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Car manufacturers have had buyers come
to the factory to pick up their new cars for years. Kaiser-Frazer in the
1950's had a building where the car buyers and families could spend the night
while in Detroit to pick up their cars. Chrysler Canada built a
similar structure near their Windsor plant in 1955. It could handle
up to 50 customers per day.
As to the change in the vinyl roof, only the
previous owner(s) would know why and when the vinyl roof was
changed. It may have been changed as one of the owners did not
like the constant cleaning a white vinyl roof needs to look good. Or, the
car was in a hail storm and the vinyl roof was damaged. Or the car was in
sone sort of accident and the vinyl had to be replaced. Or the car
was hit by vandals and the vinyl slashed. Or the vinyl was getting
tattered and someone decided to replace it. Or . . . Or . . .
Or . . .
The car was built in 1969. It is now
2006. Thirty-seven years have gone by and a lot can happen in
thirty-seven years. As I say, only one (or more) of the previous
owners would know what happened. And after thirty-six years it would be
impossible to tell if the vinyl roof was installed at the factory.
Although "Y14 - Sold Car" means the order was
placed for a customer who checked the euipment boxes he/she wanted, Y25 -
Special Driveaway, I believe was used for cars that were picked up at the
factory.
The heavy trailer towing package (A35) for
hauling trailers up to 7,000 pounds consisted of -
Heavy-duty suspension
Maximum cooling
transmission oil cooler
trailer wiring harness with
connector
tailer brake controller
variable-load turn signal
flasher
heavy-duty 65-amp alternator
load-distrubuting platform hitch
Chrysler also offered a light trailer towing
package for trailers up to 2,000 pounds. All C body cars did not
need the package, though, to haul a trailer of that size.
Bill
Vancouver, BC
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 3:04
AM
Subject: Re: IML: 1968 and '69 Changes
While Still on the Line
I think that the promotion for a "trip to the factory" deal really began
in '68. While cars being made could have been changed during assembly in
almost any year. A special order from a dealer could prompt that for a
specific car coming down the line. I also think that although the promotion
was primarily in the late '60s, if someone visited the company to personally
buy their car, an arrangement could probably have been made to watch it go
down the assembly line. Other manufacturers did the same thing. It might have
been possible to arrange this through a dealer.
Paul W.
-----Original Message-----
From:
sunup@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, 5 Oct
2006 5:52 PM
Subject: Re: IML: 1968 and '69 Changes While Still on the
Line
Paul, do you know if that applied to 1967 as
well?
This thread might have answered a question I've had for
some time re color combinations available from the factory. I have a '67 Crown
Coupe 2 dr and am planning black on black. I've researched '67'
colors but haven't found many variations on their basic colors. I'd
like to add a touch of color such as Dark red or Burgundy pin stripes
with matching fabric for the darts in the black leather seats. I'd
like to know if doing so would be going away from what was available
at the time or could that have been ordered this way? Reading the
thread makes me inclined to think it could have??
Thanks,
Dan Collins
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 4:31
PM
Subject: IML: 1968 and '69 Changes
While Still on the Line
At that time, purchasers could go the factory and watch their cars
being built. They were also given the chance to change something that
they didn't like about the car before taking delivery and driving it
home. If this happened, I do not believe that the original build sheet or
fender tag was changed to correspond with the alteration.
I know of two instances of this, one a '69 New Yorker and the other a
'68 Imperial Crown Convertible. On the New Yorker, it was sent back down the
line to have the interior changed as the purchaser did not like the color.
The other car was repainted from metallic blue green to forest green with
the corresponding interior.
I suspect that rush order from a dealer for a specific color car could
also cause this type of change "midstream".
Strange, but interesting, and a possible explanation for the
discrepency.
Paul W.
-----Original Message-----
From:
fljoslin@xxxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, 5 Oct
2006 3:08 PM
Subject: IML: Thanks for decoding 69 LeBaron
I want to send out a sincere thanks to Chris H for decoding
the fender tag and then the broadcast sheet for my 69 LeBaron. This is
the first time that I have been in this position and it was exciting.
Apparently my 1969 LeBaron 2 door was ordered with a white vinyl roof.
The car is all green and when I purchased it had a green vinyl roof which I
am pretty sure was original. Chris and I discussed what could have happened
for the car to get a green roof possibly installed by the dealer when
new. I am in the process of replacing the roof and was leaning towards a
white roof. Now it will get one. It also looks as if the car was ordered by
the first owner and not by a dealer.
It appears that my car is equiped with the trailer towing package and
all that comprises including a 3.23 rear end, a 50 amp alternator,
additional cooling and heavy duty springs etc.
Does anyone have a feel for how many of these cars were equiped with
the towing package and what exactly the towing package consists of ?
Chris said that he does not have enough information to decode lines 3-5
of the broadcast sheet. Does anyone have this information, or can they point
me where to get it.
Thanks all. Fred Joslin
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