Keys

[Mr C]

I feel almost foolish asking this having driven Mopars my whole life, but the memory fades unfortunately, so I'm asking your help.

I'm restoring my 68 Imperial Crown convertible and one of the down sides is that it has had the ignition & lock cylinders replaced along the line and the car has a few sets of keys to open doors or turn ignition or access trunk etc.

When I go through the car I will re-key it to a single set. I will get proper blanks when I'm done.

What I can't remember is what kind of keys the car should have as it has both of these with it

Type 1:

and Type 2::

What type should my 68 Imperial have? I remember one of my old Slabs having Type 1, but it was pre-68.

Thanks in advance.

 

[barnfind]

Not sure about 68, but my 69 Imperial has type 2.

 

[Big_John]

@cantflip is our resident key guy. He can tell you for sure.

 

[LocuMob]

Both sets came with my '68 Monaco 500. I use the type 2 set.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Type 2- is what I remember always being in my 68 Polara. Type 1 was in our ‘73 or ‘74 Newport.

 

[cbarge]

Type 1 square head is 1968 correct.

 

[PH27L7]

This agrees with the original key sets on the cars I've owned. The '69-up ones can be cut to work with '67-68 but not with the earlier ones.
Key Blanks / Lock Replacements

Update:
I have a stash of NOS blanks of all years that I bought decades ago and also original key sets with tags from the 3 different types (pre-67, 67-68, 69-up). The ignition keys from all 3 types fit interchangeably, just the heads are different. The pre-67 trunk keys are grooved uniquely and won’t fit later years. 67-68 & 69-up trunk keys are the same including head. I see no rhyme or reason to the little stamped letter on one side of the keys- some have it, some don’t, some with different grooves have the same letter.
Update 2:
There are 2 different cuts for the ignition keys and they don't interchange. Cutoff between 2 types apparently occurred in 1968.

 

[CBODY67]

Other than the shape of the key's "head", there should be a small letter stamped just below the head. As is on the keys for my '70 DH43. The ignition is the Pentastar head with "A" stamped on the flat area before the key cuts start. The trunk key is the round head, with a "B" stamped below it.

These stamp codes define the horizontal slot placement on the key, which also must index with the inner contours of the key cylinder's innards. Regardless of what the shape of the key's head might be. GM keys are similar, as a point of reference.

The letter stamps on the Chrysler keys can be faint and go unnoticed, generally, unless you know they are there. They will only appear on one side of the key, not both sides.

Now, to consult the parts books to see if there might be any differences between the Chrysler brands' keys or if the letter designations are mentioned in the listings.

CBODY67

 

[CBODY67]

What I found in the key listings/illustrations at www.mysecuritypro.com, the 1967 and 1968 keys might have similar head shapes, but the grooves are in different locations, model year specific. 1967 ign #Y146 Dr #Y138 // 1968 Ign #1768CH Dr #S1768CH

These numbers would be similar to the Type 1 above.

I didn't find anything conclusive in the Chrysler parts books. They sell key and cylinder packages for the vehicles, with no mention of key blank letter designations. No way to track that except in the aftermarket vendor resources, it appears. Not sure if our Curtis catalog goes back that far?

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[detmatt]

Type 1 for sure Matt. I might even have a full set of locks with keys available.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Interesting - I was told almost exactly the same info above by Joey Jesser of Jesser's Keys, but he claimed the single letter stamping was to identify the supplying vendor, and the B was from Briggs of Briggs and Stratton. I can't remember what/who the other letters are.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Type 2- is what I remember always being in my 68 Polara. Type 1 was in our ‘73 or ‘74 Newport.

I guess I have been living a lie all these years. Now I guess I will need to find the right blank. Although I still think type -2 are cooler looking.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

I like type 2 as well...

 

[CBODY67]

Interesting - I was told almost exactly the same info above by Joey Jesser of Jesser's Keys, but he claimed the single letter stamping was to identify the supplying vendor, and the B was from Briggs of Briggs and Stratton. I can't remember what/who the other letters are.

From what I've seen over the years, the Briggs & Stratton keys had the specific octagon-type shape on the head, which GM used in the earlier 1960s, which had the key code knock-out sections in them. I believe the keys had "Briggs & Stratton" on them, too. But even with those GM keys, their "groove code" was identified by a stamped letter on one side of the shank, between the head and the cuts. Those groove codes are the same for later GM keys with different (more modern) key heads, just that the later keys are slightly thinner than the orig Briggs keys. Which meant I could duplicate a '55 Chevy door key with a modern square-head blank and do the same with an ignition key (if the edges were trimmed to fit into the ignition cyl's wings.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[cantflip]

As I understand it, 1968 was the transition year. I have dealer key gauges (from dealer repining kits) that have a pentastar and 68 as the starting year stamped on them.

Like everything else, I bet the transition wasn't all at once. The guideline I would use is the first style key for in dash ignitions and the second style for column ignitions.

The second style was made for different key grooves. I mistakenly cut a few keys from the wrong blanks for a few members here, and still get to hear about the keys that wouldn't fit into the cylinders. The groove differences are subtle and the letters do help identify the difference, but there are other letters that I can't reconcile what they might indicate, so it could be supplier. B&S did have the license last I know, but since the keys/locks part of the business was bought by Stratec, there are a number of these blanks that are now obsoleted out of production and have been for quite a while.

I have more useless information, but honestly need to double check myself every time I get back around to this stuff. Mopar keys seem to have had a lot of changes through their history, and seem to have a number of suppliers throughout the early years. Y code keys should be Yale, but Yale doesn't seem to have been the sole supplier and the minor groove changes don't really make sense either. The GM/Ford keys have a much clearer history and a single supplier (Hurd/Ford or B&S/GM) for most of the 20th century. Even with different head shapes, the grooves didn't change as seemingly randomly as Mopar keys did. I've never found any clear explanation of Mopar key history.

FYI, any replacement keys from the aftermarket and from the 1970s or newer will likely be using the 68 and up groove and put another key on your ring. That leaves you searching for NOS or used cylinders for older lock cylinder replacements, or you could replace all of the primary cylinders with newer style locks.

@Mr C , let me know and I can help you with this. It might require several pictures, guesses and some back and forth to get it all right.

 

[PH27L7]

Good info cantflip. You got my curiosity up so I checked an original key from my '67 against my NOS blanks and low & behold they are cut different and do not interchange despite having the same heads. The difference is subtle and only on one side, you can see it in the 1st pic. The '67 square head type has the same cut as the '59-66.

 

[Mr C]

Good info cantflip. You got my curiosity up so I checked an original key from my '67 against my NOS blanks and low & behold they are cut different and do not interchange despite having the same heads. The difference is subtle and only on one side, you can see it in the 1st pic. The '67 square head type has the same cut as the '59-66.
View attachment 426138 View attachment 426139

Wouldn't that mean that the key blanks are re-pops of the square head with the Type 2 cut and not NOS, then?

 

[PH27L7]

Wouldn't that mean that the key blanks are re-pops of the square head with the Type 2 cut and not NOS, then?

Those aren't re-pops, it's my understanding from cantflip that some time in 1968 they transitioned to the cut found in your Type 2 without changing the head style. BTW I verified that the keys won't fit, they jam about halfway in. One aftermarket ignition key I found to fit every lock vintage is Ilco y152.

 

[cantflip]

Wouldn't that mean that the key blanks are re-pops of the square head with the Type 2 cut and not NOS, then?

Unfortunately, there's no good way to tell. The keys pictured all look to be crisply stamped, I have seen some that looked almost right, but had obviously been made in a sand mold. IDK how many factory variations actually existed, but add onto that all the years of different suppliers and look a like reproductions and it gets nutty.

Those aren't re-pops, it's my understanding from cantflip that some time in 1968 they transitioned to the cut found in your Type 2 without changing the head style. BTW I verified that the keys won't fit, they jam about halfway in. One aftermarket ignition key I found to fit every lock vintage is Ilco y152.

The uncut blank looks good, but it is disturbing that they all have the same letter stamped.

FWIW, Universal type blanks have much wider grooves so they can fit the range of factory keys. Star Keys have some that are so wide the keys have almost no strength left. I have a huge set of "try out keys" like that and there are many with fractures from the locksmith who had them before me. They also don't fit into my Curtis code cutter carriages properly, and are unlikely to cut accurately as a result. They work fine in the big clamps of most key grinders, so the local hardware will probably make one work.

The Y152 groove is a semi generic designation and there are vast differences in how wide the grooves are made by various manufacturers.

 

[WorkerBee]

These are my keys for my 1968 Crown Coupe with a scheduled build date December 4, 1967. My brother's 1968 Charger trunk keys (3rd pic) has the same same small Pentastar with no wording and its scheduled build date is January 16, 1968.