Decoding a 1964 Skylark

[oldfartauto]

Hello Everyone. I'm a Newbie here and still learning the site and have a couple of questions. I am looking at a 2nd owner 1964 Skylark 2dr Hardtop. Car is located several hours away and so far have only seen pictures/videos of the car as well as emails back and forth. My question involves decoding the Body Tag and Vin #. So far I have figured out the Paint Code "C" is White, Trim XO5 is "?", and the 158 is "Skylark v8" I believe to be a 300 CI. It is also supposed to be a factory 4 barrel and 2 speed Trans.

As for the Vin# I think I am missing some numbers as what was supplied was "44337004212". Car is located in Canada, but has a US style Speedo.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

THANKS EVERYONE FOR ALL THE INFO. Unfortunitely, I just missed buying this one. All your info was appreciated and helped me a lot. The hunt goes on.
Old Fart Auto

[shoprat]

How are you identifying it as a US style speedo?

[oldfartauto]

How are you identifying it as a US style speedo?

The owner confirmed the speedo was only in MPH as apposed to KM. I also saw it in a photo he sent.
Thanks for the reply.

[shoprat]

Until the early 70s, Canada was not "Metric". Canadians enjoyed temperatures in Fahrenheit and drove cars for "miles" on Canadian highways in "miles per hour", just like in the U.S. It was very convenient as the probability of any Canadian cars being driven on European or Asian roads was remote. More likely they would cross the US/Canada border.
Canadian Metric conversion really hit people as the government crammed it down there throat in the mid 70s when the Fahrenheit/Celsius, Miles/Kilometers change was forced. That is why old Canadians still talk in degrees Fahrenheit and miles and yes, it was our current PM's father that did it! Many believe he was trying to drive a wedge between Canada and the US as there seemed no reason to do it. Some of the Government programs included things like metric construction projects where sheets of plywood were trimmed to metric dimension to construct small housing projects. Of coarse none of this ever worked and while certain aspects of a building construction may be presented in metric all the dimensions are actually in feet and inches. The pencil pushers did not realize that unless you leveled every building in Canada supplies would still have to be available in Imperial Units (feet and inches).

So today the conversion shows in places like 3/8" and 1/2" plywood where they were able to make it a shade thinner, but not in the 4x8 dimension where it would have made it unusable except in new construction. For the first 20 or 30 years you got silly things in the conversion like when you weren't allowed to park within 20 feet of a corner or fire hydrant, you weren't allowed to park within 6.1 meters. Authorities did not change the dimensions to 6.0meters making it metric, it was still feet and inches measured in metric! While some of this has changed, you will still find much of it. That is why we, Canadians still have some strange metric measurements.

When the conversion was introduced on the highways, people had all sorts of silly stick on numbers, dots, charts, etc. stuck on their speedometers and dashboards.

So, there is your history lesson from an obviously much "older fart" than you

Your VIN looks more like a 1965 than a 1964, click through on the links in the table up top.

[Buford26]

Your car was built at Oshawa ON, so it uses the Canadian serial number format:


44337004212
4 = 1964 model year
4 = Buick
3 = Series 4300/Skylark
37 = 2-door hardtop coupe
004212 = sequential number, starting at 000001 for Oshawa ON built A-body cars


Paint code C = solid Ermine White
Trim 158 = Black Vinyl with Bucket-Type Front Seats available on style 4337


Option codes:
X05 = Custom Bright Exterior Moldings




http://www.teambuick.com/forums/cont...bers-1935-1964

[oldfartauto]

Until the early 70s, Canada was not "Metric". Canadians enjoyed temperatures in Fahrenheit and drove cars for "miles" on Canadian highways in "miles per hour", just like in the U.S. It was very convenient as the probability of any Canadian cars being driven on European or Asian roads was remote. More likely they would cross the US/Canada border.
Canadian Metric conversion really hit people as the government crammed it down there throat in the mid 70s when the Fahrenheit/Celsius, Miles/Kilometers change was forced. That is why old Canadians still talk in degrees Fahrenheit and miles and yes, it was our current PM's father that did it! Many believe he was trying to drive a wedge between Canada and the US as there seemed no reason to do it. Some of the Government programs included things like metric construction projects where sheets of plywood were trimmed to metric dimension to construct small housing projects. Of coarse none of this ever worked and while certain aspects of a building construction may be presented in metric all the dimensions are actually in feet and inches. The pencil pushers did not realize that unless you leveled every building in Canada supplies would still have to be available in Imperial Units (feet and inches).

So today the conversion shows in places like 3/8" and 1/2" plywood where they were able to make it a shade thinner, but not in the 4x8 dimension where it would have made it unusable except in new construction. For the first 20 or 30 years you got silly things in the conversion like when you weren't allowed to park within 20 feet of a corner or fire hydrant, you weren't allowed to park within 6.1 meters. Authorities did not change the dimensions to 6.0meters making it metric, it was still feet and inches measured in metric! While some of this has changed, you will still find much of it. That is why we, Canadians still have some strange metric measurements.

When the conversion was introduced on the highways, people had all sorts of silly stick on numbers, dots, charts, etc. stuck on their speedometers and dashboards.

So, there is your history lesson from an obviously much "older fart" than you

Your VIN looks more like a 1965 than a 1964, click through on the links in the table up top.

Great History Lesson!! Now that you mention it, we do remember when they made that change. Living as close as we do, Seattle area in Washington State, we became aware and saw some of the changes. From our side, our government, in their great wisdom kept telling us we were also going to change over, and very soon. In the early '70,s I was finishing up a government apprentiship in the sheetmetal trade and they started trying to make us learn/use both. What a mess. In spite of our sometimes inept governments, we remain good friends and I have many memorys of traveling throughout the Vancouver/Victoria areas. I also have some very close friends from, or still in, Canada. I have always found Canadians to be very polite and friendly people, something my fellow countrymen sometimes forget.

Thank you for the car info as well as the history lesson. Bad news is that we were getting ready to look/buy the Buick tommorrow, but it sold yesterday. Really bummed me out. But that just means we get to keep looking. And, as we just sold our '38 Buick Special, we find ourselves Buickless. Still have a Model T and my Cutlass so not totally car less. I will remain a member of the forum and most likely continue to ask questions as the hunt goes on. I really like the 1964 - 1967 Skylarks.

Thanks again. . Oh, and remember, it is not always the age, but the mileage on the body that counts. and my speedo has turned over.

"Old Fart Auto"