When was the last production day for C-Bodies?

[PeugFra]

"The last of 2,229,822 large autos assembled in Belvidere left the line July 15th."

Always good to have an independent confirmation for that end date. It's a pity that there is no picture similar to the one from Jefferson Assembly, with a banner and a clearly visible "last car". Oh well.

I was actually searching, with zero result, for a newspaper source of that Jefferson Assembly picture when I hit upon this one. In the summer of 1978, when Jefferson closed down, the hot Chrysler product talk was of the negative evaluation of the Omni/Horizon by Consumers Union, that was refuted by the safety boards of Canada and the US. But the damage was done and sales numbers temporarily went south.

In this fray the newspaper journalists probably just didn't take much notice of that moment so historical to us, the assembly of the last C-body.

 

[69CoronetRT]

So , where were the 78s built ? Is that your question Stan?

The post is a bit of a curve ball for the thread as we've been discussing the 78 Chryslers built at the Jefferson plant...1977 would have been the last year for the 121" WB Dodges and Plymouths built at the Belvidere plant.

 

[commando1]

So , where were the 78s built ? Is that your question Stan?

Thank you. Yes.

 

[PeugFra]

The post is a bit of a curve ball for the thread as we've been discussing the 78 Chryslers built at the Jefferson plant.

Repeat from post #187 in this thread:

---
The last production days of the C-bodies are:

June 12, 1975: LeBaron
July 15, 1977: Gran Fury, Royal Monaco, Town & Country
June 24, 1978: Newport, New Yorker Brougham
---

Hope this clears up any confusion I may have caused.

As I couldn't find the Jefferson Assembly picture in newspapers, maybe it was published in some car magazine or other type of dedicated publication.

 

[PeugFra]

I was told that the last 1978 New Yorker produced was purchased new by a collector in New Jersey.

The Ebay ad for Richard's car contains this picture:

Coincidence? Throw in the usual substitution of "last produced" with "highest VIN" and there could be a connection.

 

[polara71]

Remember these stickers are reproduced . .

 

[Big_John]

Remember these stickers are reproduced . .

That may be true, but would it be good for a seller to place a 1981 sticker on the car they are trying to push? That means that it was on the road for a couple years so the 392 miles becomes questionable.

Personally, I don't think that the mileage claim is true on that car. I never have. I should have taken a look at it at this summer's Carlisle.

 

[commando1]

In the most recent attempt to move this car, the seller has a 22.7k NR opening bid.
What happened to the $50k price....

 

[78Brougham]

We just saw some pics of the last T and C built and it had signatures all over it. I'm sure the last true NYB was treated to the same send off. If Dick's car was the last, don't you think it would have some signatures on it? With all the hoopla we see in that assembly line photo I'm sure the last one would have some. Just sayin'

 

[1978 NYB]

We just saw some pics of the last T and C built and it had signatures all over it. I'm sure the last true NYB was treated to the same send off. If Dick's car was the last, don't you think it would have some signatures on it? With all the hoopla we see in that assembly line photo I'm sure the last one would have some. Just sayin'

Maybe .....if it was sold to an employee. I would think that if I was buying (and or) ordering the last one I wouldn't want any signatures on it from assembly line Joe's.

 

[78Brougham]

I would. Be pretty darn cool and proof that it was the last off the line. My '89 Lotus has the the last four digits of the vin written with a Sharpie on all the insides of the doors, back sides of door cards and other miscellaneous trim pieces.
I've seen pics of other Lotus' with names here and there. You can't see them unless you tear the car apart. Kind of proves that real people actually built the damn thing. Robots can't do that.
I like it.
Last Olds made. Tons of names under the hood.

 

[1978 NYB]

I even have all of the dealer ID stuff removed from any new vehicle that I buy. Stickers, emblems, gaudy plastic license plate frames. All of it removed before I'll sign for the vehicle.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

The appearance of the last Town & Country is poking some big holes in the story that I was told about the car collection in New Jersey. My understanding is that the sale of the collection was handled by an auction company, so it wouldn't be at all surprising if the history of the cars was embellished a bit to make them more desirable. It's looking more like the guy had cars that were close to the end of production, but not necessarily "the" last cars off the line. I'm thinking more and more that the low mile gray NY'er for sale in Mass. came out of that Jersey collection. Unfortunately, I just found out that the person that I wanted to ask about the Jersey auction passed away some time earlier this year. I can think of two other local people who may have been at that auction, so I will have to see if I can contact them to see if they can help out with some details.

Jeff

 

[PeugFra]

Where the seach for the last Chrysler C-bodies is enjoying some limited success, last Royal Monacos and Grand Furys are not very much of a topic. This is maybe because Dodge and Plymouth fender tags and doorstickers are not so widely shared by the sellers and owners, so we have little to talk about.

They should be in the 1977 Belvidere production run, that put out its lasts cars on July 15th. What is known so far? Very little:

PK41T7D248027 [SPD 520]
PK41T7D248188 [SPD 620]
DH23N7D248741 [SPD 520]
DM41K7D258857 [SPD 616]
DH41K7D259623 [MDH 060816]
DH41N7D270767 [MDH 062916]

The highest VIN I found for 1977:

DH41T7D273587

 

[PeugFra]

A late NYB appeared for sale at Hemmings, so update!

CS43T8C173849, SPD XXX, MDH 060510
CL43N8C175464, SPD 606, MDH 051011
CS23N8C175963, SPD 606, MDH XXXXXX
CS43N8C178624, SPD 612, MDH XXXXXX
CS43T8C178820, SPD 606, MDH 060908
CS43N8C180501, SPD XXX, MDH 060910
CS23N8C181380, SPD XXX, MDH 060813 (at Hemmings right now)
CS23N8C181403, SPD 619, MDH 061611
CS23T8C181510, SPD 619, MDH XXXXXX
CS43T8C181574, SPD 619, MDH 062011
CS43T8C181591, SPD 619, MDH 052212
CS43T8C182748, SPD 626, MDH 061309 (the last Canadian VIN assigned)
CS23N8C183444, SPD 626, MDH 062013
CS23T8C183615, SPD 626, MDH 061413

 

[71NewYorkMan]

I've been following this thread out of curiosity, and have come across an interesting twist to the "last vin" logic....

I purchased a parts car for my Kinda project this past weekend. While stripping it today, I found a partial broadcast sheet. The "Broadcast Printed" mo/day/time is 06/20/0927. The SPD on the fender tag is 626. The MDH on the door VIN decal is 061610. In lieu of a shipping invoice (previously mentioned in this thread as the best reference), does the broadcast sheet represent a better indicator of when the car was actually built? If so, then this car was rolling down the line on June 20th, four days before production ended (4 days after the conflicting door VIN decal). This would further discount the validity of the previously known MDH's on the list of "last known" VINs.

 

[1978 NYB]

@PeugFra

Interpretation of 71 newyorkman's parts car.

So what was the sequence. At what point is the buildsheet printed? What point in production is the MDH sticker printed and applied to the car???

 

[PeugFra]

Well, I'm no specialist of Broadcast Sheets, but on the face of it 71NewYorkMan seems to be right. I would not have expected the print date on the sheet, produced just before or during the actual building process, to be later than the MDH on the door sticker.

The function of the door sticker has to do with warranties and call-backs. It says: "At this particular date and time the car complies with all relevant regulations and specifications." To my mind, you can only state that when the car is completed.

This example seems to suggest otherwise.

 

[PeugFra]

Let's update the list with 71NewYorkMan's findings:

CS43T8C173849, SPD XXX, MDH 060510
CL43N8C175464, SPD 606, MDH 051011
CS23N8C175963, SPD 606, MDH XXXXXX
CS43N8C178624, SPD 612, MDH XXXXXX
CS43T8C178820, SPD 606, MDH 060908
CS43N8C180501, SPD XXX, MDH 060910
CS23N8C181380, SPD XXX, MDH 060813
CS23N8C181403, SPD 619, MDH 061611
CS23T8C181510, SPD 619, MDH XXXXXX
CS43T8C181574, SPD 619, MDH 062011
CS43T8C181591, SPD 619, MDH 052212
CS23T8C182416, SPD 626, MDH 061610, BCP 06200927
CS43T8C182748, SPD 626, MDH 061309 (the last Canadian VIN assigned)
CS23N8C183444, SPD 626, MDH 062013
CS23T8C183615, SPD 626, MDH 061413

 

[1978 NYB]

So based on the MDH, 71 ny man's parts car is the last known car produced that we know of.....