Inline Tube - The Paper Trail
"The Paper Trail"
Text – John Kryta – Photography – John Kryta
The focus of this article is identifying and explaining the purpose of
manufacturer printed, detail and other paper items associated with your classic
car.
To most of us this
is a hobby, to some of us it is an obsession. It may be all about one car or one
make of car or Pontiacs in general but we are all into collecting something. If
you are reading this magazine it may be one of several that you subscribe too
and if you are like me you save every issue of course for future reference but
seldom find yourself going back and reading the old issues. So the stack at some
point becomes a collection or at least that’s what we call it so our wives don’t
throw them in the trash. Some of us collect the actual cars and others just the
parts for a particular year or NOS items. Every guy that I have ever talked to
that is into a particular car has some extra parts or options that are never
going to make it on the car but still aren’t for sale.
On a smaller scale
we all can’t resist buying the model or dicast of our own car especially if it
is in the right color. We all know a guy or a few that has gone over the top and
buys anything that has the letters GTO or Trans am on it. After all these toy
companies are making all this stuff for us grown adults not our kids and I too
buy it. I can’t resist from the small hot wheels to the fully detailed dicast.
We all deep down all have our own car shrine to our favorite.
This collection
always includes paper work items such as dealer brochures, key chains, owner’s
manuals, and can get pretty detailed to include a glove box full of items
pertaining to your favorite car. Finding these items can be hard enough but
once found they can be a treasure trove of information pertaining to your car.
You could spend hours on one page learning and reading the facts or codes and
when or if you ever go to sell the car it only increases the value. You see
these boards at the car show or on the auction block and they make any car look
more impressive to the next buyer. We are going to tell you what is out there
where to get it and what useful information it has in it.
Pontiac
Historical Services PHS – most of us Pontiac guys have heard of this one. This
is the option sheet on your particular car. For a few bucks you can send in your
vin number a packet will arrive in a few days with the option build sheet of
your particular car. All information to build your car is on the sheet. It has
the color of the exterior and interior of the car and lists all the options and
the sales codes with the prices. The sheet includes the dealer ship the car was
shipped to and the build date plus much more.
Shop
Maintance manuals – these manuals were used and available for sale at the
dealership when your car was new. The first few pages explain how to decode your
trim tag and give all the codes for optional engines, trans and rear ends. This
book also has many detailed pictures and instructions to service and re-build
different service components of your specific car. It also illustrates the
assembly of much of the sheet metal of the car. These books are mostly
reproduced and have hundreds of pages of maintance type information.
Assembly
manuals – were used on the assembly line when your car was built as reference to
the line workers. They do not go into detail on the assemblies but do show how
the assemblies are installed on the car. This book has very few instructions
like the maintance manual but is more of a set of drawings on how the car goes
together. It is a large set of instructions of how your car went together in
full detail showing every nut bolt and bracket. It is a great reference for any
frame off restoration. It also has many charts and graphs that call out codes
for engines, transmissions, axles, springs and other components or assemblies.
Inspector Guides –
were used on the floor of the assembly plant to check over the cars before they
went to the dealer. These booklets have pages of assembly codes, part numbers
and quick reference material to make sure there were no mistakes made in the
production line. The originals are extremely difficult to find but many are
reproduced.
Build Sheets are
the holy grail and the finger print of a particular car. There were several of
these going down the line with the car and these also are packed full of option
codes, assembly codes, color and vin information but are not always found. They
could be under the gas tank, door panels, seats, carpet and in some cases not
present or the car before or after on the line. Some plants considered them
trash and did not want them left in the car.
Dealer brochures –
are another great source of car specifications. They show the different models
and options and usually in the back give specifications on different options and
power trains complete with, horse power ratings and axle ratios. There may be
many different brochures on a particular car some are the full versions and
others are on a particular model. Many of these are now reproduced or the
literature guys at the swap meet or eBay is another good place to find the
originals.
Accessories
brochures are much harder to find and not reproduced but were made for every
year car and list every option with a description, picture, UPC and sales code.
The captions tell you what models the option is available on and the factory
pictures are a great reference. On the last pages it shows all the dealer
installed accessories or add-ons.
Accessorizer
Booklets were available to the dealership sales man and explain the options and
groups of options that were available on a particular car. The sales man could
quickly reference a option, look up the price and compare it to an option group.
This little book also has all the sales & UPC codes just like on the PHS so you
can look up the code on the PHS and get the full description. It also tells you
what options will not be aloud together. These are all reproduced by inline
tube.
Comparative
pricing booklets – are another sales man selling tool. These books compare one
make and model to another by options and price. So if you went to by a new 74
Firebird but were also looking at the Camaro the salesman could quickly look up
the equal models and give you the advantages and disadvantage of each make. This
handy tool has all the wheel bases, engine displacement, horse power,
compression ratios and weights of equal cars from all the different manufacture.
Many of these are reproduced by inline tube.
Glove box manuals
give you maintenance schedules and operating procedures which tell you how to
operate your new car. They are also filled with specifications and service
replacement numbers. Not sure what spark plug number or which type of oil to use
– it is all in the manual. It explains the operation of every knob on the dash
and how to change a flat tire. Most cars came with additional pamphlets that are
long gone. These explained special emissions or if you got a convertible how the
top worked.
Dealer prep sheets
were used on all gm cars as a final check list to make sure your new car was in
perfect working order. There was a customer and dealer copy that was filled out
and checked to make sure everything on the car was operational. These are
available new from inline tube on the 68-72 models.
This is all the
stuff that got thrown away the day you new car arrived home. Usually the dealer
window sticker, spare keys envelope, dealer business cards, starting and break
in instructions, protect-o-plate and other information cards did not last past
the first owner. Most of these items are reproduced today to give your car the
dealer fresh look.
Your
window sticker can be reproduced – PHS now offers a service that with the vin a
new window sticker can be made. This will only be made to how the car was new –
so if any options were added or deleted the sticker will not reflect it.
Spectators at car shows love to look at the final sticker price since it is hard
to believe that these $3500.00 cars are worth so much more.
Odd ball stuff –
this is the stuff that is specific to one dealership or a famous dealership. It
can include membership cards, old magazine articles, and dealer key chains or
even speed parts offered by that dealership. These can be found with lots of
luck at local swap meets and car show or talking with other car owners that grew
up in the area. Lots of people visited the dealers and new car auto shows and
surprising still have some of the paperwork in a file cabinet.
Old magazines have the real story – at least the first hand info. There are
plenty of old HOT Rod, Super Stock, Motor Trend and many other magazines that
reported on the muscle cars when they were new. Just like today there are plenty
of features and photos but unlike today all the photos are of the cars when they
were brand new and the photos are a great restoration guide.
Sources:
Inlinetube - Brake & Fuel Lines,
Parking Brake Cables, Hoses, Valves, Brake & Fuel Clips, Disc Brakes
15066 Technology Drive
Shelby Twp, MI 48315
586 532 1338
GTO Illustrated Identification Guide – Eric White –
www.whitehousegraphics.com
Pontiac Historical Services
