1971 Cuda Billboards

Looking at a 1971 Cuda, TX9 Black, the rear market lights say BLACK on them. Now did Chrysler put this type of Marker Light on all Black Cudas or just on a Black Billboard or on both. What I am asking is this an Indication that this car came with a Black Bill Boards or just that it came with those markers because it was TX9.

housings:
-early 1970 housings didnt have holes in them for the pins
-late 1970 housings have the holes in them for the pins even though the pin type reflector wasnt used til 1971
-1971 rear housings also have the holes for the pins and say black and white on the back each with a corresponding p/n for each color

why?
the side lamp housing were painted while installed on the car, thats why the rear sidemarker retainers (located in the trunk) have overspray on them, some more than others. so when a car got billboards and since the sidemarker housing was painted to match the cars body color, the assy line worker would remove the body colored housing and pick an already painted white or black housing out of a bin and install that housing to match the billboard color

reflectors:
-1970 style without pins on back, 3403627 amber, 3403646 red
-1971 style, with pins on back, 3479347 amber, 3479348 red

Interesting - seems quite labor-intensive for an assembly line, though.
Wonder if billboard cars were pulled off-line to apply them ?

But the thing that nags me about black cars with black stripes or billboards, is I never saw one like that when they were new and I was haunting the MoPar dealerships in SoCal.
I like the look, but of all the colors & varieties I can recall, I never saw one like that, only contrasting colors.

These types of facts always blow me away. Who'd have thought some trivial action completed by an assembly worker, day after day for a year(s) would be so critical 40 years later.

If your car is already TX9 black then what happens. Do they take the painted Black housing out and put another Black housing in its place. The housing in this 1971 Cuda has a casting number and the letters black on them. I will have to take a look at the housing again and write the number down and go see what the parts book says.

The billboard is a matte finish. Were the housings sprayed with a matte black to match the billboard or were the housings left gloss black? If the housing were painted a matte finish, then a gloss black housing was replaced with a matte black one. Maybe Tony can clarify?

from my personal experiences "back in the day" worked at a local dealer ship on weekends doing odd jobs and occasionally helped the detail guy put the stripes on the few billboard cars that shipped in new to the dealership. don't know if they all were shipped the same way ,but all the ones I helped install were shipped with the stripes rolled up in a card board tube in the trunk and installed at the dealership. I don't remember the detailer painting any of the housings . I do remember black 71 cuda vert white billboard ,we installed the black housing on the white billboard that was either late 1970 or early 1971.

Chrysler stopped assy line install, and started shipping the billboards "in the trunk" for dealers to install if the buying customer wanted them installed, this was a result of feedback from dealers from early model customers/buyers who didn't like the stripe pkg .... this is why we see some "original" cars with "body colored" side maker lights other than stripe matched black or white...


Mike

I have never seen factory original / NOS billboards does the material have a very lite texture similar to the original AAR decals or black nose decals found on superbirds?