Chevy II By The Numbers

After as many owners as a 1967 Chevrolet is bound to have had, it’s likely that significant changes have been made to core aspects of the car. During the course of its life, the color may have changed, the engine may have been swapped, and any number of options could have been added or removed to fit the specific wants and needs of each driver. The best and most accurate way to figure out the original configuration is by decoding the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), and cowl tags.

The Vin Number

For starters, the 13-digit VIN on a 1967 Chevy II is located near the driver’s-side front door hinges. This number will tell you where it was built, the specific model and year of your car, and the type of engine it came under the hood. The VIN on your car might look something like this: 117377 W 100527. While it may look a little intimidating, it is actually simple to read. The 1 denotes Chevrolet, 17 tells us that it is a Chevy II, and the sub-model is Nova with a six-cylinder engine. Finally, the number 37 indicates two-door coupe. The fifth number tells us the year of the car, in this case 7 for 1967. The W indicates the car was built at the Willow Run, Michigan, plant, and the last six digits represent the sequence number of this car. The sequence number starts at 100001, so this car would be number 527.

By The Numbers

Here is the full decoder for the 1967 Chevy II VIN system.

Digit One:

1-Chevrolet

Digits Two and Three:

11 – Chevy II, 100 series, four-cylinder engine
13 – Chevy II, 100 series, six-cylinder engine
14 – Chevy II 100 series, eight-cylinder engine
15 – Chevy II, Nova, six-cylinder engine
16 – Chevy II, Nova, eight-cylinder engine
17 – Chevy II, Nova SS, six-cylinder engine
18 – Chevy II, Nova SS, eight-cylinder engine

Digits Four and Five:

11 – Two-door sedan
35 – Four-door wagon
37 – Two-door coupe
69 – Four-door sedan

Digit Six:

7 – 1967

Digit Seven:

W – Willow Run, Michigan

Digits Eight through Thirteen:

Sequence number starting at 100001

The Cowl Tag

The cowl tag gives us even more detail about the car, and on a 1962 through 1967 Chevy II, it is located on the passenger side of the firewall.

Starting with the first line, the 06C tells us when the car was made. The two numbers denote the month (06 June), and the letter represents the week of production (C being the third week). The number one on the far right tells us the interior sheetmetal color of this car is blue. The second line, 67 11737 WRN 100237, is essentially confirming what the VIN already told us. The first two digits are the year, in this case, 1967. The second set of numbers matches the VIN, and tells us the same information, the WRN tells us it was built at the Willow Run, Michigan, plant, and the 100237 is the Fisher Body Sequence Number.

The third line gets into more detailed information about the car. The 733 tells us that the interior trim was standard, and colored blue. The EE represents Deep Water Blue as both the lower and upper exterior colors of the car. The bottom line tells us the specific options that came with the car.

A Chevy Nova SS that would have a D2 as the color code for Nantucket Blue with a black vinyl top (left) and a Chevy II that would have RR for Bolero Red top and bottom (right).

The option section is split into five groups, and each group contains letters that correspond to an option. The cowl tag will display the group number before the letter that belongs to that group.For example, the 2K that appears on this tag tells us that this car was equipped with option K in group two, which is code C60 air conditioning. An option from group one will not have a number in front of it, as seen in this tag’s code: E2K3CD. The option from group one is E, which is A01 tinted glass, the option from group two is K, which is the C60 air conditioning, and the two options from group three are C and D, which are a padded dash and a special lighting package. No options from groups four or five are present on this car.

The cowl tag offers an almost infinite number of combinations, so here is a guide that will help you determine what the more complicated sections on your car’s cowl tag are denoting:

Interior Sheet Metal Color:

1 – Blue
3 – Red
4 – Black
5 – Fawn
6 – Bright Blue
7 – Gold
8 – Maroon

Interior Trim:

The Chevy II Interior codes have a unique quirk to them. You’ll notice that some of the codes have one color that is applied to two different numbers. The reason for this is that the lower-number code applies to the 100 series Chevy II, while higher-number code applies to the Nova models. For example: 733 is blue standard for the 100 series, while 735 is blue standard for the Nova series.

733 – Blue standard
734 – Blue deluxe
735 – Blue standard
736 – Blue deluxe
737 – Blue buckets
749 – Red buckets
754 – Maroon standard
771 – Fawn standard
772 – Fawn deluxe
773 – Fawn standard
774 – Fawn deluxe
780 – Black buckets
781 – Gold buckets
785 – Black deluxe
786 – Black standard
791 – Black deluxe

Can you tell us what this interior would be coded?

Paint:

A – Toledo Black
C – Ermine White
D – Nantucket Blue
E – Deep Water Blue
F – Marina Blue
G – Granada Gold
H – Mountain Green
K – Emerald Turquoise
L – Tahoe Turquoise
M – Royal Plum
N – Madeira Maroon
R – Bolero Red
S – Sierra Fawn
T – Capri Cream
Y – Butternut Yellow
1 – Parchment vinyl roof
2 – Black vinyl roof

An L2 Nova with a Tahoe Turquoise bottom color and black vinyl top (left), an N2 Chevy II with a Madeira Maroon bottom color and black vinyl top (center), and an example of a Nova that would need proper VIN and Cowl reading for an accurate restoration.

Options:

Group One: