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Various magazines cover documentation from time to time. Options are usually covered and the basics are discussed but they usually fall short in simply stringing all the components together.
For review, the components of the 1962-1968 Mopar documentation puzzle goes as follows: The VIN is the vehicle identification number, which is the legal serial number given to a car. It is found on the door jam from 1962 to 1967, and it was moved to the dash in 1968. Rivets were used to attach it beginning early in the 1966 model year, prior to that they were attached from behind using a welding process. On the non-rivet VIN tag cars, the holes, which appear to be empty rivet holes were used for guide pins in the process of attaching it to the body. You can Decode your VIN here. The broadcast sheet or build sheet is a piece of paper sometimes found under a rear car seat tucked in the springs, or under the carpet. Being of paper, they usually are deteriorated or missing. The Broadcast sheet contains all options and build specifications for the car. The Fender Tag, or body code plate, is a small metal plate attached to the inner fender apron under the hood. The Fender Tag contains a subset of the build options in addition to some other information. We offer a Fender Tag decode service. A Certicard is a piece of stamped plastic or metal that was given to the original purchaser that described the car in basic terms (in some years, paint and trim codes and in later years axle and transmission codes) in addition the VIN, and sometimes the dealer's name and the owner name. Certicards were used begining in 1963 (or 1962?) through 1968. They were delivered with the owner's manual in all years except 1966-1967 when they were delivered in a small plastic holder under the hood.
For 1967 and earlier cars, the fender tag has a "SO NUMBER" that is stamped into the radiator core support, usually on the driver's side, either on top (under a sticker, sometimes,) or facing rear. This stamped number will usually contain the model year and the assembly plant in addition to the "SO NUMBER". This stamped number ties the fender tag to the the body. Unless the core support was replaced in an accident repair, this can help weed out a misplaced fender tag.
If the broadcast sheet is available, it'll have the VIN, the SO NUMBER and build date on it as well and thus ties the VIN to the fender tag.
The certicard has the VIN. For early certicards, the Trim, Body, and Paint codes are present, these match the "TRM BDY PAINT" codes on the fender tag. Early certicards also have the delivery date (either the date it arrived at the dealership or the date the car was sold). These are yet more ways to assert some legitimacy to a car. Later (1966-1968) certicards were metal and contained less information. It was also up to the dealership to complete some of the information so the degree of completeness varies.
We offer a Fender Tag decode service.
Continue reading about mopar documentation in Part II.