Canadian Built 1940 D15 Data plate/ colour ID??

[40CanuckD15]

Hi everyone, first post here. Great looking site with great information. I am hoping someone can help me with a query I have. My family has what is almost certainly a Canadian built D15 and I am looking to decipher the data plate on the firewall. I know information is sketchy at best...especially for Canadian built cars, but any help is greatly appreciated!

The tag reads:

D15 2DR SED

1317

1559

AKF

 

1317 is the body number, correct? As in the number of the D15 body that rolled down the line?

Does anyone know what 1559 paint code or AKF trim code is?

 

The car was owned for roughly 40 years by the same owner before he passed away and we purchased from his family last year. The car was clearly cared for and driven often, and will continue to be loved and driven.  Luckily he had stored away A TON of spare parts and Canadian specific manuals. None of the manuals have been too much help with colour/ option information or history unfortunately.

Thanks for your help!

Dean

[deathbound]

Can't help with your questions, but that is a very nice car. Welcome to the forum.

[Andydodge]

I can't help with any answers either however welcome to the best mopar forum and a particularly nice welcome from a fellow D15 owner, my 1940 Dodge being an Oz built car, its a D15D which I understand to be a D15 Deluxe which from my Oz sales brochure means that it has a pair of wipers, taillights, adjustable armrests on the front doors and extra interior lights on the top of the door pillars...........its nice to find someone with another D15........me be a happy camper.......anyway I have a 1940 Dodge Passenger Car Preliminary Parts List book and a 1940 Passenger Car Shop Manual, both covering the D15 model, issued by the Export Division of the Chrysler Corp, Detroit.......neither book has any mention of decoding those numbers as far as I can tell tho' your car gives me another reason to go thru each again...........lol......I've had both books for yrs, neither has much relevance to my car apart from all the mechanical stuff, my Oz built car has lots of little changes that the Oz builders, T.J. Richards in Adelaide Sth Australia incorporated.......lol...........anyway welcome, if I find anything in these manuals I'll get back........if you want anything, please let me know......heres a pic of my 'ol brown turd......I've had it since 1971.........regards, Andy Douglas 

[Uncle-Pekka]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations for finding such a beautiful well maintained survivor - Take good care of it.

 

Are you aware of the Chrysler corp. historical collection service?

Back in 2006 when I bought my car I merely wrote them a letter asking some questions of my car.

I received a friendly letter telling the factory color and accessory codes of my car.

I wasn't aware of any fee and they also did not ask me for payment, just very friendly and helpful service.

 

I know there's been a lot of changes to Chrysler Corp ever since, but at least there's the below web page advertising history services still;

 

http://www.mmcdetroit.com/Chrysler_Historical_References/

 

 

 

Hope this helps. good luck!
/Pekka
 

Edited September 8, 2015 by Uncle-Pekka

[Roadkingcoupe]

40Phil41 is the expert on Canadian Dodges for 1940.

Look him up on the members list and try to send him a PM (personal Message).

 

http://p15-d24.com/user/58-40phil41/

[55 Fargo]

Bill Watson, is the resident expert on this topic, especially Canadian built Mopar.Hopefully Bill will chime in and answer the ?s

[desoto1939]

Most paint codes were three digit numbers. You can try to look for a D15 paint chart for Canadian built Dodge to see if you can find a reference number on the plate.

Try looking on ebay for paint charts for your car. This might help you track down the original color 

 

Rich HArtung

desoto1939@aol.com

[Andydodge]

Dean..........have you got any more pics of the car?..........especially front, back, side, interior.......lol.......nice car!.........lol...........regards, andyd

[Andydodge]

Dean.......still a nice car......lol........any more pics?...........regards, Andy Douglas

[B-Watson]

The paint on the body tag is long gone.  It should look like  -

 

MODEL No   D15 2DR SEDAN

BODY  No   1317

PAINT CODE   1559

TRIM CODE    AKF

 

Your car is a 1940 Dodge Kingsway, based on the P9 Plymouth Roadking.   Canadians also got the Dodge D16, DeLuxe, and D16S, DeLuxe Special, based on the P10 Plymouth DeLuxe and Canada-only P10C Plymouth Custom.   Needless to say, except for the grille, hood, hood ornament, nameplates, etc. the Dodge D15 shares everything with the Plymouth P9.  

 

It is the 1,317th Dodge D15 Kingsway 2dr sedan built in Canada.  A grand total of 3,737 D15 models were built in Canada - business coupe, 2 door sedan and 4 door sedan.  The 2 door sedan cost C$944, FOB Windsor, Ontario.

 

The D15 was also built in the U.S. at the Detroit Plymouth plant (Lynch Road) for export to other countries and was available in virtually all Plymouth body styles.  Australia received chassis with powertrain, brakes, steering, etc. and used bodies from a local firm, T. J Richards.   In the US Plymouth used Briggs Body as their main body supplier but Chrysler of Canada built their own bodies in Windsor.  

 

Serial numbers for the Canadian-built D15 started at 9,669,926 and ended at 9,673,662.

 

The paint code,1559, is for Coral Blue Metallic.  That same colour was offered on the Canadian Plymouth as code 1558, Dodge Custom (US-style Dodge) as 1560, DeSoto as 1561and Chrysler as 1562.  1940 was the last year each Canadian Chrysler make had their own codes for colours.  From 1941 on, all cars used the same codes for the same colours.   The CIL / DuPont code for Coral Blue Metallic was 202-32537 and was an American colour.  I have a US DuPont colour list book for 1938-1941 colours, but this one is not listed.  All the colours within ten digits either way in the DuPont list are GM colours.  Chrysler of Canada offered it only in 1940.

 

The trim code, AKF, I have no information.  The Canadian parts books before WW II listed the US trim codes but not Canadian.  Part numbers were listed for Canadian cars but were generic codes, ie, one code was listed for all cloth upholstery arm front door arm rests and one for leather.  What the dealer had to do was request the appropriate part number along with the car's serial number and a sample of the upholstery.  The parts people at either the Chatham or Regina parts plant would check the build record for the car to determine the correct colour and type of material for the part.

 

The Chatham plant services all Chrysler of Canada distributors and direct dealers east of Port Arthur, while Regina took care of Port Arthur and all points west.  The Regina operation carried on business as Chrysler Corporation of Canada (Sales) Limited, a wholly owned  subsidiary of Chrysler Corporation of Canada, Limited.

 

Unfortunately, the Canadian build records are long gone.  They basically kept the records for six or seven years, by which time trim supplies had been exhausted.  GM of Canada and Ford of Canada did much the same, as least before WW II.   Chrysler Historical at Auburn Hills has very little information on Canadian-built cars and trucks.

 

Is the paint original for the car?  I notice the firewall seems to be a non-blue colour and Chrysler of Canada painted all the body, including the firewall, the same colour. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Bill

Vancouver, BC

[Andydodge]

Bill, I have a question regarding the upholstery.....when I bought my car the upholstery was the original........the doors and front/rear side and kick panels were in a cloth but the seats were leather, the hood lining was a felt material........my car had adjustable armrests on the front doors and a centre folding armrest in the rear seat......which I have never seen on any Nth American Plymouth or Dodge......was this possibily a US Chrysler based item, also it has interior lights on both door pillars and also above the rear seat.........do US Dodges have these 3 lights or just the one above the rear seat?.......have attached a couple of pics..disregard the actual upholstery pattern on the seats although the doortrims do have the original stitching pattern..........Andy Douglas      

[DonaldSmith]

How does one adjust an adjustable armrest?  Or do you adjust the arm to the armrest?  

[40CanuckD15]

Thanks for the replies everybody! 

Thanks for the information Bill, it's nice to know that the car was blue originally... I think it looks nice in blue. Would the metallic have had metallic flakes like the colours do these days? The car was repainted in the mid 70's in a GM colour I believe, from what we have gathered. I wouldn't be surprised if the previous owner had come to the same conclusion with the paint number and chose the next closest which happened to be a GM. I don't suppose you happen to have a 1940 Canadian paint chip chart? It would be 

 

I am not sure to what degree the car has been restored, the underbody, underhood look what I would take as original but it is possible they are not. I cannot remember if there is primer showing or not. I will take some pictures and get back to you on the subject. I can tell you for sure that my brother's 1956 Dodge 2.5 ton truck is an original Canadian truck with red primer under the hood and under the floor mats.  

 

Andy, very nice car as well, I like the brown colour. I'm not able to come on and post as often as would be nice but here are a couple more pictures from the same day, none of the interior right now, I don't have any on my phone or computer at the moment.

[40CanuckD15]

*To continue from my first paragraph... it would be nice to have another look someday soon at the 1940 Brochure that the previous owner also had amongst the documentation.

Dean

[40plyrod]

Very nice car, love the color!  B-watson lots of good info there, if I remember right my Canadian built 1940 Plymouth  P9 came with the AKF trim code as well.

[Andydodge]

Don........re the door armrest...lol....the mounting holes are slotted so you loosen the knurled nuts and move the armrest forward/backward.....can be moved about 2"........re metallic paints ....... my car was originally a pale brown/gold metallic, a very fine metallic,  no idea of the name or paint code........this pic shows the colour , sort of......this was taken a couple of yrs ago when we removed the vinyl top which had been glued straight onto the original paint nearly 40yrs ago.......andyd