'68 Charger R/T question

[Silver Charger]

From the factory, were the door handle buttons black or chrome for the '68 Charger. 
Thanks,
Scott

[Troy]

Black. Well, I guess it depends on who you ask. They were supposed to be black but I suppose some later built cars could have had the chrome buttons (or is that : some early 69s could have still had black buttons?).

Troy

[8WHEELER]

99% of the 68 door handle buttons were black plastic. I have heard of a couple people on the site with very
late 68's that said theres came chrome, anything is possible, but a lot of parts on these cars were changed
within a year or two of being new '' getting fixed '' so as a rule the black button is correct.

Dan

[694spdRT]

I agree they were likely black.

FWIW: The '69 Satellite parts car I have is/was completely original and has black buttons. It is an October built Lynch road car.

[RTPTRON]

Mine were black.  When we painted my car last year I purchased new door handles from YearOne with chrome buttons.  I took the black buttons out of the old handles and replaced the chorme buttons in the new ones.

[JimShine]

Both of my Chargers have black. The 1968 was built in january 1968 and my 1969 was a November 1968 build date.

[jaak]

my 69 was built August 9 1968 and it has (had) black buttons, also had the 68 all chrome shifter knob (floor shift) I bought a 69 woodknob just cause i like it better and I sold the original door handles a while ago, the replacements I bought have chrome buttons and I wished I would have saved my black ones (infact I'm keeping an eye out on ebay for some black buttons) I think Black buttons look better, but I may just stick with the chrome ones.

[y3chargerrt]

The original buttons on my door handles were black. My Charger has a build date of Jan 20,1969.

[Rolling_Thunder]

my car has black buttons as well...    built Oct 27, 1967

[HeavyFuel]

Born Feb 2, 68.........black buttons.

[smasherofall]

mine was built 9/12/67 but has chrome buttons. I bought it in 1987 so they could have been changed somewhere along the line but yhey look to be original, badly pitted and all.

[is_it_EVER_done?]

As far as I know, all 68's had black. I always changed them out for the chrome ones because I thought the plastic looked cheap.

[dd44068]

i have a #S MATCHING R/T almost certain of a early build date and i have black on both

[Needa68]

OK. I'll be that guy.

I have chome buttons on my 68. I am fairly sure that since the day this car rolled off the line it received 0 in the love and up keep dept. The build date numbers on the fender tag say 909. I'm not sure if that means Sept of 67, or Sept of 68. If it means 68, then it is a late production car and could possibly fit the scenario described above.

Robert

Mitchell & Mitchell 1968 Dodge Charger Restoration BLOG:

http://geocities.com/robertmitchell32000/CHARGER/TheMitchells68Charger.html?pg=1&cnt=5&t=a

[ds440]

If your build date reads "909" then it should be 9/09/67.

I have a build date of 9/18/67 and I have the chrome buttons as well.

They look original....but who knows?

[Needa68]

Very interesting. What month did the first 68 models start rolling off the line? I have heard a couple of answers on this. I have heard November and Oct. If Oct is the correct month, then perhaps our cars were some of the first made (in September) prior to sales release that received the remaining door handles from the 67 Charger production run.

I do know for a fact that my car was NOT ordered on a dealership sales floor. It was factory built as a sales bank car and sent to a dealer in LA for sale to someone off the street. This is interesting.

[ds440]

I believe the first 68s were produced in August.

I've actually been looking for an answer to this "chrome button question" for some time.  The consensus has always been that 68s = black buttons.  However, I have seen a few cars at shows that have the chrome buttons and an early build date.  Not many; just a few.  When I asked the owners if the door handles are original, inevitably they shrug and say, "yeah, I thought so."

The only theory that I can come up with is that they are a bit like the red-white-blue upper door panel medallion anomaly.  Some cars have them and some don't.


To make things more confusing, my brother has a mid-December built 69.....with black buttons. (maybe we should swap.)

[Needa68]

Ok then!

So if 68's started being built in August, than an early Sept car such as mine (and yours) would be early in the production run. I bet dollars to doughnuts, the early 68's got the chrome buttons as they were left over handles from the 67's. I'm sure supply varied from plant to plan as some went on longer into the 68 year than others.

ds440 what plant was your car made at?

[ds440]

Hamtramck.

Yeah, I've suspected that they might be left over '67s, but I don't know enough about that year to say for sure.  By that, I mean I have no idea if they have the same mechanisms, appearance, etc.  I just looked in a Year One catalog and they look similar, but...?

The more and more I get into researching this car the more and more I realize that there are no "absolutes"...