Lets Play A Game: Last Of The Convertibles

I saw this nice Teal colored (albeit repainted) 1970 Chrysler Newport convertible in Sweden.

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@JDX was kind enough to look for and post the tag of an FF4 green 300 ‘vert with green buckets and console that he’s parting. The build date is April 8,1970.

For searchability, this 'vert VIN was CM27T0C219904 -- RIP.
 
@marko posted the tag and build sheet of a U-code 300 convertible he has known for a long time but just acquired. This DR8 burgundy / tan buckets & console / white top 'vert is nicely equipped with disc brakes, manual A/C, etc. It was built on December 18, 1969.
 
@marko posted the tag and build sheet of a U-code 300 convertible he has known for a long time but just acquired. This DR8 burgundy / tan buckets & console / white top 'vert is nicely equipped with disc brakes, manual A/C, etc. It was built on December 18, 1969.

thanks for figuring out the build date, it seemed to me that date on my tag was in a different format ie than other tags i was seeing, wasnt sure if that was a canadian market thing.
i saw C18 on the 2nd from the bottom row and wasnt sure if that was the build date, and
then i see on the bottom row it has 181412......
how does that decipher ?
i was looking at my car's warranty card and noticed it was delivered to the buyer on dec. 30 1969.
it has a build date on the tag of dec 18 so does that seems like a pretty quick time between build at jefferson and 2500 mile delivery and delivery prep to customer in vancouver bc or am i wrong about that ?
thats assuming it was built on the scheduled date and not earlier.

tx mark

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thanks for figuring out the build date, it seemed to me that date on my tag was in a different format ie than other tags i was seeing, wasnt sure if that was a canadian market thing.
i saw C18 on the 2nd from the bottom row and wasnt sure if that was the build date, and
then i see on the bottom row it has 181412......
how does that decipher ?
i was looking at my car's warranty card and noticed it was delivered to the buyer on dec. 30 1969.
it has a build date on the tag of dec 18 so does that seems like a pretty quick time between build at jefferson and 2500 mile delivery and delivery prep to customer in vancouver bc or am i wrong about that ?
thats assuming it was built on the scheduled date and not earlier.

tx mark

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Likely the Dealer ran the sale on the 30th of December to make it in for year end bonuses/promotions etc Mark. The car could have actually been delivered to the customer at a later date. A practice that still is rampant to this day BTW....
 
CM27T0C169137 just surfaced in Long Island, NY near Westbury. Attached is her tag. This 300 ragtop was built on November 20, 1969 but seems in excellent shape after a 32-year slumber.

CM27T0C210970 is still listed for sale in Canada. Unfortunately, this other 300 'vert does not seem as well preserved. She may well have have been repainted burgundy (rather than the original FT6 burnt bronze), thought he poor lighting conditions of the photo take make this unclear (to my eyes at least). Credit goes to @71Polara383 for finding the fender tag. I have posted a decoded list of options in the "for sale" thread.

Yet another 300 convertible, CM27T0C115549, has just been relisted at $25k (same as earlier this month) and is currently for sale again on eBay. It has been discussed here. If anyone gets the tag, please post it here!

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What was coded, when it was coded and even where it was coded on the tag changed during the year.

Notice how the V5X code moves between the tags.
 
As @ayilar asked I will post the information I have on 2 70 C body convertibles:

The Hahn and Sons Dodge dealership in Lehighton PA went to a dealer action in Hatfield NJ in late 1970/early 1971 and picked up 5 polara convertibles. 3 F8 green, one blue and one FT3 tan that were from a car rental company at the international airport (now Ronald Reagan) in Washington DC. I have heard some different origin stories about these, but some of them range from they were used as parade cars or kept at the airport as courtesy cars for the government. The dealership sold most of them off but the owner kept 1, an F8 one. My dad worked at the dealership at the time and lusted after this thing and eventually got the owner to sell him the car. However, being that my dad was in college at the time his father (my grandfather) would not cosign the loan. So my dad ended up having the owner of the dealership cosign the loan for him. He would keep this car off campus at a local professor's garage while he was at PSU. He has since passed but our family still has the vehicle today.

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There are plenty of stories I heard while growing up about the adventures of this vehicle. From a new kid at the shop dropping the garage door on the hood of the car, to a kid scratching his name into the fender with a screw driver, driving it down to Texas with the cruise control maxed out at 95 (and was still being passed), to my mother backing it off an embankment by a barn. Since he bought the vehicle he has been adding factory options while he was working at the dealership and from cars he picked apart in junk yards. He ended up adding a 3.23 posi, the split front bench seat with a power drivers side, a tilt steering column with a rim blow steering wheel, the three dashboard speakers, an am 8 track radio, 15" road wheels, cruise control, a 440 4 barrel, and the super-lite. I was told he had all the parts to install the super-lite, I just need to find them.

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The other car I know the wear abouts of is "Ryan's Car". From the story above Ryan's car was the FT3 tan one. His was initially sold but was traded back in around 75/76. About this time a secretary from the Chrysler Zone office wanted to buy a green one like the one my dad had. He didnt sell it. So they painted the FT3 tan one green (which had a white top, green interior and tan exterior). She had it until 80/81 and was traded back in at Hahns. The dealership kept it and used it as a parade/weekend car until Ryan bought it at Hershey in October of 93.

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Since Ryan has had his, he installed the 15" road wheels, cruise control, a tilt-teloscopic column with the rim blow steering wheel.

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I am sure my dad told me what happened to the other Polara's, but I just cant remember. Ryan still has the red/white sticker that was under the dash that we are presuming was from the rental company

If you look at the VIN's these two are only 2 apart while going down the assembly line.

*edit: corrected the number of cars between the 2 polaras mentioned
 
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As @ayilar asked I will post the information I have on 2 70 C body convertibles:

The Hahn and Sons Dodge dealership in Lehighton PA went to a dealer action in Hatfield NJ in late 1970/early 1971 and picked up 5 polara convertibles. 3 F8 green, one blue and one FT3 tan that were from a car rental company at the international airport (now Ronald Reagan) in Washington DC. I have heard some different origin stories about these, but some of them range from they were used as parade cars or kept at the airport as courtesy cars for the government. The dealership sold most of them off but the owner kept 1, an F8 one. My dad worked at the dealership at the time and lusted after this thing and eventually got the owner to sell him the car. However, being that my dad was in college at the time his father (my grandfather) would not cosign the loan. So my dad ended up having the owner of the dealership cosign the loan for him. He would keep this car off campus at a local professor's garage while he was at PSU. He has since passed but our family still has the vehicle today.

View attachment 313693

There are plenty of stories I heard while growing up about the adventures of this vehicle. From a new kid at the shop dropping the garage door on the hood of the car, to a kid scratching his name into the fender with a screw driver, driving it down to Texas with the cruise control maxed out at 95 (and was still being passed), to my mother backing it off an embankment by a barn. Since he bought the vehicle he has been adding factory options while he was working at the dealership and from cars he picked apart in junk yards. He ended up adding a 3.23 posi, the split front bench seat with a power drivers side, a tilt steering column with a rim blow steering wheel, the three dashboard speakers, an am 8 track radio, 15" road wheels, cruise control, a 440 4 barrel, and the super-lite. I was told he had all the parts to install the super-lite, I just need to find them.

View attachment 313694

View attachment 313695


The other car I know the wear abouts of is "Ryan's Car". From the story above Ryan's car was the FT3 tan one. His was initially sold but was traded back in around 75/76. About this time a secretary from the Chrysler Zone office wanted to buy a green one like the one my dad had. He didnt sell it. So they painted the FT3 tan one green (which had a white top, green interior and tan exterior). She had it until 80/81 and was traded back in at Hahns. The dealership kept it and used it as a parade/weekend car until Ryan bought it at Hershey in October of 93.

View attachment 313696

Since Ryan has had his, he installed the 15" road wheels, cruise control, a tilt-teloscopic column with the rim blow steering wheel.

View attachment 313697

I am sure my dad told me what happened to the other Polara's, but I just cant remember. Ryan still has the red/white sticker that was under the dash that we are presuming was from the rental company

If you look at the VIN's these two are only 1 apart while going down the assembly line.


Notice the correlation of the VONs and VINs between the two cars.
 
Fixed it for you :)

Thanks a lot for posting your Polara's fender tag! DL27L0D210381 is one of only two EA4 1970 silver Dodge convertibles I have heard of (@polara71 may chime in). The other is another 383 Polara ragtop, which when Dave saw it in NY years ago had been repainted yellow. I don't know what has happened to the car since.

NB: there is another car that has been posted as being "silver", DL27L0D214769, but AFAIK it was originally EA9 (dark grey poly). After becoming blue at some point in its life, that car has again been painted in the grey/silver range. Based on the VIN (I don't have the tag), that car was almost certainly built on March 6, 1970 (there is less than 1% chance it was built on March 5). Here it is in Helsinki, Finland back in 2016.

DL: Dodge Polara (Low)
27: Convertible

L: 383 290HP 1-2BBL 8 CYL
0: 1970
D: Belvidere, IL, USA

210381: Sequence number

E61: 383 cid 2 barrel V8 290hp
D32: Heavy Duty Automatic Transmission
EA4: Silver Metallic Exterior Color
L2B3: Trim - Low, Vinyl Bench Seat, Blue
EB3: Light Blue Metallic Int. Door Frames
226: Build Date: February 26
T39076: Order number

V3W: White Convertible Top
A01: Light Package
G11: Tinted Glass (all)
H51: Air Conditioning with Heater
L31: Hood/Fender Mounted Turn Signals
M25: Wide sill moldings

M31: Belt Moldings
M85: Front & Rear Bumper Guards
R11: Radio Solid State AM (2 Watts)
V01: Mono Tone Paint Treatment
V5X: Body Side Stripes, Black
Y05: Build to USA Specs

26: 26in Radiator
END: End of Sales Codes

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Thank you for fixing the picture and for the decoding. My eventual thoughts was to paint it the light blue color, kinda looks like silver maybe. I may have to reconsider now.
 
Although we do not have photos of CM27U0C146862 's fender tag, its content was posted by @sauterd here. This rare EA4 U-code 300 'vert was built on October 20, 1969. Pictures of that car are in this other thread.
 
Thank you for fixing the picture and for the decoding. My eventual thoughts was to paint it the light blue color, kinda looks like silver maybe. I may have to reconsider now.
Looks like your car and mine were first cousins. Mine was also a 383 2bbl painted in Platinum. Mine originally had a black top.
 
I need to get a new top, was planing on black, may have to reconsider that now as well. Other than being a purist is there any advantage to keeping as close to origianal?
 
In the end we probably put more into these cars then we will get back, cash wise, so I guess why not make it what you want.
 
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