Pontiac Ident-O Plate & Protect-O Plate History Programs - Pontiac Tech

If you've ever bought a Pontiac from its original owner, then you know the exciting feeling of going through the glove compartment for the first time and finding a priceless treasure trove-original oil change receipts, state registrations, mileage statements, or maybe even a vintage reminder of the car's summer vacation from decades ago. But among the most important artifacts you can find in a Pontiac's glovebox is its Ident-O-Plate or Protect-O-Plate if the car was manufactured between model years '63 and '72.

The Ident-O-Plate ('63-'64) or Protect-O-Plate ('65-'72) contains the original owner's name and address (or subsequent owner if the Pontiac changed hands within its factory warranty period), and specific information about the car, including original delivery date, delivering dealer code, exterior paint and interior trim color codes, and on some, block codes, engine unit identification numbers, transmission codes, and more.

Even if you didn't get your '63-'67 Pontiac from its original owner, if the Owners Protection Plan survived along with the car, you may have an Ident-O-Plate or Protect-O-Plate and not even know it. Just look on the inside of the back cover of your Owners Protection Plan booklet for two small affixed strips of metal, measuring approximately 11/4-inches-tall by 61/8-inches-wide. Voila! You have found the Ident-O-Plate or Protect-O-Plate. (Model year '68-'72 Protect-O-Plates were printed on plastic cards, similar in appearance to a credit card, measuring approximately 3x4-inches in size. These may still be in the glovebox, too.)

Before we begin, take a few minutes and check your Pontiac's glove compartment, find its Ident-O-Plate or Protect-O-Plate, and get ready to go decoding. (If you can't find your plate, you can still have fun decoding them. Try swap meets, Pontiac conventions, and eBay for original Owners Protection Plans, Ident-O-Plates, and Protect-O-Plates. You can even call your friends and decode their plates for them.)

Helpful Hint
Model year '63-'67 Ident-O-Plates and Protect-O-Plates show the data reversed when viewed affixed to the Owner Protection Plan. Since we don't advise you remove the plate (to read it from the backside), there are three easy ways to read the plates in left-right orientation.

If you have a scanner with photo-imaging software, scan your plate; then have the computer reverse the image for you. The second way is to make a photocopy of the plate, then turn the piece of paper from front to back, and hold it up to a bright light so that you are reading the image through the paper. The third way is to hold your plate up to a mirror and photograph the reflection or carefully write down the data.

Note
Some examples show the leading digit "0" preceding the VIN sequence. This occurs on nameplates and vehicle plates.

Some examples show missing fields, such as the missing Delivery Dealer Code for our '63 example.

If you have an original Ident-O-Plate or Protect-O-Plate that doesn't follow the decoding rules of this article, HPP wants to see it. Please send a high-resolution scan of it to tom.demauro@sorc.com.