1966 Fender tag decoding

ynst said:

No, it was the 8,855th car off the line that year. All Chrysler plants started the yearly numbering system with 100001. Ignore the leading "1" to get the correct number of vehicles each year.

.......and special ordered cars usually had option 691Expedite at the bottom of the Monroney label. That meant get it here yesterday instead of the normal 4 to 6 weeks for a normal sit-down-and-order-it car. That's how I got mine in just over 2 weeks when I ordered it.

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No...VINs are unrelated to production meaning it is not possible to know in what order a car came off the line. We know this concept too be true by the MDH stickers not matching with SPDs by days or weeks. (see below)

It is not logical nor efficient to build cars in order. VINs are nothing more than assigning a number to a car; they are not related to production. One would not hold up a production line simply because one car was waiting on a low volume paint to arrive at the factory.

Special Ordered is often confused with Ordered. It was far more common to sit down and check off boxes on an order sheet than it is today. Ordered simply means someone sat down the the order sheet and ordered the car. Expedite means the car takes precedence over a sales bank car as it's an Ordered car.

Special Ordered means something outside normal production:
"I want a color not normally available for this car."
"This is how we need 100 state patrol cars equipped."
"Our fleet cars need to be painted in our corporate colors."

Production time for any one vehicle is contingent on many factors not necessarily whether the car is Ordered or not.

So just a comment/question-

The SPD on my 73 is 307 (March 7) the door sticker says 3/01 and the broadcast sheet has a date stamp of 2/28.

Does that all make sense?

Was it completed a week early, and actually under construction on Feb 28, or was that just the date the broadcast sheet was printed?

YY1 said:

So just a comment/question-

The SPD on my 73 is 307 (March 7) the door sticker says 3/01 and the broadcast sheet has a date stamp of 2/28.

Does that all make sense?

Was it completed a week early, and actually under construction on Feb 28, or was that just the date the broadcast sheet was printed?

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Yes, that makes sense and is not unusual.
The SPD is a scheduled (projected) date and not always the actual 'build date'. Cars are built before and after the SPD.
Yes, depending on the plant, the Broadcast sheet contains a date on which it was printed. It's usually printed at the start of production so it can precede other dated items.

69Coronetrt said:

No...VINs are unrelated to production meaning it is not possible to know in what order a car came off the line. We know this concept too be true by the MDH stickers not matching with SPDs by days or weeks. (see below)

It is not logical nor efficient to build cars in order. VINs are nothing more than assigning a number to a car; they are not related to production. One would not hold up a production line simply because one car was waiting on a low volume paint to arrive at the factory.

Special Ordered is often confused with Ordered. It was far more common to sit down and check off boxes on an order sheet than it is today. Ordered simply means someone sat down the the order sheet and ordered the car. Expedite means the car takes precedence over a sales bank car as it's an Ordered car.

Special Ordered means something outside normal production:
"I want a color not normally available for this car."
"This is how we need 100 state patrol cars equipped."
"Our fleet cars need to be painted in our corporate colors."

Production time for any one vehicle is contingent on many factors not necessarily whether the car is Ordered or not.

View attachment 1164120

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691 is the code for a dealer executive order. The description says Expedite. Turnaround (in 1968) for this type of order was a 2 week delivery.
Normal orders took 4 to 6 weeks at the time.

69Coronetrt said:

I would be cautious about the 9 meaning disc brakes and no, that doesn't necessarily mean the 8 is drum brakes. As I said before, the use of the 9 and 8 are not common. If 8= drum, you'd see it on far more tags. Coding quirks exist that are not caught by online decoders.

The A is a standard inspection stamp at the St. Louis plant. Someone did their job, inspected something and punched the tag.

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a "6" under the "d" is drum brakes

Disc brake cars came with 10 inch rear drums and drum brake cars came with 11 inch rear drums.

Car delivered in 2 weeks and it wasn't even built when I ordered it.

R/T Boy 67 said:

Does your car have 11" drum brakes? If it does that could be it.

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My notes say, D9 on the tag relates to code 479: Front Disc Brakes. I would therefore estimate D8 = code 478: HD Drum Brakes.

FastbackJon said:

My notes say, D9 on the tag relates to code 479: Front Disc Brakes. I would therefore estimate D8 = code 478: HD Drum Brakes.

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What are your thoughts on posts 30 and 32?

The broadcast sheet on my '66 Coronet 500 shows 902 as the date, and 901 on the fender tag.