Do you Canadian Pontiac guys have Rochester or Briggs & Stratton keys?

Oshawa65SS · Addicted!

Do you Canadian Pontiac guys have Rochester or Briggs & Stratton keys?

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I thought they would have been Briggs & Stratton keys. I've never heard of Rochester keys.

beaumontguru · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

My all original 1964 and 1967 beaumont both had original Keys, and yes they are Rochester.

They say "rochester products division" and have a small RP in the center on one side,

and "GM you key to greater value" on the other side with a GM logo in the center - no maple leaf tho.

davepl · Poncho Master!

Wow, I've cut a million of those I bet. I grew up in a hardware store in the 70s (so 0.95 plus 0.05 tax, $1.00 per key!) and watched the transition from the old "stop sign" key to the "rectangle" key. Is that what you're talking about perhaps?

My Dad had a '61 Pontiac with a shallow cut key that would, for some reason, open and start about -half- of the era GM cars he tried with it... so I do think the old lock was all that secure.

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I have an original ignition key from my 65 Custom Sport.

Six sided head with the numbered knockout still intact. Number on the knockout matches the ignition key number on the original bill of sale.
One side says " Briggs and Stratton Corporation, Milwaukee WIS U.S.A. "
Other side says " GM your key to greater value "

Oshawa65SS · Addicted!

Thanks for all the replies.
The Rochester description is helpful.
Seems that either brand is correct though, which means neither were exclusive to Canada.
That makes things easy.
True that there aren't very many different cuts when it came to the early keys.
I could probably get a bunch of used original cut keys and find one that fits.
Might be able to get the codes from the cut of my existing keys too.
I have to do some door panel work though, so I'll grab a door/ignition code off a cylinder when everything is opened up.
Trunk cylinder is super simple to deal with.
With the codes I could search ebay for some used keys with matching knockout code stamps.

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

If you can find your build sheet the key codes should be on it.

Oshawa65SS · Addicted!

No build sheet or protect-o-plate anymore, not my doing, wasn't there when I bought the car.

Just an owner's manual that's the wrong edition for the build date, there are 5 editions.

luppy · Addicted!

davepl wrote:
Wow, I've cut a million of those I bet. I grew up in a hardware store in the 70s (so 0.95 plus 0.05 tax, $1.00 per key!) and watched the transition from the old "stop sign" key to the "rectangle" key. Is that what you're talking about perhaps?

My Dad had a '61 Pontiac with a shallow cut key that would, for some reason, open and start about -half- of the era GM cars he tried with it... so I do think the old lock was all that secure.

The one original key that came with my '66 Parisienne is the Briggs & Straton for the glove box lock. Dave, I remember my father doing the same thing with the key for his '64 Laurentian, when someone had lock them self out he was able to open it with his and it was a different make as well.

Luppy

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

norontcan wrote:
Six sided head with the numbered knockout still intact. Number on the knockout matches the ignition key number on the original bill of sale.
One side says " Briggs and Stratton Corporation, Milwaukee WIS U.S.A. "
Other side says " GM your key to greater value "

Yes. My originals are B & S with the key #s on them.