69 coronet tail panel support question

[Beechwood45789]

Why does my 69 coronet 500 have these three support pieces and my 69 bee has no evidence of ever having them? Factory mistake? Or early vs late production thing? Anybody have a clue?

 

[jt4406]

(now I gotta go check mine!!)

 

[cudabee]

I've recently stripped down both a '69 Coro 500 (L.A. plant) and a '69 S Bee (Lynch Rd.). Both had all three of the braces. They were shown in the Dodge parts manual.(red & white)

 

[dadsbee]

None on my Lynch Road Bee, SPD Feb25th '69.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

My 68 has all three...

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Looks like the Bee has the oval shaped fuel filler opening... And it's hard to see but I think the Coronet has the round filler tube opening... The oval is a later design...

 

[Beechwood45789]

None on my Lynch Road Bee, SPD Feb25th '69.

Both of these are st louis cars. I wonder why some got it and some didn't.

 

[Beechwood45789]

Looks like the Bee has the oval shaped fuel filler opening... And it's hard to see but I think the Coronet has the round filler tube opening... The oval is a later design...

Wow I never noticed that.

 

[Beechwood45789]

I'm learning more about this car every day.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Scary isn't it?

 

[Superbeemike]

My 69’ Bee does not have them. 502 build date from Los Angeles.

 

[Beechwood45789]

Scary isn't it?

Yeah, this time I want to learn first, then buy parts instead of the other way around.

 

[jt4406]

Does the tail panel itself have flattened indentations for the brackets that the tail panels of the cars minus the brackets don't have? Different stamping for the tail panel? Deemed unnecessary by the bean counters? How would fabbing up a new stamping to eliminate three little brackets save money?

 

[hunt2elk]

My LA 69 Bee has the brackets as well.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

There was discussion of the round vs oval filler hole years ago, the generally accepted consensus was Chrysler changed it to oval because in severe side impacts near the tail panel the round filer hole could pull the filler tube from the fuel tank...

 

[Beechwood45789]

There was discussion of the round vs oval filler hole years ago, the generally accepted consensus was Chrysler changed it to oval because in severe side impacts near the tail panel the round filer hole could pull the filler tube from the fuel tank...

Makes sense. So out of everyone who has said their car has the brackets; do you also have the round filler hole cross member? Maybe when they switched designs to the oval they deemed the brackets unnecessary?