Re: [FWDLK] L-FORWARDLOOK Digest - 12 Jan 2006 to 13 Jan 2006 (#2006-14)
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Re: [FWDLK] L-FORWARDLOOK Digest - 12 Jan 2006 to 13 Jan 2006 (#2006-14)



 
WHAT COULD BE ORDERED  AND WHAT COULDN'T BE ORDERED ON MOPARS???? HARD COLD FACTS
 
 
       When I got into collecting and drag racing Plymouth Fury's in 1957 the High Performance Era was just beginning. When you ordered a new Chrysler Product there was a list of option and almost no one asked for something that was not on the list. ( times were different then, 98% of the buyers went by the rules.)
        However, if you were knowledgeable and up to date on what options were in the planning stages and determined and told the dealer you would buy a GM or Ford product if you did not get that special interior, special color, special engine, etc, etc, and if the dealer was a big dealer that sold a lot of cars and had a lot of pull with the company -------------then you got it even though it was not available. Now here is the thing that throws people off---------it was not documented most of the time and there were no window stickers and the dealer invoice did not show it in the place it should be shown. Instead there was sometimes a little asterisk with a foot note saying something like " not offered option" and sometimes there was nothing mentioned but you got what you wanted. Remember, back then buyers were special, not just numbers like they are today to a dealer. Naturally this was not something that everybody talked about  and it surely was not advertised that you could get things not offered as an option.
         Chrysler really bent the rules for buyers that were in law enforcement, especially in the Dodge Division. They loved giving a special set up to a law enforcement agency with a agreement that the agency would give them a report on how it was working and any problems that might experienced. ( it was like having someone pay you to test your equipment for you. (Example--CHP--California Highway Patrol and Dodge Division) Chrysler did not have the extra money back then and that was the main reason why they made so many interchangeable parts which really kept the price of manufacturing down.
          So if you are a Mopar guy that only believes what he has read or seen or heard ---- please don't be a "know it all." The fact that you did not know it or did not ever hear about it is just that. It does not mean that the world and the things that have happened in the past will conform to your limited knowledge. If for any reason you doubt what I am saying then find an old Mopar new car salesman that worked at a fairly big dealership and ask him if they ever got something in their dealership that was out of the ordinary things that could not be ordered? Then watch his old face as he starts to laugh and starts to tell you a few treasured true stories of things you will find very interesting.
          Back then, in 1961 I talked to an assembly line worker who told me the assembly line supervisor could put almost anything together for himself or someone in a upper position within the company. However, he said, "most of it was not documented because documenting it might get you a reprimand." Nonbelievers think,---- humans are human and no one was policing what we are talking about. The final inspector worked for the line supervisor and  lots of times they were good buddies. So when you hear of something you never heard before and find it hard to believe just think of the Canadian cars and all the different parts and part numbers and how different they were and say " Well, to the best of my knowledge I never heard of that type of thing".
       Last but not least, (hypothetical situation) can you picture a employee telling an upper management big shot that he can't have the 1957 Hemi 354 inch engine in his late-in-the-year produced brand new personal  1956 Dodge 500 because it is not going to be released for a few months for the 1957 models as a special option, or because it might confuse  some guy 50 years from now when he is doing research on that type of car? That would be like you telling your bosses boss how to run the company. You don't do it now and you definitely did not even think of it back then. This is not how it is today--------this is how it was back then. Believe it or not. In December of 2006 I will be celebrating my 50th year of collecting Chrysler Products-----what more can I say.!!!
 
                                                                        
                                                                                                 Brutal Realist,
 
                                                                                               Ron Allyn Swartley
 
PS. Did any of you know the New Jersey Highway Patrol  in 1957 & 1958 used Chrysler 300 C's and D's as police patrol cars on their 4 lane expressways only. They were for high speed pursuit and if you were smart you did not try to out run them. 

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