There's a 'famous' 57 Dodge Royal (red/white) in the factory literature, that features backwards-installed "shield" emblems (which was NOT all that unusual; several prototype/advertising cars had backwards-shields, INCLUDING Exner's own "Portrait-picture, where he's posed, leaning over a 57 Dodge fin) , but that car is shown with its driver's door opened,w/a lovely lass, sporting a full-length leather coat, seated 1/2-in/on the driver's seat---but I digress--- ANYWAY, the door hinge-pillar is clearly seen, and there's NO VIN plate installed on that proto-car. I believe that the VIN plates were spot-welded to the hinge pillars AFTER the cars were painted. I don't 'know' about pre-57 cars, but a painted-over VIN plate is a dead-giveaway on late-50's cars that a cheapo/non-informed painter was @ work. What's interesting is that the VIN plates were apparently designed for (non-reversible?) screws or rivets, but that somebody decided, instead, to weld them 'onto' the hinge pillars. Neil V. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Visit the ALL-NEW ForwardLook.net! New Discussion Forums, Expanded Content and much, much more http://www.forwardlook.net/
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