68 charger body but 69 vin?

[kz1980]

Hi guys, I'm in process on buying a 68 body charger but title states 69 and also vin is for 69.
I don't really care about the years honestly but is this common? People have told me that after July Chrysler would change vin numbers to next year. The only anomaly I see is the front bumper is for 69, I'd likely change that to 68 and be set but is this vin thing rare? waiting for fender tag info from seller.

[6bblgt]

no that's not normal, have the parts that ID it as a '68 been changed?  How early (low) is the VIN?  Do the body numbers match the VIN?

welcome to Dodge-Charger!! 

[lukedukem]

It could be the guy turned a 69 into a 68 by Swapping parts

Luke

[kz1980]

The rear lights for example have not been tampered with and looks nicely done, side round markers are round, I was thinking someone swapped parts to 68 look but someone told me that Chrysler would in rare cases use leftover parts in assembly line and put them in the newer cars but makes little sense to me.. how do I distinguish early or late vin? The sixth digit is a 9 which matches with 69, should I revert this to 69 instead?

[tan top]

hello & welcome    

The rear lights for example have not been tampered with and looks nicely done, side round markers are round, I was thinking someone swapped parts to 68 look but someone told me that Chrysler would in rare cases use leftover parts in assembly line and put them in the newer cars but makes little sense to me.. how do I distinguish early or late vin? The sixth digit is a 9 which matches with 69, should I revert this to 69 instead?

nope  , a 68 model is a 68  , anything that distinguishes a 68 model would not be  used on a 69 model ,  anything can happen to a car in 50 years ,  could be any or all of the below

1 rebody using the wrong year body
2 vin swap on a stolen car etc
3 customised build by previous owner
4 its had a bad wreck sometime  & two different year cars welded together

[kz1980]

I'm thinking rebody, they did a hell of a job but kind of stupid to keep the 69 front end, car is virtually rust free with new floors, fenders and all, it's likely they went 68 route when looking at parts
Come with original 318 block and a 440 and 727 trans with it. Wonder if value takes a huge dip if I keep the 68 look

[70 sublime]

So does this car have round tail lights ?
You say it has a 69 front bumper and not a 68 front bumper
What is the difference between a 68 and a 69 bumper ?

[Troy]

To do what you're describing someone only needs to change the dash (or even just the VIN tag). That's 1,000 times more likely than someone changing all the parts to a 68. It's likely that they had a rusted out 69 with a title and found a decent bodied 68 without one. Swap some parts and it's magically road legal. To keep from guessing, find the numbers on the body (radiator support, trunk lip) and see if they match the VIN.

As for the factory using parts early or late in production... think about it: if they had stuck 68 quarters on a 69 car the whole rest of the assembly line would have 69 parts in the bin and they'd need to hand pick side markers, tail lights, tail panel trim, and so on to fir the 68 holes and mounting points. No way would they take the chance on stopping or slowing down the line just to use up parts (at least not major parts). They'd send them out as spares. Equally unlikely would be using the next year's VIN number on an early car (possible on a mid year introduction but not on single vehicles).

Troy

[kz1980]

Bumper was off, I haven't checked bumper. yes round rear lights, so it's 69 front grille with 68 rear round lights, basically everything indicates 68 conversion except the 69 front grille

[kz1980]

Troy, let's say it was a late 68 car and they did the new vin change, is that realistic? That's another possibility that Chrysler may have done is to designate 69 vin to late 68 models....this is at least what a mopar guy tells me here. seller may have had front end accident and done front end swap then, I personally don't care for the years but curious if vin designation was another possibility

[tan top]

I'm thinking rebody, they did a hell of a job but kind of stupid to keep the 69 front end, car is virtually rust free with new floors, fenders and all, it's likely they went 68 route when looking at parts
Come with original 318 block and a 440 and 727 trans with it. Wonder if value takes a huge dip if I keep the 68 look

sorry , man this is not the answer your looking for  , personally I would  give this car a miss , no matter if it sounds like a deal of a life time  

[kz1980]

Why would you say that?

[Baldwinvette77]

Why would you say that?

Theres a chance the 68 body may be stolen, and someone took a clean 69 vin and stuck it on to legalize it. we can't say for sure, but theres not many good reasons for the 68 vin to be missing in the first place,

maybe the 68 was a insurance write off, (front end damage?) and they stuck a 69 vin on it to make it street legal again, i don't know. but there is a risk involved for sure.


Do you have any pictures? looking at the work done can help to see if its a 68 or 69 dressed as a 68

[tan top]

Why would you say that?

because below !


1 re-body using the wrong year body
2 vin swap on a stolen car
3 its had a bad wreck sometime  & two different year cars welded together




sounds like a made up car , IF its a 68 charger body , with a 69 Vin  , was the 68 charger stolen back in the day ? ( but thinking IF the 68 body was stolen , they would be a idiot leaving it as a 68 when putting a 69 vin on the car  )  .. who knows .......  course it could just be a 69 charger with a 68 tail panel welded in  , which  highly  unlikely , but you never know ....   have you got any pictures ? have you checked the stamped body numbers   /  vin tag   / fender tag ? is it a 68 or 69 dash ? in there ,  
in any case , whole car sounds iffy , I would look for another ,  

[hemi-hampton]

Why would you say that?

Sounds like a messed up Frankenstein car. If you did buy it would be hard to ever sell as most people tend to stay away from cars with questionable #'s and/or paper work. could all turn out to be a Cluster*uck nitemare. I'd stay away from the mess myself. LEON.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Where is it?

I'd give $500 for it and part it out. 

[kz1980]

Thanks guys, all these are valid points and I'll get the tag info soon, sounds like a front end swap with proper 68 body, Chrysler and other makers would usually change the vin codes in late models after summer usually to indicate the upcoming year, I know GM does this quite often and have been told Chrysler also does it.

[cdr]

Thanks guys, all these are valid points and I'll get the tag info soon, sounds like a front end swap with proper 68 body, Chrysler and other makers would usually change the vin codes in late models after summer usually to indicate the upcoming year, I know GM does this quite often and have been told Chrysler also does it.

Others have told you THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!! so I will repeat because you seem to keep missing it THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!!!!

[cdr]

one more time just for good measure,  THAT DID NOT HAPPEN WITH THE VIN. 

[BDF]

Thanks guys, all these are valid points and I'll get the tag info soon, sounds like a front end swap with proper 68 body, Chrysler and other makers would usually change the vin codes in late models after summer usually to indicate the upcoming year, I know GM does this quite often and have been told Chrysler also does it.

Others have told you THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!! so I will repeat because you seem to keep missing it THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!!!!

Wlecome to DC.com! I'm a new guy also but KNOW that if I ask a ? I'd better take the advise.

[BDF]

Thanks guys, all these are valid points and I'll get the tag info soon, sounds like a front end swap with proper 68 body, Chrysler and other makers would usually change the vin codes in late models after summer usually to indicate the upcoming year, I know GM does this quite often and have been told Chrysler also does it.

Others have told you THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!! so I will repeat because you seem to keep missing it THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!!!!

Wlecome to DC.com! I'm a new guy also but KNOW that if I ask a ? I'd better take the advise.

CRAP! I misspelled welcome, dang it!
Now see what happens...

[cdr]

[/quote]
Wlecome to DC.com! I'm a new guy also but KNOW that if I ask a ? I'd better take the advise.
[/quote]
CRAP! I misspelled welcome, dang it!
Now see what happens...
[/quote]





                         

[JB400]

Welcome to the group   I'm going to have to agree with the others.  Something's fishy about this car.  Any numbers on the trunk lip on the left side under the weather stripping?  What about on the radiator core support? 

As far as your manufacturers using last years cars on next year, Ford is the only one I've heard about that done such a thing. Shelby didn't sell enough of them in '69, so they continued the model as a 70 to use up inventory.

[Lennard]

Thanks guys, all these are valid points and I'll get the tag info soon, sounds like a front end swap with proper 68 body, Chrysler and other makers would usually change the vin codes in late models after summer usually to indicate the upcoming year, I know GM does this quite often and have been told Chrysler also does it.

Others have told you THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!! so I will repeat because you seem to keep missing it THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!!!!

Wlecome to DC.com! I'm a new guy also but KNOW that if I ask a ? I'd better take the advise.

CRAP! I misspelled welcome, dang it!
Now see what happens...

[Kern Dog]

"CRAP! I misspelled welcome, dang it!
Now see what happens..."

I didn't see nuffin.