fender tags

[cuda65vpt]

Were the fender tags painted the same color as the car? I see cars all the time advertised as original paint but the fender tag is the same color as the rest of the car. I have a 64 Valiant and a 66 Barracuda and the fender tags are aluminum?, but definitely not painted.

 

[68 Sedan]

There are several trains of thought on the painted/unpainted tag issue. Best anyone can tell (from research on the A-12 cars anyway) cars with vinyl tops didn't have painted tags, while cars without vinyl tops had painted tags.

Why, you ask? Simple. There is a theory (and some evidence to back this up) the fender tags were hung from a piece of wire in the area of the inside rear view mirror. And since cars with vinyl tops didn't get their roofs painted, there was nothing but a bit of overspray on the tags.

Remember, this is relating to cars built in the Lynch Road plant. I've seen other cars that had NO paint under the fender tags, which means they were on the inner fender when the car was painted. These were B body cars.

And once again, since I'm playing catch up on A bodies, I really can't say about the tags. But IF some early ones had ALUMINUM tags (which you never see on a B or E body car) then they may well have been painted, but the paint didn't stick like it would on steel.

 

[Useless]

I've owned nearly 20 mopars over the years, from '63 to '79 and every one has had a painted fender tag except my '69 Coronet, Vinyl Top, Lynch Road car.

I've got the fender tag from my '63 Valiant right here, painted red on the top side, looks like the bottom side was left laying in wet primer (or something really dark grey), it's just sorta swirled around on there. My car was also painted under the tag. The tag is steel and my car is an early '63, best I can tell.

 

[3404speed]

some tags were on the inner fender when painted, with one screw in, and bent up. so the one screw would be painted, the other natural colored. not sure which factory did this.

 

[Bill McLeese]

when i worked at chryslers back in the sixtys in the spray booth the cars coming in had the fender tags on them so when we painted the cars the tags got painted to

 

[RedFish]

some tags were on the inner fender when painted, with one screw in, and bent up. so the one screw would be painted, the other natural colored. not sure which factory did this.

That might explain something that has always puzzled me. My inner fender has lines in the paint where the fender tag was laying in one position(crocked) during paint then the tag was rotated to a more parrelell position before the last screw was put in. At first glance one would think something was doctored.

 

[yellowdartdave]

Just another way of the Mother Mopar Mystique...............

Never say Never and Never say Always!

 

[Alaskan_TA]

Original fender tags are steel. If you have an aluminum one, somebody made a fake tag for the car at some point. Test it with a magnet to be sure.

The fender tags on most cars were attached before the primer dip process, so that is where the primer "swirls" on the back side came from.

Lynch Road cars often had fender tags with little or no paint.