Re: [FWDLK] I need your help on 55-62 cars

[Bill Watson <wwatson@xxxxxxxxx>]

Those letters for years (K - 1957, L - 1958, etc.) were used by the
engineering department first, I believe,

I do not know which year "A" was before 1957 (it was used again in 1965),
but here are the years I do know :

F - 1953
G - 1954
H - 1955
J - 1956
K - 1957
L - 1958
M - 1959
P - 1960 (except Valiant)
Q - 1960 (Valiant only)
R - 1961
S - 1962
T - 1963
V - 1964

Chrysler used the same model numbers for 1951 and 1952 cars, and also for
their post-war 1946-48 models, so I suspect 1942 was "A".  And if you go
back using the letters used above (except Q) "A" would have been 1924-25,
the first year for Chrysler Corporation.  I put 1924 and 1925 together as
only the Chrysler Model B was sold in both years.

The letters L and M did appear on the vehicles VIN for those two years, 1958
and 1959, as well.    And starting in 1957 the letters were used to denote
the model year in engine and transmission numbers.

The letters from 1965 were :
A - 1965
B - 1966
C - 1967
D - 1968
E - 1969
F - 1970
G - 1971
H - 1972
J - 1973
K - 1974
L - 1975
M - 1976
P - 1977
R - 1978
S - 1979
T - 1980
V - 1981

By the way, these letters were also used in the VIN to identify the year on
cars built by Chrysler UK, Chrysler Australia and Chrysler France in the
1960's and early 1970's.   So they had corporate-wide use and meaning from
the mid-1960's.

Bill
Vancouver, BC


----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Graefen" <wgraefen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 5:17 AM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] I need your help on 55-62 cars


>     Because there were no truly different chassis types other than
> some wheelbase variations all of full size cars, the body type
> designations of B, C, E, etc. were not used prior to 1960.  Each
> year had only a letter designation for all MoPar cars built in that
> year.   Thus, for example, the 1957 model year for Imperial,
> Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth were all "K" models (not to be
> confused with "K-cars" of later years!).
>     Now '57 is my year of specialty but from assorted paperwork, I
> have, I do know for certain that 1958 were all "L" models and I
> think I have support paperwork indicating 1956 were in fact "J"
> models.  The progression here is obvious.
>     I do not know if the '55 model year was called "I" because of
> its confusion with the letter 1 (one).  I am relatively certain that
> the '59 model year were all "M" models.
>     So how or when was this model designation used?  I think if you
> were a parts counter man in this era, you may have been aware of
> factory parts sheets that occassionally would reference the model
> year, such a a page I have for "K Series Exhaust Parts for Sports
> Cars" which charts pipes and mufflers for Furys, D-500s, Adventurers
> and 300s.  Or if you worked in corporate offices or someplace like
> the carburetion lab, you would see plans for the L series year or
> similar.  It was not a popular designation that a salesman or
> mechanic would even be aware of.
>     I'm sure I could be enlightened further on this subject myself.
>
> Wayne Graefen
> 1957 300C Model Year Consultant to the Chrysler 300 Club Intl
>
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