Taking a test drive on Pontiac Registry

[61CAT]

Found P R on Google, so i'm taking a test drive on the site i'm on P Y as 61 CAT

got a few question's while i'm here

Is PHS the only way to decode your car as it came from the factory?

I've got a 61 Catalina convertible it had 3 - 2's in the trunk when the 1st guy bought it, he sold it and bought it back a second time some where along the line another motor was installed

currently there is a mixture of parts on the ? 400 with a 73 or newer egr manifold & maybe 65 exhaust manifolds

it was a factory 3 on the tree car trying to find out if it was a factory tri power car

57 Pontiac deck lids all the same?

I'm looking at a 57 Star Chief 2 dr Ht i want to buy

there a deck lid off a Chieftain available not sure what body style

the S C's lid is junk inner structure is rotted & torn away at the hinges

Thanks for any help

[Larry]

At this time I am quite certain that PHS is the only source for accurate "from the factory" documentation as they are the only ones with access to the actual PMD records. A tri-power engine option should show up on an invoice. You might want to contact our Tri-Power Tech Advisor, Jon Havens, to see if he has any "secrets" on further identifying a tri-power car.

With the mixture of engine parts you now have, it is pretty remarkable how much stuff was interchangable over the years.

As concerns the '57 deck lid, the Hollander Interchange Manual shows that the Star Chief and Chieftain lids are in fact different. That makes sense because of the stretched rear quarters of the Star Chief. What is interesting (something I never suspected) is that the '56 and '57 Star Chief deck lids are shown to be the same. Hollander doesn't even mention any hole differences either (which they usually point out when items interchange size-wise, but need to be adapted for trim reasons). This may open you search field a bit.

Hope this info helps.

[61CAT]

Thanks Larry for the info, the tip in the 57 deck lid

Thought PHS is the only way to go on the build sheet

Thanks again