't have a "53" for a 1970, I do see a "53" in 1971 which is a Placer Gold Metallic.
8(B?)= could it be "BB"?? which would be a Black Vinyl top
13C= should be the build date of month/week. There can't be a 13th month, but the "C" means 3rd week.
585573 150706 = not sure of these, I've seen different explanations of these numbers, some indicating options, but not sure.

You will NOT be able to tell if it is a true SS via the VIN or cowel tag for the 1970 El Camino. For a third gen Elky, the '68 CAN be identified via the VIN. Plus, if you have a '72 with a "W" as the fifth digit (identifies the engine) in the VIN, that would indicate a 454 which only came in the SS package option. Those are the only two VIN indications that are accurate. All others would require other documentation, I.E: build sheet.

Does this help at all???

Any info. helps. I'll go look at the cowl tag again; some of the numbers are hard to read so I just put what I thought was close. I'll also see if I can find the build sheet. Any suggestions on where to start looking?

Build sheet posible locations.

In seat
Behind headliner
top of gas tank.

those are the spots i know i am sure others will know of other spots to look.

:lol: It dosen't matter either way...it's an "EL CAMINO" & that speak's for itself!!! AHHHhh...Van Nuys, I grew up there & not to far from the Chevy Plant on Van Nuys Blvd., where I used to CRUZE & met my wife Cruzin'! "SKULL"

Any info. helps. I'll go look at the cowl tag again; some of the numbers are hard to read so I just put what I thought was close. I'll also see if I can find the build sheet. Any suggestions on where to start looking?

sometimes crud or paint overspray gets on the cowl tag (which is the part that doenst make sense here), so I like to spray a strong degreaser or even a carb cleaner, which should get off most of the paint and any dirt/grease...just wipe gently and use a strong light, and I bet that 13530
will turn into a 13680 real easy which would make it correct.

Also I believe - but not absolutely certain that BB means a black vinyl top and a SS stripe of same color on the car (and black was the usual color of stripes used with Placer Gold), and a single B means the stripes were opted off and just the vinyl top was ordered....but if I am wrong, someone will correct that...

and I believe a73Elskyss is correct about the interior color being 721, Saddle tan vinyl, again a common interior color for Placer Gold cars.

Ok, the 13530 did turn out to be 13680, and it appears to only have one B. My boyfriend painted the stripes himself, they're not factory. And it looks like 721 on the tag, and the interior is saddle tan, so that makes sense. I'll try the carb cleaner on the cowel tag, good idea. Now I'm off to try to find the build sheet. Thanks guys!

Have ya sent away for your free GM factory restoration kit yet?
All you have to do is call a 800 number with your VIN and Gm will send you a bunch of info on your EC including parts resource guide and bumper to bumper OEM specs.
If yer interested, I'll try and find the number. I picked it up from Chevelles.com

told you 3 ment malibu but hey its all good we all like this car and we all have our reasons normaly on a 71 the build sheet is under the headliner if that helps

I guess there really wasn't a standard for WHERE the built sheets were placed :D
I've seen them and heard of them being in the back of seats, on top of gas tanks, in the door panels,
up in the headliners, somewhere in glove comparment area, stuffed in places you just can't imagine 8O
Then again, someone may have already got it :lol:

Have ya sent away for your free GM factory restoration kit yet?
All you have to do is call a 800 number with your VIN and Gm will send you a bunch of info on your EC including parts resource guide and bumper to bumper OEM specs.
If yer interested, I'll try and find the number. I picked it up from Chevelles.com No I haven't, didn't know there was such a thing. That is something I would definately like to get my hands on. :-)

told you 3 ment malibu but hey its all good we all like this car and we all have our reasons normaly on a 71 the build sheet is under the headliner if that helps Is there any way to look and not destroy the headliner? I pushed on the headliner to see if I could hear any paper crunching sounds, and I think there's a good possibility its in there, but the headliner is so nice looking I couldn't bear to mess it up. :-(

I guess you could take off the interior molding and carefully peel the edge away from the metal. Then scope it out with a flashlight. That's one technique.......anyone else.

I don't know to much about that year group, but I would venture to say they are all somewhat the same. Of course, I pulled my whole interior out for restoration and haven't found mine yet. Probably because someone already got it :lol:

umm its really hard to takin it off becuase of the design they used back in the daybut wat you could do is take it to a apolstry place and have them takin it off and put it back on they might be a lil pricey but thats all i can think of ill let you know if i find another way and ya u can pleel the edge but wat happens is the cloth normally ripps so thats up to you

umm its really hard to takin it off becuase of the design they used back in the daybut wat you could do is take it to a apolstry place and have them takin it off and put it back on they might be a lil pricey but thats all i can think of ill let you know if i find another way and ya u can pleel the edge but wat happens is the cloth normally ripps so thats up to you

The headliner is in such good condition...I don't think I could bear to rip it. It almost looks like its been redone, in which case I seriously doubt the build sheet is in there. :-(

i undertand thats why i said its your choice but almost all of the build sheets were put in the HL in 1971 but once again its your car u do wat you want and thats were mine was so u never know

i undertand thats why i said its your choice but almost all of the build sheets were put in the HL in 1971 but once again its your car u do wat you want and thats were mine was so u never know

I'll see what my boyfriend wants to do.

Something is not right.

The photo you show is for a 1969 El Camino and that does not jive with the data you posted????? No one caught that??

-------------------------------------
136801L144473
1 - Chevrolet Division of GM
36 - El Camino Custom V8
80 - 2 Dr pickup delivery
1 - 1971
L - Los Angeles assembly
144473 - Basic production seq no. starting at 100001 and includes all in the Chevelle line

Fisher Body Tag
71 13680 = 1971 El Camino Custom 2 dr pickup delivery
L 05688 - Los Angles Fisher Body seq no
721 is the interior trim code for Saddle Bench Seat
53B is the lower color 53=Unknow, maybe not 53; B is Black Vinyl Top
03C is date built, March, 3rd week of

585573 150706 are data processing seq numbers, computer generated and used for internal processing

fwiw

The Camaro guys have found build sheets taped to top of gas tanks on Los Angeles cars. Since CA and the rest of USA had different emissions requirements, the tank assembly was difference and a broadcast sheet was on them to make sure that CA cars got the right tank.

Some claim to have spotted part of it without removing tank but to get at it, the tank has to come off. Whats more, paper is likely to be fragile after all these years, so don't pull on it, its glued or taped on.

She said it was a 71 with a 69 front clip.

Dah...

I missed that part.