Having an impossible time decoding

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Matchpik

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So i picked up this 1964 Dart 270 four door with 4 on the floor. Everything appears to be original although, the original exterior color is Aqua so the car has been repainted. The weird thing us that the codes on the tag... well, some appear to go by '65 identification so I'm guessing this was a late '64 that got an odd amalgam of codes. In any case, no matter how many sites I visit, the tag on the fender well doesnt appear to coincide with codes I'm told I should be seeing.

I'm also curious if there is a concrete way of telling which transmission belongs in the car, without the build sheet that is.

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One thing for sure, its a LA built car..
I think the 3 under that A is the 4 speed code.
 
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A LA built car. Good luck. They are sketchy at best.
 
What you need to do is get a copy of the IBM card from Chrysler Historical.
They are free now as they do not decode the any more, but that not a big deal as it is not really to hard to do.
Just a note to others. They are available only for 1967 and older cars.

Is it a 6 or V8?
 
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What you need to do is get a copy of the IBM card from Chrysler Historical.
They are free now as they do not decode the any more, but that not a big deal as it is not to had to do.
Just a note to others. They are available only for 1967 and older cars.

Is it a 6 or V8?
It's a 2 barrel 273 car with a 4 speed.
 
I have 2 64s and for the early As (I think the cutoff is pre 67 but I could be wrong) each plant had unique fender tag mapping to Chrysler sales codes. So, for example, a 3 under the 'A' for the LA plant might be mapped to the 64 engine sales codes but for another plant 'A' might be mapped to the 64 transmission sales codes. I have Galen's book which is helpful a lot of the time (but not always especially for Newark DE plant cars like one of mine). I'm on the road right now and won't get home until tomorrow night but I'll gladly take a look at what it shows for your tag when I get home and send you the details.

Also, it would probably be a mid-year car as I thought I read/heard somewhere that the 273 was released half way through the model year as the first V8 option on the dart.
 
Sounds great! Thank you, very much.
I also have the Galen books he has. Not much decoding info about 64 California car. In 65 they started to standardize the codes and fender tags a bit. You car is very simple so there only 4 option codes to decode. You already know it is a 273-2/4 speed built in California. H is the heater and P are mirrors. The SO on the bottom is the scheduled production date (not the actual date) and the Number is the shipping order number. The rest is paint codes.
 
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In your original post you wrote "... I'm also curious if there is a concrete way of telling which transmission belongs in the car, without the build sheet that is....".
As toolmanmike said it is a 273-2/4 speed car. There a few codes on the fender tag that document this. First for the Dart engine in 64 the 1st digit of the VIN is 7 for Dart 6 cyl and L for Dart 8 cyl. The 2nd digit in the vin of 3 maps to Dart 270, the 3rd digit of 4 is for 64 model year, and the 4th digit of 5 means it was built in the LA plant. Then the fender tag codes map to sales codes based on the LA plant mapping (for 64 each plant used it's own fender tag mapping to sales codes). Any number below the C would be the engine code which would only be used if there was a different engine then the standard. You don't have anything there which makes sense as you have a 273-2 (1st digit of vin) and I believe the 273-4 charger motor was not available until the 65 model year anyway. The 3 below the A maps to sales code 343 which has a description of "Transmission-4 speed A833 manual floor shift". And for 64 Dodge A bodies the body code of L33 on your tag maps to "Dart 270 4 door sedan 273-2". So that should answer the engine/tranny question you had.
Your trim code of H1Q, H is high bench seat, 1 is cloth and vinyl, and Q is turquoise.
Your paint code of JJ1, J is Aqua the first one for roof the second one for body, and the 1 just means mono-tone (body painted in one color vs two-tone).
The 1 below the H maps to sales code 361 which is radio-am music master/economy.
You then have a P of K and an R of 7. This is where the galen book does not help as for LA plant 64 it only lists mapping for the digits below A, C, H, and L. And for all the other plants it does not show a mapping for the P and R.
Anyway, hope this helps. It's nice to see a survivor in such good condition. Those of us living in the rust belt are envious of those that don't and can come across jewels of 55 year old cars with very little to no rust. Extremely rare to come by in this climate. Hope you enjoy her.
 
In your original post you wrote "... I'm also curious if there is a concrete way of telling which transmission belongs in the car, without the build sheet that is....".
As toolmanmike said it is a 273-2/4 speed car. There a few codes on the fender tag that document this. First for the Dart engine in 64 the 1st digit of the VIN is 7 for Dart 6 cyl and L for Dart 8 cyl. The 2nd digit in the vin of 3 maps to Dart 270, the 3rd digit of 4 is for 64 model year, and the 4th digit of 5 means it was built in the LA plant. Then the fender tag codes map to sales codes based on the LA plant mapping (for 64 each plant used it's own fender tag mapping to sales codes). Any number below the C would be the engine code which would only be used if there was a different engine then the standard. You don't have anything there which makes sense as you have a 273-2 (1st digit of vin) and I believe the 273-4 charger motor was not available until the 65 model year anyway. The 3 below the A maps to sales code 343 which has a description of "Transmission-4 speed A833 manual floor shift". And for 64 Dodge A bodies the body code of L33 on your tag maps to "Dart 270 4 door sedan 273-2". So that should answer the engine/tranny question you had.
Your trim code of H1Q, H is high bench seat, 1 is cloth and vinyl, and Q is turquoise.
Your paint code of JJ1, J is Aqua the first one for roof the second one for body, and the 1 just means mono-tone (body painted in one color vs two-tone).
The 1 below the H maps to sales code 361 which is radio-am music master/economy.
You then have a P of K and an R of 7. This is where the galen book does not help as for LA plant 64 it only lists mapping for the digits below A, C, H, and L. And for all the other plants it does not show a mapping for the P and R.
Anyway, hope this helps. It's nice to see a survivor in such good condition. Those of us living in the rust belt are envious of those that don't and can come across jewels of 55 year old cars with very little to no rust. Extremely rare to come by in this climate. Hope you enjoy her.
Thank you, VERY much. The four-door 4-speed seems like an uncommon combination, but suits my preferences perfectly.
Actually, she has minor rust in the bottoms of the quarters. The worst of the rust is in the front and rear glass channels. I dont know if that was common, but on this car it's the most prevalent.

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Thank you, VERY much. The four-door 4-speed seems like an uncommon combination, but suits my preferences perfectly.
Actually, she has minor rust in the bottoms of the quarters. The worst of the rust is in the front and rear glass channels. I dont know if that was common, but on this car it's the most prevalent.

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The book I have shows totals by trim code/year and for L33 (4 door 273-2 dart) it shows 4566 units, but there is no further breakdown for tranny combination and as the Newark plant is not included in the book I always wonder about the accuracy of the total (unless these were totals directly from Chrysler's data).
Yea - looks like the channels and you'll probably want to check out the cowl, but in the snow belt your just hopeful if the frame rails and quarters are even there...
 
but in the snow belt your just hopeful if the frame rails and quarters are even there...

Well, based on that comparison, I feel fantastic about my car! XD But I restore cars for a living, and this is not the sort of rust that is usually, prevalent on the cars I contend with. But it IS still minor in comparison to replacing quarters, floor pans or even entire dashes so I can't comlain much.
 
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