68 Charger production differences

[Richard Cranium]

No reverse dash light. Didn't catch that one before.

 

[91r/t]

Yea guess there is some truth to that one as well. Good to know. Only the Hurst shifter cars got them because there was no reverse lockout like the inland. The light was supposed to tell you the car was indeed in reverse as a safety precaution. Thanks for confirming.

 

[oldbee]

Now I’m racking my brain, thought the rev.light was on bottom edge of dash by ur knee? Ohhh, we didn’t really need a light back then anyway; no PC back then!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Now I’m racking my brain, thought the rev.light was on bottom edge of dash by ur knee?

Yup, that's where it would be.

 

[eldubb440]

This is the air cleaner on the green 440 a/c equipped car which looks like a 1967 440 air cleaner minus the snorkels. I believe that this air cleaner was also used on 383 equipped Darts....

View attachment 538035

The more familiar smaller air cleaner on the bronze 440....

View attachment 538036

for what it's worth, my 68 GTX has the large air cleaner and my friend's 69 charger R/T has the little one........... the GTX is a October 24, 67 build

 

[91r/t]

Yes the reverse light would have been on the dash near the ash tray. Here's a pic...

 

[Budnicks]

Great forum idea RC & mods/Joey

 

[turbine68rt]

Great thread RC. I always wondered what the holes were for in the tray behind the grille. Mine has 2 on the passenger side and 1 on drivers side. I just assumed a po did it but couldn't figure out why. I have the brushed horn ring, fratzog dash emblem, one piece trunk lid reinforcement, square vent knobs, painted shoulder belt clips, 3 sets of rear belts, black framed rv mirror, ball bearing ashtray, rounded armrests, t-handle release. 4/23 build.

 

[YY1]

Anyone have any idea as to how to make a build sheet readable? The typewriter ribbon must have just about wore put when they did mine. 5 or 6 years ago it was just vairly readable and now a case of disappearing ink.

Take high quality digital pics and use a program like photoshop to manipulate the color and contrast.

Usually it's fairly easy to get the type strikes to stand out.

...and you're also preserving the record digitally at the same time.

 

[YY1]

...but I just remembered they are printed and not typed.

I'd still try it though a lot of times a filter will bring out a color separation the naked eye can't see.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Ok. Mine has the same medallion as both you have now.
My 68 Coronet RT (4-10 build) has the fratzog. I thought they were the only one that got those. Still learning...

I had a buddy back in the 70's that had a 68 Charger R/T that had a Fratzog...

My Coronet R/T has a R/T medalion....

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Wow you guys make me jealous!!! My car having been saved from a junk yard had so much missing, I'm in the dark on all of these subtle differences. It was built on Dec 20 1968 making one of the last. Im kinda stuck doing a generic restoration since I don't have a clue how it started. Mine did have the squard vent pull handles though. This past week I chased down the part that had the 2 round knobs. I had never seen that before so I figured it was lost in the junkyard. Now I'm thinking I never saw it because mine didn't even have it. So I just bought a part I might not even need! Argh. Guys I'm gonna need lots of help!!!

If that's in fact the build date then you have a 69 Charger, not a 68...

Are you sure it wasn't built Dec 20 1967? Either way December isn't late in the year as far as model year goes....

 

[Photon440]

...but I just remembered they are printed and not typed.

I'd still try it though a lot of times a filter will bring out a color separation the naked eye can't see.

The sheets themselves were printed, but the black text was typed. You can often see the cloth pattern in the text from the ink ribbon.

 

[YY1]

Pretty sure they were tractor feed (holes on the sides and perforations) printer fed.

The ribbon and print head don't deliver anywhere near the blow that a typewriter does.

...although it's been a while since I've seen a 68 sheet.

 

[Photon440]

Tractor feed printers often strike with more force than a regular typewriter because office use often involved printing in triplicate with multiple sheets of carbon paper. I don't actually know what model of printer Chrysler was using though...

At any rate, your suggestion of taking a high resolution image was a good one and often helps out. A 1200 dpi flatbed scanner would be ideal.

 

[mopar 3 B]

In 1968 anything going threw a track printer would have been dot metrics, correct? I have not seen dot metrics on a build sheet.

 

[Photon440]

In 1968 anything going threw a track printer would have been dot metrics, correct? I have not seen dot metrics on a build sheet.

No, these don't look like dot matrix. I'm sure Chrysler would have used something like an IBM 1403 in that era which was a chain printer using actual type fonts. Chain printers, drum printers and the like were in common use back then (that IBM was from the late 50's). They were fast because they printed a whole line at a time instead of just one character at a time.

 

[YY1]

and we know IBM was involved in the build configuration from the IBM cards you can still get.

 

[The Rebel]

Here's some pic's of my 68. SPD 1/22/68. I'm assuming this makes my car an early one seeing they were 5 months into production, correct?

 

[kiwigtx]

No, these don't look like dot matrix. I'm sure Chrysler would have used something like an IBM 1403 in that era which was a chain printer using actual type fonts. Chain printers, drum printers and the like were in common use back then (that IBM was from the late 50's). They were fast because they printed a whole line at a time instead of just one character at a time.

I agree about the type fonts and typed...definitely not Dot Matrix.

The fonts used are remarkably similar to the door jamb VIN Decals.