68 Charger with 69 dash bezels?

[MRCHARGER]

I have a buddy who is restoring a 68 with a May 68 build date. His dash has 69 grain style bezels instead of the 68 ribbed style with the bullseye or fratzog emblem. I have heard of 68's that came with woodgrain console tops at the end of the production year, but I have never heard of 69 dash bezels. The dash pad is the pointed center 68 style. Is it possible to come from the factory this way, or did someone change them out over the years?

While I got you reading... anyone know where I can get a 2837500 heater box stamp for my 68 and does anyone reproduce the headlight vacuum hose clips that hold the lines to the inner fender ( I believe there would be 2)?

[bull]

There has never been a '69 style dash in a '68 to my knowledge so I would say it got changed out at some point. I've never seen or heard of a '68 getting a '69 console top either.

I'm not sure if the heater box stamp is being sold by anyone but it can be made through someplace like Office Depot, although it seems pretty silly to me that we all have to buy one for ourselves. You'd think someone would lend you one, and I know there are guys here that have them.

As for the hose clips, is this what you mean? http://www.megapartsusa.com/proddetail.asp?prod=165%2DSCL

[PocketThunder]

I'm not sure if the heater box stamp is being sold by anyone but it can be made through someplace like Office Depot, although it seems pretty silly to me that we all have to buy one for ourselves. You'd think someone would lend you one, and I know there are guys here that have them.

Yep, i think member Troy "hemi68charger" has one he might lend you...

[BrianShaughnessy]

Sometimes previous owners made changes all on their own.   

[MRCHARGER]

It's funny how the things you remember get mixed up in your head over time. I can't remember if I read it somewhere or talked to guy at a show, I swear that I heard at the end of the 68 production year they ran out of some parts and dipped into the 69 parts. Maybe my brain is faulty, it is 41 years old and un-restored.

Bull, the clip that I was referencing is the white plastic clip that is taped to the harness and pushed into the inner fender top. I have yet to find a kit that contains those, my originals were unusable. Our Mopar club is having a car show/swap meet tomorrow at the plant on Van Dyke in Warren MI, so I will check there.

PocketThunder, thanks for the lead, I will PM Troy to see if we can work something out.

[68RRFlyer]

You are not entirely incorrect in your thinking, but I don't think it was such major pieces as console tops and such.  I had the pleasure a few months ago of having 2 68 Chargers in my shop and noted differences on them since it intrigued me too.  One was a June 18th car and the other is a March 29th build.  There were a few good differences between some parts.  Both of these cars were original and unmodified.  Changes I noticed were respective of 69 parts being used in 68.  The late June Charger had the three speed wiper motor with the gold annodized finish, while the March 68 had the silver housing with half-blacked out base.  Another change was the driver's side vent handle.  68 to 69 differed in placement and I found the June Charger had a 69 vent setup (left side of the column) over the March build's 68 placement (right side of the column).  Another was the bullseye dash trim on the March Charger and the June Charger had the tri-point looking emblem.  Ashtray was another.  June Charger was a flip out style, and the March Charger was a slide down style.  But that may just have been a design change they started to change on all cars and not a model year specific thing.  There also was a wiring difference on the brake light switch.  The June Charger had the 69 style switch.   Anyrate, some stuff did get changed over for sure.  I'll resize some pics and post up showing the differences.    

Cheers

[68RRFlyer]

March 29 SPD, St. Louis, Charger XP, 383, A/C.   3 speed wiper motor

[68RRFlyer]

JUne 18th SPD, Charger RT, St. Louis plant, A/C  - 3spd wiper motor

[68RRFlyer]

March Charger ashtray....

[68RRFlyer]

June Charger ashtray....

[68RRFlyer]

March Charger brake light switch....

[68RRFlyer]

June Charger brake light switch...

[68RRFlyer]

68 Charger driver's vent.  This was taken right after I removed the dash so the cable routing is original.  Note the long actuator cable.  Right side of steering column....

[68RRFlyer]

June build 68 Charger's vent cable placement.  This matches my 69's placement.  Wonder why they moved it?

[MRCHARGER]

I've never seen a 68 with a vent switch pull knob that had the word vent on it, those were 69's. So there is a pretty good chance that some 69 items ended up on the last 68's.

Thanks for the picts. I can't get enough reference photos. I'm sure I'm not the only guy with a folder on their computer full of "research" photos (99% from this site).

[Brock Lee]

Yeah some items changed near the end of the 68 model year, but not things like the texture on the bezels. That stuff wasn't stocked until they retooled for the new model year. As a matter of fact, the prototype 1969's have the little emblem between the gauges. Finding older features is expected, finding items that didn't exist at the time of build is ludicrous. These were just used cars once upon a time. People would go to the junkyard and grab parts that looked better than what they had and swap it out as the parts were dirt cheap. My buddy had a 1969 Charger that had almost an entire 1968 interior swapped into decades ago. It was a November 1968 build, so no way was it stock.