Anyone own a early 76 F?

XfbodyX

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As a RR made in late 75.

Ive two of the shit boxes, if you are a fellow shit box owner (and if you do, you know why im saying shit box) speak up, even though we might just be doubly stupid.

If you dont know a early F RR its easy, 5 piece thin front trim that looks like JC Whitney made it and the blacked out (no plymouth) in the grill.

Try finding the nos trim or grill! I did. Pic is from motor trend.

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Aspen500

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You know I don't own one but, what is the difference between and early and late '76? I ask out of curiosity.
 

Oldiron440

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Mine was built in December of 75 but it's no more of a shit box than anything else Chrysler built in the 70s or 80s.
 

XfbodyX

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Im talking about 11/12/75 and back the end of the 10th month brought alot of good improvements.

I will post some of them today but there are many features specific to most the 76-s.

Dang old iron, were all driving shit boxes, I like the way you think.
 
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Oldiron440

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Shit box isn't my term, I actually had a few as drivers back in the day and liked them.
 

XfbodyX

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I enjoyed my 5th ave and Doba and actually liked my Doba better then our Caddy at the time. Id like another first year Cordoba.
 

Ele115

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My 76 Charger and the one I had previously are really at the top of the list for good riding cars
 

XfbodyX

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There are alot of things, I should post some. But for being a production car and not a specialty car like the kit car or super coupe there was a short few month time period that makes them more detailed and unique then the following F-s.
 

BudW

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Quite some time back, after I foolishly sold my rusted out ’68 Charger (after an interior fire (arson)), 20+ years ago. I went back to find a replacement B-body, err an affordable B-body. What I thought would fit the bill was the ’66-67 Charger (one of the lesser expensive B-bodies at the time).
I was a member of a popular forum site dedicated to those cars, and someone took the time to document all the changes made to just that body car, in the 18 months the car was built (Jan ‘66 to July ’67). Not counting the various options available (unless the options also had mid-year changes), this person documented over 400 different part changes, and in some cases multiple changes to a single part. That is a lot of part changes for a vehicle they only made about a total of 53k units (both years combined - depending on who you ask).

It doesn’t surprise me the same applies here as well.
I do know of some of the changes between the ‘76/77 and ‘78/79 – but I’m sure there are a lot more I don’t know about. I consider myself to be a Chrysler product expert – but not necessarily an F-body expert, for there are a lot of things I have still to learn. I worked on all Chryslers made late ‘60’s to early ‘90’s while working at a dealership.

My current ’77 Volary wagon is the first F-body I’ve owned and my current ’86 Fifth Ave is the first M-body I’ve owned. My car history is at: First time entering into a Car Show
BudW
 

Aspen500

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Other manufactures do the same thing, change stuff at random points I mean. When I was a Ford dealer tech, I remember quite often the parts guy would ask "Before or after a certain build date" or even (for example) "was it built on or before 09.12.98, after 09.12.98 but before 12.16.98 or after 12.16.98" My favorite was the 1984 F-150. There were 3 different ones. They had a 1994, then a 1994 1/4 followed a couple months later by a 1994 1/2 and many parts would not interchange between the three even though all 3 versions looked the same. Can't forget the 1985 Escort and 1985 1/2 Escort,,,,totally different cars but the same year designation. Aaaaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh! Then people wonder why auto techs are a bit strange, lol. We don't start out that way, we become that way over the years.:eek:
 

XfbodyX

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I understand what your saying A500 but I really feel the early F-s, the first few months were more then that since they were rushed and they really learned as they went along. So many of the preproduction vids and slide shows, show parts we never seen in a production car, some very extreme differences. And the combos they introduced "seem" to of been a bit more varied then in later production. I could think they wanted to get a few of everything out there for the public to see. But its all subjective.

I will post this cool deal I just got done and got the last part for this week from a member here. When I posted on speedo-s I posted a early 76 200 unit, and I think I mentioned this one in the pics. I dont think canadian F were looked at as export cars as much as cars that went world wide, this speedo head with the chrysler logo is only the 2nd one Ive ever seen, this one and one ive a pic of in a car. But of all places it came from Iran? WTF are F body part doing in Iran? My mail man gave me a crossed look when he handed me this box that had, had chicken patties in it and all was writtin in arbic?

But so the cluster is done, nos housing, nos guages, nos export 200 speedo head and nos lens and with the last part, not pictured is the 76 nos printed circuit board.

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Rattle Trap

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Things were very special in the first half of 76 M.Y. They had high hopes of the F-body being their salvation. The number of options and trim items that were dropped by Feb '76 as they came to reality of their poor preparation for launch is actually pretty amazing. And the Superpak didn't even come along through their partnership with Motortown until March! So we lost so much but did get one cool thing in return. One thing I have never seen is a pewter seat insert in a black interior. They say it was made until February, but I owned several early 76's over 30 years ago when they were on their last legs already and not one of them had it. Plain black and that was that. November, December, didn't matter. I didn't even realize it was a thing until the internet and then finally buying trim books as my interests in documentation grew larger than what I'd already known. I have notebooks of observations somewhere, as I assumed nobody was keeping track. Turns out I was mostly right. I should figure out what I did with those some time. As I recall, they have some notations of things that all "official" and otherwise sources say weren't true, but hey... I was just writing down what I saw at the time. Never say never with a Mopar. Another interesting interior thing about 76's was the ugly steering wheel. You'd think the R/T and RR would get the Tuff wheel, but not so. Today it's hard to tell because so much has been changed, but back then they were as they were delivered. And that was typically with the solid rubber center horn pad on the early cars, and with the woodgrain boomerang wheel on the later ones. I've never personally seen a Tuff wheel on a 76 built before June that I could reasonably say was original to the car. But that is neither to say that I haven't owned another car built within days of that one which had a boomerang. My local counter guy told me the wheel was optional. But I've never trusted that guy after catching him in other lies, like that the front spoiler was an option above A66. Bastard was selling them back into the system rather than having the shop guys install them on new cars off the transporter. It was for the best on our rust belt roads, but he lied about it just the same. I owned nearly two dozen Superpaks before even finding one with holes in the fenders and scars on the core support indicating it had ever once had a front spoiler installed. But then he and every other parts guy at every dealership across the Midwest were scamming the company on the fender recall too, so why would I expect truth?
 

XfbodyX

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Here are your seats on a early F. Ive a couple early runners with them, but they just may end up being parts cars.

Thats also the plain 75 like radio face plate im needing.

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76B5

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That is by far the best looking speedo, very cool.
 

Rattle Trap

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Got a better pic of the radio faceplate? That's a weirdo for sure. The early ones are supposed to have the lettering all above the controls. That looks more like some transition piece. Single speaker car? Personally I'd just put a single speaker dash plate in the drill press and drill the outers, and either router the package tray or add the metal grilles from a dealer installed four speaker system in the back and hide the real radio in the glove box, while that piece of crap remained in the dash.
 

Aspen500

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............or you could muddle on with the stock AM/FM 4 speaker system with it's booming 4 watts per channel, like me, lol!
 

XfbodyX

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Here is they plain type Im looking for, even if just the faceplate as ive a good working am.

Funny or not so funny is I never listen to the radio, even fm here is one of two stations that come in.

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XfbodyX

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Here is another lil tidbit, this pic is from the 76 sales brochure and shows alot of pre production features and these can also be seen in the 76 introduction vid in greater detail.

But first the pic.
Notice the A body knobs on the radio and headlight switch as well as the wiper switch.
Notice the white backed Temp and Fuel gauges.
Notice right behind the gear selector arm is the oddly placed "Unleaded Fuel Only" tab.

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Id watch this whole vid, but in this vid below goto 7:10 and even if needed slow it down as it pans across the dash, its cool as hell to see the actual pre-production parts in use.

If you look at 5:10 you will see a B5 Runner and a cool slow motion shot of the bird on the fender dog leg vs the door as in production. Its also the B5 Canopy top used in the press release pics. Even with the white wall tires.



If your into the Aspens there is a vid that shows the front hood center being different them production, more boring and plain then what it ended up being.
 

XfbodyX

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Here is a cool deal not often seen, early export speedo to a third world country.

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