XP Hemi '69 picture discovery (dial-up beware)

[WingCharger]

The stripe is blank, which leads me to believe it to be a base probably 318 powered Charger.

Blank stripe didnt come out till '70.....unless it was a 69 test mule for the '70 model year...

Yea! New Charger fact to shove into my brain.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Chris,

After reading this thread (thanks again for making sure I didn't miss it), I went through a whole drawer full of brochures and information just to make sure I didn't miss another use of that XP Hemicar.  GREAT find in making the connection with the full-line brochure.

I also tried to find the thread(s) where we kicked around the transmisison cooler lines and visible torque boxes in the press photo pictures.  From what I remember now, we were just getting into that whole line of discussion when the old D-C.com site crashed.  I seem to remember even dragging out an original press photo of that car I still have when we were B.S.'ing at Carlisle back in 2005.  That was right before the old site crashed, and the same year I bought my famous headlamp...  

So far, I haven't found anything else in my stuff that might be related to that car which hasn't already been mentioned already.

Oh, and the picture of that crash test car makes me wince every time I look at it.  EVERY time. 

I do remember us discussing the cooler lines now that you reminded me of the time frame (I really suck at that....remembering things )
I most definitely remember the headlight

[tan top]

Base cars had NO stripe, if you look a little more closely at the stripe right at the body line you can see that there is a cutout there but I can't make out if its RT or 500.

i though it looked like the bottom of the T in R/T ....sort of like the different one Chris pointed out    ..but could be a case of me staring at it for too long , seeing whats not there  

[hemigeno]

The stripe is not blank (no such thing in '69), and it is very hard to see what I THINK I see there...  To my untrained eye it look like the cutout lettering stays along one "line" at the bottom, like "500" does.  "R/T" on the stripes is offset, where the "R" is higher than the "T".

Also, and probably more importantly for my conclusion about it being a 500, the bezels around the rear marker lenses appear to be painted body color not stripe color.  That just didn't happen on a factory stripe car, but DID happen often on early-built 500s.  You can see the door handle button is black, so it was definitely an early car.

OK, that's my thoughts... and I could be wrong, but that's the way I see it.

[Ghoste]

I thought it looked more like it was offset myself.  I looked for the bezel color but I'm just not sure.  Sometimes I stare at it and it looks body color and then it just looks blurry.   

[UFO]

Ahh,, the body color bezel with a stripe has happened.
What thread has a discussion on the stripe lettering being crooked?
I posted a pic in there.

[hemigeno]

I could be all wet here too, especially if that is Vinyl Top trim above the rear wheel in the "After" photo.  Then again, maybe it was a ModTop C500 

[Ghoste]

I'm going cross-eyed now.  Thre has to be a better photo of the crash test than the one I have, it looks to be the same quality as the one posted in this thread.  The original is out there just waiting for us.

[WingCharger]

Wonder if the developers at Chrysler in 1969 thought, in 40 years, guys on Internet forums will be discussing what color the rear side-marker bezel on our car should be. "Hey, lets paint the one on the test car like one of those 500 Chargers just to confuse them in the future."

With the expense of producing a Charger 500, why would they use one as a crash test vehicle?
And, it would screw up NASCAR required homologlomation (Spelling?) wouldn't it?

[UFO]

Then again, maybe it was a ModTop C500 

I have pics coming of that car.I will call them and see if they're done yet.

Sorry had to do that.

[hemigeno]

Ahh,, the body color bezel with a stripe has happened.
What thread has a discussion on the stripe lettering being crooked?
I posted a pic in there.

Just found that picture

[UFO]

Thats the one.
Maybe the road testers beat on it a little too much.
All it was good for after was a crash test.

[Ghoste]

Again though with the Road Wheels and rocker trim.

[hemigeno]

The proportions of the cutout in the stripe is what leads me to believe that it's a body-color bezel.  Obviously there were at least a FEW '69s built at the regular plant with body-colored bezels, and they were probably made early on in the model year.

I agree with Ghoste, stare at that photo for a while and you get a headache.

To me, the lettering in that cutout though seems to follow the body contour line and if anything, is above the body line.  Almost all of the R/T stripes that I've seen seem to straddle that body line.  Again, that could be justn an early quirk that was straightened out shortly thereafter.

It COULD be that this was one of the prototype cars that was built by the supervisors during the model year changeover/shutdown, and they may have donated it as a crash-test-subject rather than selling it to the public...  That is 100% pure, uncut speculation on my part though...

[UFO]

Was crash testing mandatory for a manufacturer back then?

[WingCharger]

Was crash testing mandatory for a manufacturer back then?

I don't believe so...

[Ghoste]

I'm driving myself nuts now.  Now as I look at the stripe, it appears as though the lettering is straight across like a 500 but it seems higher than other 500 pics I have here. 

[hemigeno]

I have a pretty good sized stack of papers from where Chrysler's engineers even had to submit the Daytona's modified turn signals to the Feds for approval.  My guess is the DOT scrutinized all of the manufacturers' cars pretty good, and that may have included crash testing.  Somebody would have a lot of 'splaining to do with the corporate beancounters if it WASN'T required...

[hemigeno]

I'm driving myself nuts now. 

Glad I could be of service, Ghoste... Aren't you glad I mentioned this??   

[WingCharger]

I'm emailing this baby to the CSI lab in Las Vegas.

Maybe the trunk lid would be more reviling. Any pics of 500's and Charger's next to eachother with the trunk lids open?

[Ghoste]

Automotive crash testing began as early as 1950 and by 1973 the NHTSA had mandated a standardized crash test dummy but I haven't found yet when it was a federal requirement.

[hemigeno]

Plus the fact that it was a Charger 500.

   OK What makes you say it's a 500?
The trunk lid in the top half of photo looks like a regular unit.

Brian is correct though, the decklid does look more like a regular Charger's, and that would trump a stripe & bezel any day.

[WingCharger]

vs.

[Ghoste]

Crash testing for federal standards began in 1968 but GM performed the first one in 1934.  Now back to our regular program.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Plus the fact that it was a Charger 500.

   OK What makes you say it's a 500?
The trunk lid in the top half of photo looks like a regular unit.

Brian is correct though, the decklid does look more like a regular Charger's, and that would trump a stripe & bezel any day.

  Definitely looks like a standard trunk in the shot where the guy is in the trunk.....with a C500 he would barely be able to get his head in there.....that pic looks like he has his head, shoulders & part of his gut in the trunk!

Again though with the Road Wheels and rocker trim.

maybe they swapped the wheels on the XP Hemi car for the brochure shoot