Did all 68-70 Chargers come with Taillight covers???

[Cncguy]

Did all 2nd Gen Chargers come with Covers in the trunk area to protect the taillight housing? Was it part of a package? It seems with how many chargers were produced not many are left. I wouldn't think a part this big would be easy to dispose of.

[RIDELIKEHELL]

68's did not

[Ghoste]

66-67 all came with them and 69-70 (not sure about all of the 70 models though, did the XH have them?).  They were a big part but they were also a big pain in the ass when you had to change bulbs.  Couple that with a few slams from luggage compartment debris especially in winter and its little wonder so many are missing.

[six-tee-nine]

Dont know about the '70.

In 69 it was factory standard. I Always believed 68's did'nt got them?

[kokxville]

yep,70's had them also. 

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Anyone do a mod to 69-70 to fit over 68 lights as there is always something sliding around in mine 

[keith88]

I have seen pictures of 69s without them not sure if they came that way or people just got ride of them but mine has it and my 70 had it to.

[Ghoste]

The 69's all had them.

[Charger RT]

I have a 69 cover in my 68. I just slide it in no mods.
Tim

[HANDM]

I sold mine years ago..... in retrospect, not such a good idea 

[Ghoste]

You can get them in the repro market, although there were two styles and only one is reproduced.

[myk]

You can get them in the repro market, although there were two styles and only one is reproduced.

Two styles?  What were the differences?

[RIDELIKEHELL]

I have a 69 cover in my 68. I just slide it in no mods.
Tim

Cool! RDC has a 68 he's restoring that someone made into a General Lee years ago & after a car show this year I went back to his place for a beer & to check it out. He asked me what this piece was and it was a cover from a 69 as this particular car had a tail pan from a 69. I should see if he's going to use it 

[Ghoste]

One is deeper than the other Myk.

[472 R/T SE]

One is deeper than the other Myk.

due to the different depth of the tail light assemblies.  The early ones had the rear of the assemblies open for the bulb replacement.  Story I got was it was easy to knock the bulbs out of the tail light so they built them longer with the aluminum stretching out past the bulbs making them deeper essentially putting a roof over the bulbs IIRC.  I'd have to look at my car.

Now, if you're running the cover the bulbs never should have came out in the first place.   

[RDC]

I have a 69 cover in my 68. I just slide it in no mods.
Tim

Cool! RDC has a 68 he's restoring that someone made into a General Lee years ago & after a car show this year I went back to his place for a beer & to check it out. He asked me what this piece was and it was a cover from a 69 as this particular car had a tail pan from a 69. I should see if he's going to use it 

Marc your welcome to the panel cover if you want to try it, its just taking up space on the shelf

[Ghoste]

Interesting story Mike, I wondered why they had the two different ones.

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Really? 

[RDC]

Really? 

Of course

[hemigeno]

One is deeper than the other Myk.

due to the different depth of the tail light assemblies.  The early ones had the rear of the assemblies open for the bulb replacement.  

I won't begin to say why they did so, but the change actually went the other way... from long bulb shrouds earlier in the '69 model year to short bulb shrouds later on in the year.  My formerly-owned late-January-built (St. Louis plant) R/T had long shrouds, but an early February (Hamtramck) original car I've seen had the short shrouds.  The break point date between the styles is probably not cast in concrete, but that would give you some idea of what you'd expect to find in a '69 Charger of a particular SPD.

Here are photographic examples of long bulb shrouds (early '69 model, September '68 Hamtramck-built Charger 500), short bulb shrouds (my June '69 Hamtramck-built Daytona's original housings) and a shot of the two different styles of covers laid end-to-end so that you can see the difference in depth.

[hemigeno]

Another difference I just noticed... the taillight harness' bulb sockets are different depth on the early vs. late cars too, in terms of how far out from the housing they protrude.  Look at how much more the C500's socket sticks out from the housing compared to the end length of the sockets on my Daytona.  That's probably why the depth of the cast metal shroud (as well as the plastic taillight cover) could shrink up.



Pic below is from maxwellwedge's "DiscoTona".  The bulb socket does not stick out past even the shortened shroud.

[ACUDANUT]

69 and 70..YES

[Ghoste]

So the 70 model has the short shroud?

[XH29N0G]

Ghoste,  The XH I have, had them.

[tan top]

 more interesting reading here !!     

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,14608.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,41556.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,51920.0.html

[500Jon]

Brilliant work there Geno...

My December 1968 build C500 has one long eyebrow and one short eyebrow light assembly!
I thought they were original pieces but who knows now?

What's the height of the plastic cover in the highest part there please?

Cheers and HNY from 5J

Just gotta say the longer ones are better, so why a step back to shorties???

[hemigeno]

Brilliant work there Geno...

What's the height of the plastic cover in the highest part there please?

Thanks, Jon.

Chief Inspector tan top has already done the research on previous threads, and the last of his links posted has dimensional comparisons between the two styles:

Early '69 / deep taillight cover measurement (from tan top's car):



Late '69 & '70 / short(er) taillight cover measurement (from Chris / Just 6T9 CHGR's car):