I want to be very specific on this question, since all the previous posts I have seen have on this question had the tendency to steer to a more general answer.

For 1969 Hamtramck cars, were the fender tags painted, just oversprayed, bent at the corner..how were they handled? What did they end up looking like with regard to finish.

What about 1970? For ‘70, by Challenger also has a punched tin strip inspection tag. Is this painted or natural?

Hamtramck only, ‘69 then ‘70.

The David Wise books are contradictory. I know Lynch road was different and a light overspray, at least for the 69 1/2 cars that I had.

I want to make sure my cars are right, but also want to be able to argue with the people that come up to tell me something different every time.

I haven't seen Wise's book so can't comment on what he states. The paint on the tags seems consistent with the degree and thickness of the paint on the rest of the inner fender. The tag was held on by one screw until sometime later in the assembly process, therefore only one screw is painted. Maybe the tags were rotated by several different assembly line workers as the car moved down the line, and they looked at it from different angles depending on what their job was, so that would be why the tag was only held on by one screw?
And some tags seem to show evidence of a slight bend by the corner near the painted screw, it might have varied depending on how the worker looked at the tag. Some workers might have been rougher in their handling or twisted it up to view a code better, and others didn't?
As far as the inspection tags, they weren't on every car. I'm not sure if they were even on most cars. Maybe someone has studied that, but unless you are restoring a car that has an inspection tag, there is no reason to add one.

I always thought the tags were held on with 1 screw and bent up so that the underside(tag and inner fender) would get some paint on it. If there wasn't any primer/paint under the tag, it would start rusting immediately.

So what I am gathering so far…69 or 70, Hamtramck built, tag has full thickness of body paint on the tag and was held on during the process by one screw with the second added later and kept bare? Tag was probably bent upward. Is this right?

To me, on the inspection tag, it would seem to related to when it was added in the process. Early it would be painted, later it probably would not. Thoughts?

I was under the impression that Hammtrack car's fender tags were hung from the driver's side sunvisor mounting screw hole. This is why they were never painted but occasionally had overspray on them from time to time. Has anyone else read/heard this? I'd post my fender tag but I'm off on a business trip for the next few weeks.

I was under the impression that Hammtrack car's fender tags were hung from the driver's side sunvisor mounting screw hole. This is why they were never painted but occasionally had overspray on them from time to time. Has anyone else read/heard this? I'd post my fender tag but I'm off on a business trip for the next few weeks.

One owner Hamtramck car, 1969 Barracuda. Body color painted fender tag before current state of restoration with body filler. Same paint finish/thickness as the inner fender and bent near front hole. With aluminum inspection tag under front hole. That there is more paint on the back side of the aluminum tag than the front indicates it was likely bent up over the fender tag for painting. The screws are just generic from any hardware store, but if anybody wants to pay big bucks for my originals, we can deal.

A nicely restored car should have a nicely restored fender tag too, IMO. Apparently many fender tags received damage from battery fumes over the years, same as the nearby inner fender and hood.

The tag was held on by a screw in the rearmost hole on the tag, and the other screw to fully hold down the tag was installed later after painting. If it's a 2 fender tag car, the two outermost screws were installed after paint.
Hopefully someone who has studied the inspection tags closer can help with telling what they were for, when installed and if painted or not.