fender tag help please

Does it have stripes or not? I think the "8" on the the V68 and the V88 is for delete. So it shouldn't have stripes. The CO9 is Thurs. Dec. 9, 1971. They couldn't use 10, 11, or 12 so they used A,B,C, to keep it a three space code. Can't wait to see pics. Ray