69 340 Swinger Questions

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Mines a LM23P9B. just ordered kind of "chick" ish, with carpet, A46 decor, power disc, auto, G11 tinted glass, J25 wipers, C92 mats, A05 protection group, V88 stripe delete, vinyl top J55 undercoat, L31 turn signals, S78 wheel, M85 bumpers, T74 tires. but i still think its a Swinger 340!
 
Well, you could buy a Swinger with a slant six in 69, or any combo, but the sales brochures showed the differences. "Swinger 340" was definately a package car. The others are "Swingers" with 340's, or slants or 318's...

The Dart option book shows a lot of interesting codes, and option packages. I bought the book off e-bay, and was suprised with what it showed. Some guy told me that my car should not have the basic bench seat with carpet, but with rubber floor mats. The book showed that ALL 4 spds had carpet. Lots of tidbits like that, which I never knew.And Vitamin -C, that car isn't chickish, I wish I had some of those options.A four speed was standard on all "Swinger 340" cars, but an auto or 3 spd was optional.
 
I agree you could have ordered a Swinger with a six or a 318 or a 340, but when you ordered a 340, it was a "Swinger 340". without a 340, it was just a swinger.
Youll be "livin in a van down by the river", When yer "LIVIN IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER"

I couldnt resist8)
 
MtNemoMopar said:
Well, you could buy a Swinger with a slant six in 69, or any combo, but the sales brochures showed the differences. "Swinger 340" was definately a package car. The others are "Swingers" with 340's, or slants or 318's...

The Dart option book shows a lot of interesting codes, and option packages. I bought the book off e-bay, and was suprised with what it showed. Some guy told me that my car should not have the basic bench seat with carpet, but with rubber floor mats. The book showed that ALL 4 spds had carpet. Lots of tidbits like that, which I never knew.And Vitamin -C, that car isn't chickish, I wish I had some of those options.
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I always thought my car came with the carpet it had when I bought but I found out upon recently meeting with the original owner that it came originally with a rubber mats and no carpet. 4-speed car. I also found out that engine colours sometimes were the flavor of the day. If they were spraying turquoise on 383's any 340's that came through the assembly line that day might have been painted that colour rather than retooling. I guess the same could be said for the blue but I've never seen a blue 69 340. They were too busy pushing out product to worry about minor details.
 
I just went through the book again, and yes, I was an idiot. Any Swinger with a 340 had all the package features standard.

According to the book, no rubber mat was made for a standard floorshift car in 69.
 
Had this one since 1980. This is how it still sits. I know, I know, the engine is the wrong color! It's been painted since 1995
 

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You can also tell if its early or late production by the headrests.

Before 1/1/69, the bench seats didn't come with headrests. Cars built after 1/1/69 had them.

I also saw mention about rubber/carpet flooring. 4spd cars came with carpet, while automatics had the rubber floor standard.
 
:dontknow:
69swinger340391 said:
You can also tell if its early or late production by the headrests.

Before 1/1/69, the bench seats didn't come with headrests. Cars built after 1/1/69 had them.

I also saw mention about rubber/carpet flooring. 4spd cars came with carpet, while automatics had the rubber floor standard.
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Well that's not exactly accurate either see my last post. I agree that the specs say black carpet with 4-speed so I dunno.:dontknow: It was a long time ago maybe he forgot.
 
The book says, before 1/1/69 or 1/31/69(not sure) headrests were optional, after were standard.
According to this, there were no molded rubber floor coverings for the "hump" in 1969. Protective , rubber floor mats were available, with .....both carpet and rubber floor coverings....I guess?
 
E55 = 340
D21 = 4 Speed
LM23 = Dart , Medium Price Class , 2-door , 3-hard top
P9E = 340 , 9=1969 , E= Los Angeles ( City of Commerce ) Ca. plant

F5 / F5 = Green Paint

L2X = Base black interior
X9 = interior paint

B30 = Oct 30 (1968) build date , scheduled

R11 = AM radio with 1 speaker

V88 = Stripe delete

Y14 = sales code

I'm surprised that it's lacking a "Y05" , "Y07" or "Y09" sales code :
Y05 = U.S. spec
Y07 = Canada spec
Y09 = Export spec

As a side note : I know where the Los Angeles plant's former location site is , if you're interested . It closed in July 1971 .
 
The original Swinger 340 was introduced in 69 and was available with automatic or 4 speed. It was to the Dart GTS what the Road Runner was to the Plymouth GTX. The Swinger 340 had the hood buldges.

Also introduced in 69 was the Swinger. It was a totally stripped down bottom of the line 2 door hardtop and was usually seen with a slant six, though I believe a 273 and maybe a 318 were available options. The Swinger had a flat hood. Prior to the introduction of the Swinger, the lowest priced 2 door hardtop was the 270 series in 68 (equivalent to the Custom series in 69), and if you wanted the no frills bottom of the line two door your only choice was the 2 door post sedan.
 
for a short time i had a 67 dart 270, charger 273, 904 auto, white with a black vinyl top, black bench, manual drums, 13'' rubber, small rear axle(7 1/4 maybe?) carpet. nice car, still around, sold it to a buddy. now is orange with a magnum, 3.91 8 3/4
 
LH23H2R said:
E55 = 340
D21 = 4 Speed
LM23 = Dart , Medium Price Class , 2-door , 3-hard top
P9E = 340 , 9=1969 , E= Los Angeles ( City of Commerce ) Ca. plant

F5 / F5 = Green Paint

L2X = Base black interior
X9 = interior paint

B30 = Oct 30 (1968) build date , scheduled

R11 = AM radio with 1 speaker

V88 = Stripe delete

Y14 = sales code

I'm surprised that it's lacking a "Y05" , "Y07" or "Y09" sales code :
Y05 = U.S. spec
Y07 = Canada spec
Y09 = Export spec

As a side note : I know where the Los Angeles plant's former location site is , if you're interested . It closed in July 1971 .
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Thanks man! I appreciate you spending the time to decode my tag. What does it mean when they don't put the sales code in the tag? It definitely doesn't have many options at all does it lol.
 
The only colour I have seen on a 69 340 is the blue/torquoise. Lots of guys say orange is correct too(but I think they just want to paint theirs orange) but I haven't seen one before 1970. 68 340's are red.
 
BadAss71 said:
Thanks man! I appreciate you spending the time to decode my tag. What does it mean when they don't put the sales code in the tag? It definitely doesn't have many options at all does it lol.
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i think Y14 = "sold car" as opposed to special order or sales bank car.
 
1968 = Chrysler Engine Red
1969 = Chrysler Engine Blue
1970-1971 = Chrysler Engine Orange
1972-1973 = Chrysler Engine Blue

If you want to see a largely-original 1969 Swinger 340 , look at the Mopar Action site . Their latest issue has the complete story on this B7 beauty ( with white-painted roof ! )
 
I dont know about ALL 1969 340 4 speed Swingers ... BUT i can tell you this ... My Swinger has a Saddle color interior and it had and Original Black color carpet ... before i decided to replace it with new ... and changed the color of the carpet to saddle also... Black looked out of place....
 
Engines were turquoise. Could not get the car from factory without baffled good but you could force the stripe delete. Dad's was like that. His was very early 340 Swinger. Red with turquoise engine. Automatic, power steering, power drum brakes. 3.55 positrac with light group;deluxe hubcaps and whitewalls. From what I can tell and know and remember, all 340 in 69 were turquoise engines, blue was later years, red was 318s and others engines earlier.
 
Actually it has been out of the car b/c it has been rebuilt. Not sure but it is red and it is the original 340 but in a GTS not a swinger.

422: Build Date: April 22
 
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