68 VIN number/ build date

[terrible one]

I've always been interested in finding out more about my '68 but have no build sheet or fender tag.

Recently I saw a picture of the VIN tag from the Hurricane Sandy Charger, and the last 6 digits of the VIN is very close to mine!


Hurricane Sandy VIN is XS29J8B361044

My VIN is XP29F8B361846, only 802 vehicles later  


The scheduled production date (according to the fender tag) for the Hurricane Sandy Charger is 425, so April 25, 1968.

How likely is it that my car was built on the same day?

[Alaskan_TA]

The scheduled production date is the date they HOPED to build the car when the order was first entered into their system.

Cars were not produced in VIN order.

So, there is no way to know the exact date the car was made.

This changed later on when Chrysler started using a MDH (Month Day Hour) code on the Mylar door stickers showing the final data.

[terrible one]

  I should have known that, thanks for the info and quick reply!

Here is another clue, the tag I found when I reupholstered the back seat (picture below) Is there any known window for how far ahead of time seats were being made?

Would it be safe to say that it was likely built in late April or early May of 68?

[68hardchargerrt]

There are some who say (and I tend to agree) that the date code on the k-frame should be the closest date to when the car was final assembled.  It is true on both my 68 Chargers.  If you are confident that the k-frame is original, it should give you a good idea when it was finished (within a couple of days)  the code will be dead center in the front of the k-frame on the vertical surface and should have the 3 digit day and 1 digit year code.  For ex., 3547  would be 354th day of 1967 for a 1968 production car.

[terrible one]

I sure do appreciate that info, before now I didn't even know the K frame had a date code on it! Thank you.

I just went out and looked, mine looks like this  1168   1    

So that would be the 116th day of 1968, and I'm guessing the 1 is for shift 1?

Well I just searched and what do I find? The 116th day in 1968 just happens to be April 25th. Cool! Assuming the K frame hasn't been replaced, that definitely jives with the scheduled date on the Hurricane Sandy car (which is the closest I've ever found to my VIN) and if that date was usually within a couple of days it looks like if it wasn't built on 4/25/68 (Thursday) or 4/26/68 (Friday) then it would be into 4/29 or 4/30 because of the weekend.

Excellent information! The car is by no means original but finding out things like this is so interesting. I knew it was a later build because the original color is 331 "Charger Red," it has the shoulder belts, etc.

Another interesting fact I discovered in searching past threads was that my SO# has the "A" that designates it as being built to be sold in Canada. I never would have known!

[68hardchargerrt]

I am glad that info helped you out.   Just curious,  did your Charger happen to have a speedo in Kilometers.  My friend had a 69 Charger RT years ago and it had a factory speedo in Kilometers per hour...so we just assumed it came from Canada.  But, we really didn't know as he never found the build sheet.  But it was a factory speedo in KM.

Good luck.

[triple_green]

my 68 has a May 15th build date.

The spring introduction colors are a very rare (xx1). My car is 661. My research shows there were less that 500 units painted some of  the spring colors. Baja Bev who used to be on this bard had 383-4  4-speed 331 car with a white vinyl roof.

Also all us cars manufactured after 1/1/68 were fed mandated to have shoulder belts. That is why some 68s do and some do not.

Mark

[68RT440]

Ill have to check my K frame number, and I have no build sheet, but my '68 has a scheduled build date of April 15th. Im curious to see what the K frame says...

[terrible one]

I am glad that info helped you out.   Just curious,  did your Charger happen to have a speedo in Kilometers.  My friend had a 69 Charger RT years ago and it had a factory speedo in Kilometers per hour...so we just assumed it came from Canada.  But, we really didn't know as he never found the build sheet.  But it was a factory speedo in KM.

Good luck.

The cluster that I pulled out of there was MPH, but I'm not as confident it hasn't been changed because the j-nuts that clip onto the dash frame that the gauge cluster screws go into were missing and a hodge podge of fasteners was being used to hold it in place.

It was actually this thread here that led me to discovering it was to be sold in Canada: http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,60676.0.html

It looks like a US built Hamtramck '68 would be B8X123456 where a Canada car would be B8XA12345. For '69 the Canada designation was "B" and for '70 it was "C". Attached below is the SO# from my car that is located on the core support and trunk gutter.  

That does make me wonder if all Canadian built cars would have been equipped with a KPH speedo from the factory? Of course it would make sense but I woudln't be surprised if it wasn't the case.

Further, does anyone know if Canadian cars would have come with a "made in USA" tag or some other similar "import car" identification?

[terrible one]

my 68 has a May 15th build date.

The spring introduction colors are a very rare (xx1). My car is 661. My research shows there were less that 500 units painted some of  the spring colors. Baja Bev who used to be on this bard had 383-4  4-speed 331 car with a white vinyl roof.

Also all us cars manufactured after 1/1/68 were fed mandated to have shoulder belts. That is why some 68s do and some do not.

Mark

I had heard that the spring colors were rare but haven't been able to find any documentation, etc. I can say that I have only seen a handful of '68 Chargers with the 331 color code. I remember Bev's Charger, it sure does wear the color well!

Do you have anything that shows even a hint of a spring color breakdown, etc.? Or maybe when the "spring colors" for 1968 first became available? That would be interesting to know.  

Ill have to check my K frame number, and I have no build sheet, but my '68 has a scheduled build date of April 15th. Im curious to see what the K frame says...

I'm curious too! Especially because it looks like our cars are pretty close together. What is the last 6 of your VIN if you don't mind me asking? You could always leave the very last character off, just curious where it falls compared to the scheduled build dates and VIN numbers of mine and the others!  

I did find another thread that listed some VIN's and their scheduled build dates that another member had put together: http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,5709.0.html

XS29J8B361044   425 (Hurricane Sandy Charger)
XP29F8B361846   ??   (my car)
XS29L8B362501   427
XP29F8B368715   501
XS29L8B370240   502
XP29G8B374597   506

[Roadrunner]

My 68 v.i.n.# is XS29L8B358006 with the kmember #1028  1. I don't have the build sheet but  is #s match acording to the fender tag. Is it poss. to get a copy of the build sheet? All indicatiods show it is all orig. Or at least find out how many like mine were built?

[triple_green]

"Do you have anything that shows even a hint of a spring color breakdown, etc.? Do you know when the "spring colors" for 1968 first became available? That would be interesting to know."  

Hi, first let me say that I am no Galen Govier.

I think it has been discussed here many times that Chrysler did not keep records of number of cars that were painted each color in 1968. When I learned about the spring colors was when I went to paint my car and found out the the early 1968 paint guides didn't even have the spring intro colors in them. I had to search the internet to find the translation. I did find a PPG Ditzler guide Rev. 2/69 that referenced the spring colors. They are the only 68 colors that have numbers not alphas in the first two positions. Those are 66-1 Dark Green Poly and 33-1 Bright Red.

The guy at the paint store told me that the 66-1 formula was identical to the F8 for 69. And that Ford cars in 68 and earlier/later used an identical formula as well.

The 500 number is a rough guestimate base on my conversations with people and conversations that have one on here on the board.

In my life i have only seen 4 other 33-1 cars and about the same number of 66-1 cars.

So that is all I know..I was not trying to be authoritative.

Congrats on the Charger!

[terrible one]

"Do you have anything that shows even a hint of a spring color breakdown, etc.? Do you know when the "spring colors" for 1968 first became available? That would be interesting to know."  

Hi, first let me say that I am no Galen Govier.

I think it has been discussed here many times that Chrysler did not keep records of number of cars that were painted each color in 1968. When I learned about the spring colors was when I went to paint my car and found out the the early 1968 paint guides didn't even have the spring intro colors in them. I had to search the internet to find the translation. I did find a PPG Ditzler guide Rev. 2/69 that referenced the spring colors. They are the only 68 colors that have numbers not alphas in the first two positions. Those are 66-1 Dark Green Poly and 33-1 Bright Red.

The guy at the paint store told me that the 66-1 formula was identical to the F8 for 69. And that Ford cars in 68 and earlier/later used an identical formula as well.

The 500 number is a rough guestimate base on my conversations with people and conversations that have one on here on the board.

In my life i have only seen 4 other 33-1 cars and about the same number of 66-1 cars.

So that is all I know..I was not trying to be authoritative.

Congrats on the Charger!

Mark,

No worries, I don't mean to imply that you are trying to be an authority on the subject or hold you to any of this info, etc. and know that we are all just speculating but sharing our personal knowledge and experiences is the best wealth of info sometimes in my book!

That said, your info about the paint codes really is helpful and something that I did not know!

It's interesting that the paint guy told you 68's 66-1 was identical to 69's F8. If I'm not mistaken, the same goes for 33-1; isn't that the same color as 69's R6 red?

[triple_green]

I'll bet the 33-1 and R6 are the same. They found something good and stuck with it.

Also just to get myself in to more trouble.... I once had a list of some things in my Charger that I thought were kind of 69 pre-implementation option items that showed up on late 68s.

big one was color. 66-1 and 33-1. But other things too. Some of these may be wrong.

Sim wood steering wheel
Deep dish chrome wheel covers- on late 68 and 69s
unsilenced air cleaner on 383 HP (four barrell) motor
chrome door lock knob (inside top of upper panel
we already talked about the shoulder belts - fed law

there are a few more. there was a thread last year about this.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,98012.msg1136112.html#msg1136112

Mark

[Brock Lee]

I should have known that, thanks for the info and quick reply!

Here is another clue, the tag I found when I reupholstered the back seat (picture below) Is there any known window for how far ahead of time seats were being made?

Would it be safe to say that it was likely built in late April or early May of 68?

It may give you a ball park, but not a firm date. I would figure somewhere between 3-6 weeks after the latest date you can find inside your car.

Components were manufactured, then shipped in large quantity to the plants. The dates on these items only tells you when the seat was made. It does not factor in things like transportation to the plant and how long it sat around at the plant before being used. You will find other dates on parts if you look around. There is usually a full date stamped in white paint on the inside of the dash frame, on the backs of the door panels and pads (the upper pads doesn't hold the ink well as it is metal), and sometimes a date code on certain gauges.

The latest date I found on my car was on the dash frame. It is inked "Nov. 6- 68". My car has the completion date set at November 25th. I know it first sold in early December 68.

[terrible one]

I'll bet the 33-1 and R6 are the same. They found something good and stuck with it.

Also just to get myself in to more trouble.... I once had a list of some things in my Charger that I thought were kind of 69 pre-implementation option items that showed up on late 68s.

big one was color. 66-1 and 33-1. But other things too. Some of these may be wrong.

Sim wood steering wheel
Deep dish chrome wheel covers- on late 68 and 69s
unsilenced air cleaner on 383 HP (four barrell) motor
chrome door lock knob (inside top of upper panel
we already talked about the shoulder belts - fed law

there are a few more. there was a thread last year about this.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,98012.msg1136112.html#msg1136112

Mark

Thanks again! Reading that thread, it seems like my car is kind of in the middle; built late enough to have the spring color 33-1 and shoulder belts, yet early enough to not have any 69 items that I can see. For example, the ash tray that came with the car (who knows if it's original) was the 68 slide down style, and the steering wheel was the '68 style as well. Unfortunately most of the other telling items (wheel covers, lock knobs, air cleaner, etc.) were long gone when I got the car.

I should have known that, thanks for the info and quick reply!

Here is another clue, the tag I found when I reupholstered the back seat (picture below) Is there any known window for how far ahead of time seats were being made?

Would it be safe to say that it was likely built in late April or early May of 68?

It may give you a ball park, but not a firm date. I would figure somewhere between 3-6 weeks after the latest date you can find inside your car.

Components were manufactured, then shipped in large quantity to the plants. The dates on these items only tells you when the seat was made. It does not factor in things like transportation to the plant and how long it sat around at the plant before being used. You will find other dates on parts if you look around. There is usually a full date stamped in white paint on the inside of the dash frame, on the backs of the door panels and pads (the upper pads doesn't hold the ink well as it is metal), and sometimes a date code on certain gauges.

The latest date I found on my car was on the dash frame. It is inked "Nov. 6- 68". My car has the completion date set at November 25th. I know it first sold in early December 68.

With no fender tag or build sheet, I am thrilled to have even gotten this much of a ball park. With the understanding that the dates in 68 are just the scheduled production dates, it still is fun to be able to narrow it down this much. I know I've narrowed down the scheduled build date by far and as for the actual build date, knowing it could have been late April or sometime in May is close enough for me.  

I will have to take a look at the dash frame eventually; I'm guessing this is next to impossible with it installed depending on the location.

I did check out the glass and although one vent window, a quarter window, and the windshield had been replaced by the time I got the car, I was still able to see the date codes, not going out to the garage to look I remember that the back glass and the original vent glass were dated 2/68 and the door glasses were 3/68 and 4/68. So far, 4/68 is the latest I've found in the car (k frame, back seat and glass codes) but am curious about the dash frame because it breaks it down to a particular day of the month like the K frame code.

[JamieZ]

Just chiming in with info about my charger.  It was built very late 67 very early 68:
SPD is C28 (December 28, 1967)

K Frame is 00468 (Jan 4, 1968)

The VIN is:


It has the 68 ash tray and no shoulder belts.

[terrible one]

Thanks for adding your info JamieZ

While sifting through the wealth of information at Hamtramck Historical (thanks Barry/ Alaskan_TA ) I found the bulletin about the spring color introduction: http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/images/TSBs/1968/D68-23-11B.jpg

The date on the bulletin is 4/24/68. I know we are still talking scheduled build dates here, but with the Hurricane Sandy Charger having a scheduled build date of 4/25 and my car being only about 800 characters later when it comes to the VIN, it looks like my Charger could have been one of the earliest ones painted 33-1   Perhaps the dealership received the bulletin and decided to go ahead and put in an order for one? It's so fun to imagine . . .

[Brock Lee]

My dash date is under the heater controls. They may float around though.

[68RT440]

OK I dug up my fender tag and looked at my K member. My VIN is XS29L8B136410. My projected build date is April 15th (415 on the fender tag), and my K member number is 1018 1.

[Magnumcharger]

Just an FYI...since nobody else has seen fit to say this, but - the metric system wasn't adopted in Canada until the end of 1977 when all road signs were metric and all new cars had metric odometers and speedometers.

[68X426]

Also all us cars manufactured after 1/1/68 were fed mandated to have shoulder belts. That is why some 68s do and some do not. 

Slightly off the subject.  Even with that law in effect for 1-1-68, I've seen lots of '68 Mopars built in '68 without shoulder belts.  My Road Runner with a build date of March 15th has no belts.  At numerous shows I've checked on non-Charger B-Bodies, and no belts to be found even with late dates on the fender tags.  Who knows what was going on.

I was once pulled over by CHP for no shoulder belt and worked to convince him that there weren't ever belts in my '68.  Since I'm old and bald I had cred and he moved on. 

So now back to fender tags and build dates. 

[Ghoste]

Are you sure its 68 that they were all mandated?  Neither of my 69 Coronets had them and my later build 68 Road Runner didn't either.

[moparnation74]

  The date codes on the individual part is for the part only.  Same goes for K frames your car got what was in the bin when that car came through the line.  For example, my car is a documented survivor that had 36k miles when I began the restoration.  The only things removed from this car was the fan blade and the tires and rims.  Build date was 4/69 the original parts pulled had dates from 1/69-4/69.  The block was 2/69. 
   A good friend of my who is Frank Badalson stated that this car would have had parts from 12/68-4/69.  Same for the drivetrain.  This is where factory correctness gets into a crazy debate.  The purists say, if you are missing the individual parts and your car was  built in may, then put a mixture of parts from 1/69-5/69 with the correct part numbers of course.  Most get the exact month as the same build date.  However, survivor cars prove that incorrect.
   I am the third owner of my R/T and the original and second owner are still alive today and I communicate with them once and awhile.  So I am not just spitting senseless information out.  Most wonder why did you restore it with such low mileage.  Well, being black and wax a million times.  The original enamel on all body edges was worn to bear metal.  To touch it up would never look right and to leave it alone was not an option.

[Ghoste]

And I looked up the shoulder belt thing and everything does point to 68-1 as the legislation date.  Odd.