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The broadcast sheet, in addition to the fender tag, lists the options each car was equipped with. The Sheets are printed before the vehicle is manufactured and therefore won't list every option. The fender tag is produced at the end of the line and has all the options listed for accounting purposes.

The build sheet or broadcast sheet is one of the most highly valued documents. Since this sheet of paper is not being reproduced and because it lists every option ordered on the car, this single sheet of paper is very important to the owner. For those who buy their dream car, highly modified or missing many parts, the broadcast sheet is an invaluable piece of documentation to bring the car back to originality.

Before your car was built, an order for it was placed with Chrysler. It may have been placed by an individual, by a dealer or out of a sales bank. As soon as the order was placed, a Build Record was generated. From the '50s or '60s onward, this was an IBM computer punchcard.
The Build Record was the first piece of your car to be manufactured. It contains information about what type of car was to be built, the body style, paint, options, etc. From the Build Record, several Broadcast Sheets were generated and from that a Fender Tag was stamped. As soon as the frame was jigged and the order was released for production (Scheduled Production Date), the Fender Tag and a large, blue-letterd broadcast sheet were attached to the frame and the car started its journey down the assembly line. At each shop along the assembly line, another Broadcast Sheet was printed, possibly as many as a dozen or so. Sometimes the Broadcast Sheets were left in the cars, sometimes not. And sometimes a Build Record was left in the car, so be sure to look for any scraps of paper if you disassemble your car.

When the dealer sold the car, the Zone Office generated a Build Record on their computer. That's how the original warranty was activated. Then the Build Record was sent back to Chrysler in Michigan where it was stored on microfische.

Hopefully, your Build Record is still on file in Detroit. Unfortunately, many are not. Some may still exist, but have not yet been organized and thus can't be found. It seems that most prior to 1968 are on file.

For example, I was unable to obtain a Build Record for my 1970 GTX, but Chrysler did have the Build Record for my 1966 Coronet (see below), my '62 Max Wedge and my '67 Police Fury. They sent several Xerox copies of the microfische of the Build Records. The quality is not great, but they sent enough copies that all of the option codes are legible. They also sent me information about where the cars were originally sold and what some of the options were. Very cool info!

Contacting the Chrysler Historical Collection

Send a letter requesting your Build Record to:

DaimlerChrysler
Corporate Historical Collection
One Chrysler Drive
CIMS 488-00-00
Auburn Hills, MI 48326
Attn: Historical Information

Be sure to include the VIN of the car in question, a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check made payable to Chrysler Corporation. If your build record is not on file, they will return your check. As of April 2002, the cost is $45 per VIN requested. In a week or so you will have a valuable piece of your car's documentation.
The Chrysler Historical Collection has a nice web page that describes the services they offer. Click here to access it.

And remember, the folks working on this project are volunteers; please help them out any way you can.

Possible Location of your Broadcast Sheet

First, you need to understand that your car may not have left the factory with a broadcast sheet. Or it may have had more than one. Or it may have had someone else's broadcast sheet. Or your car's broadcast sheet may have been placed in someone else's car. Remember that there was really no reason at all for the line workers to keep the broadcast sheets with the cars. Once the car left a particular shop, the broadcast sheet was nothing more than a scrap of trash. The cars were not collectible back then and the line workers were cranking out upwards of a thousand cars per day and didn't have time to worry about such things.
Each shop had their own broadcast sheet printer. The sheets were printed prior to the car's arrival in that shop, so that parts would be in stock, etc. This is why there is sometimes more than one sheet in a car. Maybe the final line shop left one in the seat and the trim shop left one taped to the glove box liner. Or maybe they threw them all away.

If you find a build sheet that does not belong to your car, don't throw it away. Someone may be looking for it. There are several registries that try to unite them with the car they belong to.

The most common places to find build sheets are:

In the seat springs of the rear seat back cushion
In the seat springs of the rear seat bottom cushion
In the seat springs of the front bucket seat backs, behind the plastic or metal seat back cover
In the seat springs of the front seat bottom cushion
Under the carpet, commonly on the driver's side in front of the front seat, but I've found them on the passenger side (common with Hamtramck cars) and under the rear compartment carpet (commonly on the driver's side with St. Louis cars and later M-body and F-body cars, though I've seen them on the passenger's side as well)
Taped to the top or the back of the glove box liner
Taped to the heater core under the dash

The most uncommon places to find them are:

Stuffed in the headliner above the driver's seat (found in a St. Louis car)
In between the gas tank and the rubber gas tank mat (Los Angeles car)

Wherever you look, keep an eye out for any scraps of paper. If a scrap looks like it came from a build sheet, you're in the right area of the car. Don't be too disappointed if that's all you find. Rodents, insects and mildew often destroy build sheets. Save any scraps with your car's documentation. Also, if you find any other scraps that may have come from the factory, save them. A small piece of paper that says "TX9", for example, might be from the trim shop and indicate the car's interior color.

FAQ to wrong or no broadcast sheet in your car

This is a FAQ article concerning 1970 cars with wrong broadcast sheets. While at the WW/NBOA National Meet in Topeka this last July 2001, Roger L. Wilson was able to talk with Richard Bolzenius of Missouri who has worked the last 25 years in a Chrysler assembly plant. During those years one of his jobs was putting upholstery on rear seat frames.

I hope this helps in understanding why one may not have the correct broadcast sheet or none at all in their cars and how this could have happened. I would like to thank member Richard Bolzenius for taking the time to answer the questions about this topic.

How can an incorrect 1969 broadcast sheet paper found in some 1970 cars?

Richard said there were a number of computer printers that printed out broadcast sheets for different stations along the assembly line. As in all assembly lines, time is very important, so the person who loaded new paper into the printer probably didn't take time to read the box or look at a blank sheet to make sure it was the correct model year paper. Also keep in mind the '69 and '70 broadcast sheet paper looked very similar in style and color. Richard also related that this paper came in big boxes. It would have been very easy for a box of last year's paper to accidentally get left behind and then was surrounded by new boxes of 1970 pepr so that as the boxes were used, the 1969 paper would eventually be opened and fed into the printers. As an assembly line worker, Richard said he would not look over each sheet for his job to see if it was the correct year paper. Instead, he just focused on the specific location on the sheet for the specific code needed for his job, installing the correct color and style of upholstery on the rear metal seat frame.

Why some cars and broadcast sheets didn't match up to that specific car?

To understand this, one needs to know how the assembly line process worked. The procedure went as follows: as the metal seat frame came down the line, Richard would put a piece of foam on the frame, grab the broadcast sheet to look for only the interior upholstery code, then place the sheet on top of the foam pad, grab the correct color and style of upholstery and stall and hog ring it on the frame in 60 seconds. Then this procedure would be repeated many times throughout his shift. Richard said if the broadcast sheet accidentally fell on the floor it was not retrieved (explaining why some don't have broadcast sheets in their cars) and was not replaced onto the seat frame as time and speed was of the essence on the line. Note: one must also consider if they don't find a broadcast sheet in their car that mice or other rodents may have used it for nesting material during the 30 some years of the car's life.

Why do some find in their cars the buildsheets to another car?

He said that during the final quality control period, before the car left the factory, it may have been found with a defect or damage in the upholstery, so another seat with the same color and style of upholstery would be pulled off the line to replace the defective or damage piece. Since the original article was published on this issue several people have written me saying they found in their car a blank broadcast sheet with only the interior code written in black crayon. Richard assured me that this definitely indicated it was a repair job where the seat was replaced as part of quality control measures at the plant before the car left for shipment.

What about those broadcast sheets that are found in your car and are for another car with a different build date of several days difference?

Richard noted the answer to this problem is simple. It is due to the fact that the quality control person may have found a "bad" seat as the car was headed for a holding area (parking lot), before the cars were loaded for shipment to the dealers. In that case, the car was "tagged" and moved to another location for repair. If this was near the weekend, that repair of a new seat may not occur until sometime the following week. The "repair" could consist of grabbing a correct color and style of seat off the asembly line and installing it in the car that was waiting to be shipped out.

My AAR 'Cuda broadcast sheet

Complete decoding of my broadcast sheet

If you want to know how the decoding of my broadcast sheet (above) looks - please click here [44 KB] for a detailed decoding.

Start to decode your broadcast sheet

To the untrained eye, the Mopar build sheet is a jumble of codes and numbers. Did my Mopar come with F60 tires? Wonder no longer as author Jake Hare takes the mystery out of the Mopar broadcast sheet, from the first to the last line.

The Mopar Broadcast Sheet Decoder Guide will take you through a step-by-step process that will enable you to decode your car's broadcast sheet. Whether you own a Hemi-powered Charger or a six-cylinder Duster, your model is covered in this guide.
Table of Contents:
Section 1. An Introduction. Chapter 1. Broadcast or Build Sheet.
Section 2. Decoding. Chapter 2. Line One: Basic Car. Chapter 3. Line Two: Basic Car Part II. Chapter 4. Line Three: Build Codes. Chapter 5. Line Four: Build Code Part II. Chapter 6. Line Five: Build Code Part III. Chapter 7. Line Six: Build Codes Part IV.
Section 3. Sales Codes. Chapter 8. A-C Option Boxes. Chapter 9. F, G, and H Option Boxes. Chapter 10. J and L Option Boxes. Chapter 11. M and N Option Boxes. Chapter 12. P Option Box. Chapter 13. R and S Option Boxes. Chapter 14. W, X, Y and Z Option Boxes.
Appendix. 1. Sample Decoded Sheet. 2. Useful Addresses.
PRODUCT DETAILS:
Publisher: PAH Publishing
Author: Jake Hare
Binding: Paperback — 8¼ x 10½ inches
Pages: 130
ISBN: 097164599X
Price: U$ 22.00