1966 Coronet outside door handle question

[thebankerstoy]

I know that the passenger side outside door handle is part #2583014 and the drivers side is part #2583015 on my 1966 Coronet 500, but do these 1966 B-Body door handles have black, or chrome push buttons? The door handles on my car are not originals and I'm going to replace them, so I would like to buy the correct parts.

B/E&A sells a very nice looking set of door handles and they have the black push buttons, but Mike lists them for 1967 -68 A and B-Body cars, but I was thinking that they would be correct for my 66 also. :confused:

Thanks for your help.

Richard

 

[thebankerstoy]

Well, after looking again at the B/E&A web site again, I also found a listing for outside door handles for 1966-70 B-Body and 1966-77 A-Body cars with chrome push buttons, so does that mean that the chrome push buttons are correct for my 66? Now I'm really :confused:

Richard

 

[69bfan]

Richard,
The door handles for the 66-67 B-bodies are unique to themselves. They differ from the 68-70 B-body style in that the area under the push button is more rounded while the 68-70 B and A-Body is more squared off. I would have to look at my 66 Satellite as I do not recall the color of the push buttons. I know that the chrome buttons did not become standard on the 69 B-Bodies until something like January of 69. The only manufacture of the 66-67 style handles to my knowledge is Trim Parts out of Lebanon, Ohio, 513-934-0815. I am a vendor of theirs, but do not keep these handles in stock. The suggested retail was in the $165.00 range. To my knowledge, they will sale retail to the public. If you should want to use the the 68-70 B-Body style door handles, the late 70's to late 80's style Dodge truck and van used a door handle that could be used as a replacement. The curvature of the handle is slightly greater and will thus create a small gap which can be noticeable, but they were quite a bit cheaper than the correct B and A-Body correct style handles. Good luck on your search.
Richard

 

[daredevil]

the 66 coronets use a chrome push button, all four cars of mine were chrome

 

[1badstroker]

I agree, Chrome it is.

 

[thebankerstoy]

Thank you VERY much guy's! I will buy the ones with the chrome buttons. :yes:

69bfan, I appreciate all of the great information and you did remind me that the handles are a bit different on the 66-67 B-Body cars. It also seems that there are several different styles on the handles where the linkage hooks up to the backside of the push button area. Are the handles that Trim Parts sell corect in this area also? It's a real pain if they aren't. I ran into this problem when I bought some aftermarket door handles for my son's 72 Dart Swinger and while they were correct where they bolted up to the body, the new handles were different in the linkage hook up area, so I had to use some of the parts from the old handles to get everything to work properly.

Richard

 

[thebankerstoy]

Well, I went to the Trim Parts web page and they sell the 66-67 B-Body outside door handles with both the chrome push buttons and the black push buttons. So maybe both were used on different trim levels, or maybe Chrysler had more than one supplier, or maybe early produced cars used one style and later cars used the other? :dontknow: I'm going to give them a call and see what they have to say.

Richard

http://www.trimparts.com/pages/carpets.asp

 

[thebankerstoy]

Ok, I just got off the phone with Jim at Trim Parts, who by the way was a VERY nice person to talk to and he say's that after looking into the 66-67 door handles, as far as they can tell, because there is only one part number for these handles, which is #2583014 for the passenger side and #2583015 for the drivers side, he feels that it probably came down to Chrysler having multiple suppliers for these door handles and that most of the cars used the ones with the chrome push buttons, but some got the black push buttons if none of the chrome push buttons were in stock at the time that the car was produced and that makes alot of sense seeing that there was only one part number.

So I bought a set of their part #MP5210 handles with the chrome push buttons and these also include all of the mounting hardware and gaskets needed to mount the handles to the body. I'll post pictures of the handles as soon as I get them and I'll let you know what I think of their quality, but I have a feeling that they are going to be VERY nice parts. They ran $174.80 with free shipping.

69bfan, thank you VERY much for the referral to Trim Parts, they look to be a high quality company. I only wish that they made more items for our Mopars, but I guess that they have been trying to work out details with Chrysler for awhile now.

Richard

 

[69bfan]

Richard, glad to hear that things worked out well for you with Trim Parts. Almost everything that they do is relatively nice and priced accordingly. We have sold probably 40 sets of the 62-65 B-Body door handles and have not had any prolblems. If anyone is doing a late 50's to a early 70's GM product, they are very good to work with. Look forwards to hearing how they work out for you.
Thanks,
Richard

 

[daredevil]

ive never seen a black button on a 66

 

[thebankerstoy]

ive never seen a black button on a 66

I haven't either and that's why I was confussed when I saw them being offered by several companies, including Trim Parts, but I guess that there must be some cars out there that got them. :dontknow:

Richard

 

[daredevil]

maybe its a 67 thing

 

[MprDoc]

I have a 66 Satellite and the stockers are chrome push buttons as well as the replacement ones I scored from year one. . . mechanically they are probably the same but the chrome ones definetely look niiiice.

 

[69bfan]

I think that what may have happened is that when the door handles were being developed that they knew that the '68-'70 B-Body had the availability of the black or chrome push buttons. Using that same logic, they assumed that the '66-'67 should have the same availability. It was not a body type or product line that determined the door button color, but the production date of the car. From being around these cars for the past 35 plus years, I never say never. But look at the untouched vehicles with a true pedigree to document your ideals and you will find out that a lots of things on these cars got changed through the years. If you happen to purchase a new car back in the '60's and just say you did not like the tire and wheel combination on the car, it was not unkown for them to swap out tires and wheels with a car on the lot. They even swapped out front bucket seats on my Father's Charger R/T for he wanted head rest and the car was delivered from the factory without them.