Her History

A Little History From the Fender Tag

Here is the history I have been able to piece together from the build sheet and fender tag.

The car was built on January 16, 1969, at the Hamtramck, Michigan plant. It came from the factory as a real 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with a 440 Magnum V8, rated at 375 horsepower, backed by a heavy-duty A-727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

The fender tag is bolted to the car and lists the factory options it was built with. I broke the codes down from bottom to top, left to right.

Fender Tag Breakdown

E86 440 4-barrel engine

D32 Heavy-duty A-727 TorqueFlite transmission

XS29 X = Charger S = Special price class, R/T 29 = 2-door sports hardtop

L9B L = 440 4-barrel engine 9 = 1969 model year B = Hamtramck, Michigan assembly plant

266231 Serial number

A4 Silver upper body paint

A4 Silver lower body paint

C6R C = Charger price class 6 = Vinyl bucket seats R = Red interior

R6 Red upper door frame color

116 Scheduled production date: January 16

116501 Vehicle order number

Factory Options

A01 Light Package This was a package of separate lighting options, some of which were not available individually. It included:

A small green ignition key lamp with a delay switch Map light Glovebox lamp Trunk lamp Headlamp buzzer

B41 Front disc brakes

B51 Power-assist disc brakes

C16 Console

C55 Bucket seats

G15 Tinted windshield

J25 Three-speed variable windshield wipers

M21 Roof drip rail moldings

M25 Wide sill moldings

M31 Belt moldings

R11 Music Master AM radio

V8R Red transverse stripe

Tracing the Car’s Past

I also spoke with the owner I bought the car from. He told me he had purchased it from a man in the Bay Area.

The pink slip showed that the Bay Area owner bought the car in 1976. After doing some searching online, I found what appeared to be his current address and sent him a letter asking if he knew anything about the car’s history.

A week or so later, I received an email from his wife. She confirmed that they had owned the Charger. According to her, he bought it from a used car dealer in San Jose, California, sometime around 1974 or 1976. Unfortunately, he did not remember the name of the dealership.

So far, that gives me a partial paper trail: built in Hamtramck in January 1969, later sold through a San Jose used car dealer in the mid-1970s, then owned in the Bay Area before eventually making its way to me.