69 Dart rear side marker bezels are different

Hi there, Did a search for this and plenty of info on the 1969 Dart side markers but none about my dilemma. See the pictures of the two different bezel shapes for the REAR side markers on a 69 Dart. Now, I am in Australia and our 70 and 71 Valiant Hardtops are basically the same bodies as your 69 Darts (from the windscreen back). During 1968-69 Chrysler Australia imported thousands of 69 Dart shells along with tens of thousands of parts for them. The rear side marker bezels shown are both from our Hardtops. But they are different part numbers and different shapes. They both fit into the fender ok but one style is flat / symmetrical, while the other is angled.

Does anyone know why or has seen this in the USA? Also, which of these is most common on your cars? Now I am going to try and find some closeup pictures of ours and yours to see if I can see what is installed or what is most common etc.

Thanks

The rear is different because of the trunk extensions. There is not enough room for the nuts on the back side, like the front. The back the mounting screws are installed from the front into some clips.

70Hardtop said:

Hi there, Did a search for this and plenty of info on the 1969 Dart side markers but none about my dilemma. See the pictures of the two different bezel shapes for the REAR side markers on a 69 Dart. Now, I am in Australia and our 70 and 71 Valiant Hardtops are basically the same bodies as your 69 Darts (from the windscreen back). During 1968-69 Chrysler Australia imported thousands of 69 Dart shells along with tens of thousands of parts for them. The rear side marker bezels shown are both from our Hardtops. But they are different part numbers and different shapes. They both fit into the fender ok but one style is flat / symmetrical, while the other is angled.

Does anyone know why or has seen this in the USA? Also, which of these is most common on your cars? Now I am going to try and find some closeup pictures of ours and yours to see if I can see what is installed or what is most common etc.

Thanks

View attachment 1715219983

View attachment 1715219984

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My 69 Barracuda had 3 angled ones and 1 flat housing from the factory. My body and paint guy pointed it out. Bought another angled one and switched it out.

Steven190 said:

The rear is different because of the trunk extensions. There is not enough room for the nuts on the back side, like the front. The back the mounting screws are installed from the front into some clips.

Click to expand...

These are both from the REAR, as I described. Not talking about front. Thanks.

67dodgedartconv said:

My 69 Barracuda had 3 angled ones and 1 flat housing from the factory. My body and paint guy pointed it out. Bought another angled one and switched it out.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your experience. That's interesting. Hopefully other people can let me know of theirs as well. If it was a case of two different manufacturers, as quite often happens, it is such a different design change, there must have been a reason for the differences. We only got that one model here, but who knows what Chrysler Australia did when importing all the parts, including these die-cast parts? There may have been a mix of parts and they just installed what they were given. As long as they were the same on both sides. Just guessing though.

I think I can add a little piece to this puzzle, I'm going to say the bezels that Chrysler Australia used are from a station wagon. The replacement bezels listed for 69 Dodge Darts by Classic industries are described as
MD2060 - 1969 Mopar A & B-Body (Except Wagon) Front/Rear Side Marker Bezels
If you dig around the part number fitted to the Australian hardtop 2930766, often shows up with wood vinyl attached.

Iceworkz said:

I think I can add a little piece to this puzzle, I'm going to say the bezels that Chrysler Australia used are from a station wagon. The replacement bezels listed for 69 Dodge Darts by Classic industries are described as
MD2060 - 1969 Mopar A & B-Body (Except Wagon) Front/Rear Side Marker Bezels
If you dig around the part number fitted to the Australian hardtop 2930766, often shows up with wood vinyl attached.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input - interesting. That may well be the case, the 69 Dart had the same bezel front and rear I think, just different coloured lenses (orange front, red at rear). This link has a nice GTS 1969 which shows that:
1969 Dodge Dart GTS

But it's not really addressing the main question which was the difference in the shape of the bezels as shown in the OP. The angled deeper ones are neater, as they allow for the inward curve of the lower quarter and allow the lense to face more or less parallel, whereas the shallow one will cause the lense to face slightly downwards at the angle of the quarter panel. It's no huge deal, I was just interested to see if the USA guys noticed this as well - and by the post above with the 69 Barracuda, it seems they also had both bezel shapes (and maybe mixed them up as well).

If we could go back to the production line in 1968-69 and talk to the workers/supervisors, I'm sure there would be a perfectly valid reason!

I assume the angled bezel has a different part number on the back if so can you provide it please ? I'll do some more digging.