Ok, time for an update on these 1966-67 Dodge and Plymouth B-Body defroster vents that were previously made out of unatainium! While I have featured only the drivers side vents here both sides are identical in regards to differences mentioned below and quality. So that you know, these reproduction defroster vents are correct and will fit all 1966 and 1967 Dodge and Plymouth B-Body cars no matter which body style you may have. They are also correct for all 1966 and 1967 Dodge Chargers as well..
Some of my following thoughts and comments are based on direct comparison to nos vents that I have on hand and some are based on my personal opinion.
To begin with, after purchasing these vents and having a look at them I feel that the gentleman who is reproducing and selling them has done an excellent job on them, but they are not "exact reproductions" as they are advertised to be. Let me give you the reasons why I say this.
Differences between the original nos vents and the reproduction vents:
(01) The factory part numbers are not in place on the reproduction vents and that is most likely because the seller has not asked and received licensing rights from Fiat / Chrysler to reproduce and sell them, so that means that factory part numbers can not be placed on these parts. I can understand why the seller did not go through this process because from what I understand it is a difficult and expensive process to get through and that would have driven up the end price on these vents. This will not be a big deal for most 1966 and 1967 B-Body owners who will purchase these vents because once they are installed it becomes a non factor. It is a difference though so I wanted to mention it for those who it would bother.
(02) There is a small difference in the holes on the mounting tabs where the defroster vents mount up to the under side of the metal dashboard shell. On the original nos vents there is a round hole on one end of the mounting tabs and a slotted hole on the other end. On the reproduction vents there is a slotted hole on both ends of the mounting tabs. Once again, this is a very small difference but it is still a difference. .
(03) I am making an educated guess here, but I believe that these reproduction vents were manufactured with a 3-D printer which means that they are a once piece unit. When I look at the original nos vents it looks as if they are a two piece design as there is a slightly raised seam between the two halves. This raised seam is not on the reproduction vents and to honest, I like the look of the reproduction vents better as it is a much cleaner look. As with the other two differences above most owners will not give this third difference a second thought.
Mounting ease:
While I do have a stripped down 1966 Coronet metal dashboard shell on hand, I have not had a chance yet to see if these reproduction vents mount up correctly to the underside of the dash shell, but I believe that this will not be an issue. I will add an additional update here after I've checked this out.
Overall rating:
I will give these reproduction defroster vents a very high rating even though there are a few differences as mentioned above which for me do not make them an "exact reproduction", but as I mentioned most owners won't have an issue with any of those differences.
Pricing:
Once again I give the gentleman who is making and selling these vents a high rating regarding his asking price. They are only sold as a two piece set (one drivers side and one passenger side) but if one of your defroster vents needs replacing so does the other side so this makes sense. to me. The asking price is as follows.
$149.95 per set of vents
$018.95.shipping to my location in Phoenix AZ
$168.90 My grand total
Not bad at all, as I've seen broken and badly repaired original vents sell for more than that on Ebay, so this seller has done all of us 1966 and 1967 Dodge and Plymouth B-Body owners a huge favor indeed!
Seller contact information:
ABC Moparts
Bob Baker
3615 N. Harvard Street
Kingman, AZ 86409
Phone: (928) 692-7689
Email:
abcmoparts@frontier.com
Pictures:
Picture #1: Original nos drivers side vent on left side of picture, reproduction drivers side vent on right side of picture.
Picture #2: Original nos drivers side vent on top left side of picture, reproduction drivers side vent on bottom right side of picture. If you look closely at the left side mounting tabs on both vents you can see the round mounting hole on the nos vent and the slotted mounting hole on the reproduction vent as I mentioned on difference #2 above.
Picture #3: Original nos drivers side vent on top of picture, reproduction drivers side vent on bottom of picture. Once again you can see the difference on the right side mounting holes on the two versions
.
Picture #4: Original nos drivers side vent
Picture #5: Reproduction drivers side vent. You can clearly see the slotted mounting holes on both ends here.
I hope that this information and pictures are helpful to my fellow 1966 and 1967 B-Body brothers!
Richard