The 1973 Chrysler Thread

[ayilar]

This car sparks an idea for our next quest:

Let's try to find the last fuselage car that was built.

Maybe someone that has enough extra time on their hands can start a thread and keep track just like we did for the formals. This late build Newport would be a good starting point. Since the formals didn't share much of anything with the fusey cars, there may have been a larger than normal gap between the end of fuselage production and beginning of formal production.

I doubt that they had any special ceremony for the final car. I do recall seeing a press event for what I think may have been the 1 million car mark, which was a 1973 Newport.


Jeff

@fc7_plumcrazy and @69CoronetRT would be my bets for having the last SBD (scheduled, not actual -- but I know what you mean).

Here's what I know:

@Newport73 owns a JY3 GF3 4dr hardtop Newport Custom CM43M3C332372 -- higher sequence number BUT SBD was July 10 (< 16):

@The_Swoose owns a GF3 4dr hardtop Newport Custom CM43M3C322191 -- with a SBD of June 27

@ma_mopar has a 4dr Newport Navajo CL43M3C319293 with a SBD of July 3

Moving to 440 automobiles, @MJF in Finland owns CP46T3C324567 but I don't have the fender tag. Matti has decoded the tag, but the SBD must be later than what I read here

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Hopefully, I'll have the opportunity to take a look at my 73's this fall. It's been about 10 years since anything has been moved around in the storage building and I'm really getting concerned about damage from bad ethanol gas. I'm hoping to move a bunch of stuff outside as soon as the grass stops growing so that I can install another section of mezzanine in order to get my parts storage situation back under control again.

We also don't know what make the last fusey is. Could be a Dodge, Plymouth, or even an Imperial. Chrysler gave us a big clue on the Formals, and we still haven't figured it out.


Jeff

 

[ayilar]

We also don't know what make the last fusey is. Could be a Dodge, Plymouth, or even an Imperial. Chrysler gave us a big clue on the Formals, and we still haven't figured it out.

I created this thread for the 1973 Chryslers, which is I am focusing on the latter. I agree that broadening the question would be interesting and worth of its own thread, in the spirit of the "Last Convertibles" thread.

 

[69CoronetRT]

@fc7_plumcrazy and @69CoronetRT would be my bets for having the last SBD (scheduled, not actual -- but I know what you mean).

Here's what I know:

@Newport73 owns a JY3 GF3 4dr hardtop Newport Custom CM43M3C332372 -- higher sequence number BUT SBD was July 10 (< 16):



@The_Swoose owns a GF3 4dr hardtop Newport Custom CM43M3C322191 -- with a SBD of June 27



@ma_mopar has a 4dr Newport Navajo CL43M3C319293 with a SBD of July 3



Moving to 440 automobiles, @MJF in Finland owns CP46T3C324567 but I don't have the fender tag. Matti has decoded the tag, but the SBD must be later than what I read here

I don't have anything to add for 73 Jefferson plant.

As you get into the 70's, the end of year SPDs start to fall into late July and even early August depending on the year and plant.

As shown time and time again, SPDs and VINs are unrelated to production and irrelevant to production order. You cannot determine build sequence based on SPDs or VINs. The only thing that matters for production time frame for that era is the door sticker OR possibly the broadcast sheets to determine relative production.

Here's a really late '73 Newark plant example. The SPD goes until at least 726. The higher VIN car has an SPD that is two days before the lower VIN car. So, which car was built first? (The one with the earlier door sticker...)

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

Parts car in a yard.

 

[ayilar]

Now for something different: 1973-specific trim. As @1978 NYB often points out, the front and rear ends of the 1973 differ substantially from those of the 1972 model. The trim, though, is often quite similar. Yet, there are often subtle differences. Here is an example: the trunk lock cover medallion. It looks like the same part in 1972 and 1973, but the color of the cloisonné (@commando1) differs. I recently bought NOS pieces from @marty mopar -- 1973 (P/N 3695502) is red, 1972 (P/N 3586918) is gold:

1973 NYer and NYB:
View attachment 441250

1972 NYer and NYB:
View attachment 441251

I thought that it might be a good idea to show the corresponding difference between the NYB sail panel medallions for 1972 (P/N 3506456 ) and 1973 (P/N 3749037 ). @Lycidias @Boydsdodge

Part A. 1973 -- note that both the 1972 and 1973 part numbers appear on the back:

the next photo shows the 1973 P/N

the same photo, flipped, shows the 1972 P/N

Part B. 1972:

The above 1972 listing shows only the older (35) part number, not the later (37) one. Interestingly enough, I have seen another 1972 NOS with two different part numbers on the back as well: