I know that in 1990 there only was a half year production so only 12,000 were made. I have t-tops with a 5.0 tpi. On the front of the car when you open the hood right above the hood latch there is a metal tag with 1831 on it. What is that? Is that the number of the car since they made so few that year?
The metal tag you're asking about is long and narrow, and it has two numbers followed by four numbers, right? In your case, it would look like: XX 1831. Those first two numbers tended to be: 01, 02, etc. And the 6s and 9s on the tags were underscored.
Through an investigation in the past, in addition to a long topic thread about it here on TGO, we learned that the numbers on that tag reference numbers in the build sheet sequence. It identifies nothing else, and it provides no other information.
Up thru 1985, that tag was shaped differently, and it identified a lot of option information specific to the car it was attached to. But from 1986 thru 1992, the tag was changed to the type you're asking about.
Some years that tag was located on the passenger side of the radiator support, near the headlight. And other years it was located where yours is, just off-center on the radiator support.
And one year, 1987, some cars received no tag at all. The only consistent thing we found for this was that it was a difference between manufacturing plants: Van Nuys attached the tag, and Norwood(in its final year of operation before closing) did not.
Why didn't Norwood attach it? We'll never know. Maybe it was their way of easily recognizing cars produced during its final year of operation. A former Norwood employee comes across a thirdgen, raises the hood, notices no tag, and is like, "Hey, this is a 1987! It was one of the last cars we ever built!" ...just a guess on that, lol.
So there ya go. If you ever find your car's build sheet, you'll find that number on it.
Through an investigation in the past, in addition to a long topic thread about it here on TGO, we learned that the numbers on that tag reference numbers in the build sheet sequence. It identifies nothing else, and it provides no other information.
Up thru 1985, that tag was shaped differently, and it identified a lot of option information specific to the car it was attached to. But from 1986 thru 1992, the tag was changed to the type you're asking about.
Some years that tag was located on the passenger side of the radiator support, near the headlight. And other years it was located where yours is, just off-center on the radiator support.
And one year, 1987, some cars received no tag at all. The only consistent thing we found for this was that it was a difference between manufacturing plants: Van Nuys attached the tag, and Norwood(in its final year of operation before closing) did not.
Why didn't Norwood attach it? We'll never know. Maybe it was their way of easily recognizing cars produced during its final year of operation. A former Norwood employee comes across a thirdgen, raises the hood, notices no tag, and is like, "Hey, this is a 1987! It was one of the last cars we ever built!" ...just a guess on that, lol.
So there ya go. If you ever find your car's build sheet, you'll find that number on it.