Sense and nonsense of fender tags

[69CoronetRT]

It's just a detail, but a fragment of new information has surfaced regarding the use and meaning of sales code M33. Please refer to post #184.

This fender tag for a 1974 Fury III, that seems to have been ordered as an unmarked police car, has probably M33 and what looks to be no vinyl insert in the full-length body mouldings:

View attachment 518932

View attachment 518933


V5X, the sales code for the black vinyl insert, presupposes and surpresses M33, as the two codes never appear together on Fury III fender tags. In real life, you can't insert something if you haven't got something to insert it in.

Again, good work. K VONs and Y39 Special Order correlate but the actual application of the vehicle ("Unmarked police car") requires further documentation. Based on what's presented, we do not know who ordered it and for what purpose. Cop cars likely have a K VON but not all K VONs are cop cars.

 

[PeugFra]

I'm sorry! I forgot to post the picture of the certified speedometer:

These pictures are from a video showing various details. At 01:47, it shows a sticker saying "Texas Department of Public Safety #96149".

Besides, F43 "Reinforcement for Field Installed Spotlights" on the fender tag was a standard item of the 1974 A38 Police Package. You got the reinforcement whether you actually intended to mount spotlights or not.

 

[PeugFra]

(Repeat from the St Regis NYB data plate code P51 (power sunroof) thread).

What this tag has in common with all 1975-1978 tags with the Crown Coupe (LeBaron) and St. Regis (New Yorker/Newport) package is the repeat of the code for the specific roof treatment, V4- for 1975-1976 and V5- for 1977-1978. It is once mentioned in the slot for the roof style (third line from below) and once in the upper row:

In 1974, when this treatment was introduced on the LeBaron, it was only mentioned in the upper row (V4Y) and the slot for the roof style was left empty:

On window stickers (available documentation starts in 1976) it is consistently decribed as a package, not as just a roof style:

Now, from a detailed description of the 1974 Crown Coupe package at Automotive Mileposts it is clear that the package required quite a lot of modification to the basic build, to be carried out by American Sunroof Corporation (ASC).

What could be the reason for this change in fender tag coding? A change in labour distribution between Chrysler and ASC or a different logic in the fender tag coding?

 

[PeugFra]

Also note the VON starting in "J" on the 1974 fender tag, lacking on fender tags from later years in connection with the Crown Coupe/St. Regis Package.

 

[CbodyLuvr]

I have a 1973 Plymouth Fury. Former Oklahoma Highway Patrol car. The car was auctioned off by the OHP in 1979, I have the auction paperwork from that day to prove it, also have pics of the car when in service and talked to the trooper's wife that was assigned to the car back then. Car has a certified speedo, dual spotlights, U Code 440 engine. But the fender tag says PM41 and there's no A38 on the fender tag either. But the "order number" code begins with a K which shows police customer order from what I understand, and the car is Y39 (special order). I also see a couple fleet (F code) options on the fender tag.

Is it unheard of to have a police package car without the fender tag directly spelling it out?

I have the original build sheet too, or most of it, but naturally the fleet portion of the sheet is what's torn off.

Anyone able to maybe shine a bit more light on it for me?

 

[CbodyLuvr]

And here’s the build sheet, or what’s left of it.

 

[Fury Pursuit]

And here’s the build sheet, or what’s left of it.

View attachment 538034

Not uheard of at all. Looks quite normal for a fleet.

Except D34 , with a E86 engine is very odd.

Cool car, glad you have the Broadcast Sheet.

 

[69CoronetRT]

Is it unheard of to have a police package car without the fender tag directly spelling it out? No. Applications and coding vary by year. What you read for a 71 Dodge may or may not apply to a 73 Plymouth. things change.

The evidence is pretty convincing this was a 'cop car'.

K von. Y35 Bid, Y39 Special Order, U99 'Special Order' tires. There's some other codes on there that help point us in that direction.

Code D34 with any engine is typical for model year 1973.

 

[CbodyLuvr]

Not uheard of at all. Looks quite normal for a fleet.

Except D34 , with a E86 engine is very odd.

Cool car, glad you have the Broadcast Sheet.

Is it unheard of to have a police package car without the fender tag directly spelling it out? No. Applications and coding vary by year. What you read for a 71 Dodge may or may not apply to a 73 Plymouth. things change.

The evidence is pretty convincing this was a 'cop car'.

K von. Y35 Bid, Y39 Special Order, U99 'Special Order' tires. There's some other codes on there that help point us in that direction.

Code D34 with any engine is typical for model year 1973.

View attachment 538071

Good info, thanks guy.

 

[ayilar]

L25 Trunk Light on Furys remains a funny thing: It was a standard feature on PP and PH from 1969 on and all other trim levels with A01 Light Package have it as well.

On fender tags it appears only from 1971 on, however. The earliest tag with L25 I know is from Belvidere: PP23U1D173853, SPD B28. Still without L25 you have PH29G1D133509, SPD A01, for example.

L25 remains a fixture on Belvidere tags until 1975: PP43M5D217433, SPD 425 does not list it anymore. Before that you can find, still with L25, PP29N5D170000, SPD 109. As a feature it is there on the Fury right up until the end in 1977.

This whole obsession with L25 left Newark tags untouched: I didn't see a single Newark fender tag that mentions it.

I have PP23U1D A26 SPD with L25
PP23U1D SPD A23 without L25.

Hope that helps.

Gentlemen: care to post the tags (and ideally what you know about those cars) in the thread for 1971 SFGT?

How many 1971 Plymouth Sport Fury GT"s are left ?

was kinda curious as to how many 71 Fury GT's were still kicking around...figure with the local talent and resources this site has we should be able to get a pretty close count on whats left and identify them within a year or two and have a data base that the site can reference to id them...

www.forcbodiesonly.com

@amazinblue82 @70 Sport Suburban @Trailer Park @gts95 @FURYGT @1970FuryConv @CanCritter

 

[1970FuryConv]

@ayilar
This is all the info I have. The person can post the link to whatever thread they like.
1971 Fury GT, Gold, Promo Car

 

[PeugFra]

Maybe this is a new lead for understanding special sales code P39. The consensus was that it must have to do with the power window set-up.

For this 1976 ex North Carolina Highway Patrol Gran Fury we now have the fender tag sporting that code and a picture of the rear door exposing the metal:

Now who can spot something special on this door?

 

[PeugFra]

A little quirk in the fender tag coding of 1974 Imperials with the Crown Coupe package emerged in the "I finally bought an Imperial" thread.

In 1974, the Vehicle Order Number (VON) for Crown Coupes would start with a J, which according to MMC Detroit LLC meant "Special Order/Paint":

In 1975, this J is not used anymore in connection with Crown Coupe Imperials.

This was interpreted as a possible change in the production process. Instead of having the Crown Coupe package installed by American Sunroof Company (ASC), from the 1975 model year on this was done in-house. Sounds logical enough. At a point a written statement was left by an unknown agency that 57 1974 Imperials had been produced, a statement confirmed by ASC:

"The Imperial with this package actually came off the assembly line with no vinyl top at all, and was then sent over to A.S.C. for the conversion work. Only 57 of these Crown-Coupes for 1974 were made, according to a letter to the author. This was also verified by A.S.C."

Now we have a 1974 Crown Coupe without J in the VON:

This opens up wiggle room along the following lines:

a) the Crown Coupe package started being installed in-house already during the 1974 model year run;
b) at a certain point during that same run, forwarding to ASC was not encoded in the VON anymore.
c) the J on the VON had nothing to do with forwarding to ASC.

If a) is true, what should we think about the ASC statement. They converted 57 1974 Imperials to Crown Coupes, but apart from that maybe some more were done at East Jefferson?
If b) is true, maybe also 1975 Crown Coupes were finished by ASC, only you can't see it in their VON?
If c) is true, go back to zero.

I admit that a) is somewhat subversive, but how could ASC have verified 1974 Crown Coupe production numbers if not all 1974 conversions had been handled by them?

PS.
The dialogue box asking me to consent to the site's Privacy and Transparence Policy that opens up on every single occasion I click a forum page is driving me mad.

 

[PeugFra]

Way back I once noticed the inclusion of sales code B41 "Power Brakes - Front Disc, Rear Drum" on a fender tag belonging to a 1974 Newark-assembled Fury. Normally that sales code was not used on 1974-1978 C-body fender tags. Here it is:

Now a second one with that code has popped up:

Also note J52 "Hood Release, Inside" on both tags, another sales code otherwise not included on 1974-1978 C-body fender tags.

I suggested that the inclusion of C-body standard items had somehow to do with the preparation of the assembly lines for the switch to A-bodies, that happened after the Christmas break. It remains a theory for now, but notice that both tags have an SPD in December [1973]. The last SPD from Newark I have without B41 and J52 also being present is C06, on a Monaco.

 

[69CoronetRT]

Way back I once noticed the inclusion of sales code B41 "Power Brakes - Front Disc, Rear Drum" on a fender tag belonging to a 1974 Newark-assembled Fury. Normally that sales code was not used on 1974-1978 C-body fender tags. Here it is:

View attachment 601178

Now a second one with that code has popped up:


View attachment 601179

Also note J52 "Hood Release, Inside" on both tags, another sales code otherwise not included on 1974-1978 C-body fender tags.

I suggested that the inclusion of C-body standard items had somehow to do with the preparation of the assembly lines for the switch to A-bodies, that happened after the Christmas break. It remains a theory for now, but notice that both tags have an SPD in December [1973]. The last SPD from Newark I have without B41 and J52 also being present is C06, on a Monaco.

Thanks. Good work. There‘s a real shortage of documentation on C bodies.

A study of fender tags from all years and plants leads to the conclusion that what was coded, when it was coded and even where it was coded on a tag changes all the time.

The variations by plants and even at the same plant within the model year are astounding. You’ve uncovered just one of the many nuances of tag coding. Sometimes we know why codes and positions change. Sometimes we don’t.

 

[PeugFra]

Copied from another thread:

As I recall, those model years should be "color" sheets and also have all of the option codes on the backside of them, plus the items pertinent to your particular car on the front side.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

The format of the broadcast sheet changed considerably between 1976 and 1977. Up to and including 1976, the slots for the sales codes mostly carried a label indicating the general or specific meaning for the code supposed to go into that slot.

From 1977 on, there were no such labels, just rows of codes ordered by the letter code in the first position.

I think that's where the complete list of possible codes plus meanings on the back side of the broadcast sheet kicked in. Without that list, the listing on the front side of the broadcast sheet was virtually meaningless.

True, I've never seen the back side of a broadcast sheet earlier than 1977. It could well be that nobody ever bothered posting the back side of such a sheet simply because there is nothing there worth posting.