# Pontiac Protect-O-Plate ?



## classic_car_fan (Apr 10, 2009)

I'm doing some research on identifications for older classic cars, and i'm hitting a brick wall with protect-o-plates. From what I understand, these were issued for all GM cars, but I am having trouble finding decoding information for anything OTHER THAN Chevrolet models. Does anyone know where I could find this info? Is it in the yearly repair manuals published by the manufacturers? 

I searched hard for Buick Protect-o-plate details, and struck out. Now i'm looking for Pontiac details, mainly the GTO, and i'm striking out again. Are these just not documented anywhere?

Thanks in advance for any advice.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

I have the original protect-o-plate that came with my 1965 GTO. It has the VIN and the engine code and number on it. Not much else. I'll look at it when I can and see if any more info is stamped on it. It's fastened to the back cover of the warranty/maintainence manual, which is seperate from the owner's manual. I have been unsuccessful at documenting other protect-o-plates. Perhaps we all can bring something to light on this forum!


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## classic_car_fan (Apr 10, 2009)

That would be great! As far as I can tell there is no real documentation for any protect-o-plates other than Chevrolet models.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Okay, Classic. I have the booklet in my hand. It is titled PONTIAC 1965 OWNER PROTECTION PLAN, and contains maintainence tags, vehicle warranty, delivery date and location, and on the back page, the Protecto Plate. On this page, the plate is fastened. The plate has 2 lines. Upper line is the engine number:453102 WS, followed by BB which is the paint color, followed by a 33, (interior color code), followed by F0, and a small indian head. Bottom line has the VIN number, followed by a W29. Don't know what the W29 means. The W could be M-20 manual trans, which is the code listed on my PHS.
The car was built 4/29/65, so perhaps the 29 is the build day. There is a paragraph printed in the center of the page the plate is attached to, and it says the following: Pontiac Protect-o-Plate : "This plate attached at right contains data pertaining to your car. You will receive an additional plate, by mail, with your name and address. Remove covering from adhesive and affix your name plate above the car plate". This additional owner plate was never installed in my booklet. This is a Blue Charcoal/blue interior WS engine code '65 GTO with an M20 trans that was built April 29, 1965, and delivered on June 3, 1965 to the Utter Motor Co. of Spokane, Washington. It came with manual trans, steering, and brakes. Hope this helps. These plates don't appear often.....I've had 9 GTO's, and this is the only one I've seen over the years. I've had this car since 1982, and one big reason I never sold it was because it's the only original tripower one I've ever had.
Jeff


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## classic_car_fan (Apr 10, 2009)

Thanks for the info Jeff. I thought the protect-o-plate had the options ont he car as well, but I could be mistaken. I have only seen a picture of a few of these, and yes they are quite rare. I would love to have the original protect-o-plate for the car I will someday buy (not sure which one yet, need to finish school first), but that will be a longshot of finding one. Thanks again for the info.


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## Jstreet (Mar 9, 2009)

Check out the thread under the general discussion about things found in the barn judge. There is a picture of a 69 protect-o-plate


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## silversport (Mar 23, 2007)

it looks similar to a bare metal charge card with raised letters/numbers...in the old days, they used to call charge cards, charge plates and you didn't slide your card through a reader (what's that? ) they placed your charge plate on a small "press" ...when you closed the press, they "embossed" the information from the plate onto the specially treated (NCR paper) paper so they had an "inked" impression of your plate...I think...

Bill


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