AAR - T/A Rear License Plate Bracket

Reading through the Dave Wise reference manual, Restoration and Judging Guidelines, he mentions that the ebody rear license plate bracket (P/N 3445763) was a one-year only part used only in 1970. According to the manual, the 1970 bracket had both the left and right sides of the bracket turned "up" along the sides of the license plate. Guessing this lead to finger cuts, etc., the bracket was redesigned for the 1971 - 1974 years where the sides of the bracket were turned "down" toward the tail panel.

I have performed the 2nd restoration on my AAR 'Cuda. My license plate bracket appears to be original to the car but has the redesigned (1971) license plate bracket. I know due to the late production of the AAR's T/A's, many parts that some of these cars received were for the 1971 production year (washer bottles, wheel trim rings, etc.).

My question is, can someone who has a "original" AAR or T/A please look at their rear license plate bracket and tell me if you have the 1970 bracket or the redesigned 1971 bracket.

1970 Challengers did not have a rear license plate bracket, the plate screws went into inserts in the valance.

That's right, I should have thought of that, they had the filler neck on the quarter panel. Guess then I'm only asking about AAR 'Cudas or any 'Cuda built after mid-April as my car was built on April 13th. Thank you.

I have two AARs. I can check later if I go to the shop and get some pictures. I’m sure both are original to the cars . I have one built 3/31 and one built 4/09.

FWIW, mine's late March production and the ends are turned down.

Well, Barracudas also. The brackets were not Cuda specific.

And.....

The fender tag date may or may not be the actual build date since those were not actually recorded back then.

My T/A had a tag date of 417 but the original engine was assembled 4 22, so the car was built days after the tag date.

Thank you Fastmark, I would appreciate it if you could look and let me know.

FM3AAR - I suspect all AAR's have the turned down (1971) bracket. Thank you for the information.

Well, I went to the shop and looked at my cars but did not refresh my memory and read your post. It’s the sides that are different, not the bottom. I’ll look again. Sorry.

Right, the sides. If your AAR's have the redesigned 1971 bracket, which I believe they will, the sides of the bracket will turn down toward the tail panel. Thanks.

The bracket on my 4 07 build date AAR has the turned down edges

I finally made it to the shop and I have three cars with the frame turned in at the sides. Two are AAR with build dates of 3/31 and 4/08 and a 3/31 Cuda built in LA.

If the WISE manual indeed does say "up". then it is wrong, All the rear brackets in 1970 for Barracuda were smooth and had no lip on the right and left side. That was changed to a lip that was "up" in 1971 and up. There were more cosmetic changes to that bracket in 1972(various holes in the face of it) but they are irrelevant to this discussion.