Nice!

(1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 050623.JPG)

(1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 2 050623.JPG)

(1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 3 050623.JPG)

1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 050623.JPG (55KB - 121 downloads)

1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 2 050623.JPG (39KB - 118 downloads)

1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 3 050623.JPG (33KB - 119 downloads)

It's the cowl tag just to the inside of the passenger side hood spring.  Posting images here can be a challenge. You can email them to me and I can post them here if you want.  Just click on my user name and you will see my email address.

Thank you, Nathan and Frank:

Lettuce decode! I'm not very good at this anymore

Starting from bottom left:

A = almost ubiquitous - unknown

0619 = Built June 19, 1958 (on or around)

17006 = schedule number, order of build

3 = Dodge

3 = Coronet

2 = Lancer coupe

4BBA? = Wedgewood Blue and Black?  I don't think I'm reading that right!

145 TRM code = new one on me!

OPTIONS:

3 in the first position = Torqueflite 3 speed automatic transmission

5 in the secont position = heater / defroster

3 in the 18th position = real spring special from the factory

5 in the 20th postion = solex windshield

1 in the 22nd position = undercoating

I can't read the 27th (last) position number.   3 = customer pickup, 5 = truck delivery, 6 = truck and drive, 7 = dealer's own truck.

Never seen numbers up there!  I'm not sure I'm seeing one on this tag either?  Maybe something is there?  That would be a first for me.

Frank, another interesting thing with your car.  It is coded as a Spring Special from the factory, which is great.  It seems to be missing a few components though - the fin end caps and the license plate escutcheon.  Also, the center grill medallion appears to be upside down.  We have all learned with Mother MoPar - never say never!  It could be it came from the factory without those pieces?  Seems unlikely though...

(Spring Special Brochure.jpg)

Spring Special Brochure.jpg (134KB - 138 downloads)

Maybe the PNT code is 4 RRA!  Saddle two-tone, Poppy Red roof, Poppy Red lower, and Black fins and deck.  That would be a sharp car in a spring special color!

Hi, Frank (not J.F.) :

The fin end caps are funky doo-dads on top of the tail light but under the fin - somewhat predictive of the 1959 Dodge fin (see image below of my own car - NOT a coded spring special, but one I built because I kind of like those flashy doo-dads).

Nathan:

I thought the cars coded with a 3 in the 18th position would get all the doo-dads and most likely have the saddle scheme, unless they were monotones.  But as J.F. Frank notes, not all Dodges built after a certain date were springies, just the special ones coded so.  Still, not all true spring specials had the spring paint colors!  With sales slumping, Dodge sent out all the spring doo-dads to dealers to help move cars that had been sitting on lots all winter.  The dealers would gussie up the cars with bits and pieces of what they felt like installing, resulting in the the bewildering variety of trim, paint scheme, and colors of basically original 1958 Dodge cars.  I don't know these things though.  I'm basing all this off of Jeffrey I. Godshall's article in Collectible Automobile August 1993 Vol. 10, No. 2.  He's a fella who probably knows. 

Still, I believe you about seeing coded spring specials without all the trim, as Frank's car illustrates.  

(04 reduced.jpg)

04 reduced.jpg (190KB - 141 downloads)

one thing's for shizzle: in today's America, ain't NO WAY a big company like Chrysler would let things get outta hand the way they did with the 1958 Dodge trim!

Frank is there really a number on that top row???

Nice work Nathan and Frank!  Definitely a squiggle up there though! 

That would have been totally new to me to see a number in the top row!  The color combo of poppy and black would be really cool and explains why we are seeing the black original color of the data plate.  TRM code 145 must be the spring poppy and black interior, which is very unusual too.

My guess is that the difference between 144 and 145 is the shade of red.  145 should be a more pastel tone.  Here are some images Frank sent of his interior.

(1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 4 050623 reduced.jpg)

(1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 5 050623 reduced.jpg)

1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 4 050623 reduced.jpg (202KB - 109 downloads)

1958 Coronet Lancer coupe 5 050623 reduced.jpg (105KB - 105 downloads)