Interesting Color????

[CornDogsCharger]

I was flipping through my March 1991 issue of Mopar Collector's Guide and came across this interesting ad.  FK5 is Burnt Orange.  Can anyone shed some light on this???  I would love to see a color photo.

Justin
"CornDog"

[XS29J8]

I was flipping through my March 1991 issue of Mopar Collector's Guide and came across this interesting ad.  FK5 is Burnt Orange.  Can anyone shed some light on this???

Justin
"CornDog"

That's Dave Jones old Superbird he sold to  Dr. Doug Flint I believe..............It was a copper or rootbeer color we called it.

Steve

[Troy]

Well, the ad is wrong as far as I know (and I'm no expert). They weren't supposed to make the Bird in that color but at least 2 are documented. I don't have any pics though.

Troy

[69_500]

I believe to be totally correct Troy there was 3 of the FK5 Superbirds built, or at least that are known today.

I think that is still Dave Jones' phone # that is listed in the ad. He has lived at the same place for probably 25 years now.

[CornDogsCharger]

Another thing to think of... this ad was from 1991... at the time it may have been the only one known to exist.  I would like to hear the story on how these few cars were painted different colors than the regular 7.  Maybe they were Chrysler employee cars or something... still very interesting.

Justin
"CornDog"

[UFO]

From a early DSAC newsletter.

[nascarxx29]

 Mason Dixons car and later Dave Jones F5 5 superbird same car 2 different owners. Original owner I believe was in TN ordered the car in that color.By Inquiry #4923

[Troy]

I believe to be totally correct Troy there was 3 of the FK5 Superbirds built, or at least that are known today.

I think that is still Dave Jones' phone # that is listed in the ad. He has lived at the same place for probably 25 years now.

Didn't know if I was allowed to mention the 3rd one...

Troy

[nascarxx29]

I found something called inquiry #4923 which allowed you to order a FK5 as the One Dave Jones and Mason Dixon owned.That was originally owned by Carl  Hall.Though other cars came is triple black.No superbirds are known in that combo.Maybe as wingcars had a tendency to run hot .Black was not a chosen color for the superbird??And  not available with AC

[hemigeno]

I believe to be totally correct Troy there was 3 of the FK5 Superbirds built, or at least that are known today.

I think that is still Dave Jones' phone # that is listed in the ad. He has lived at the same place for probably 25 years now.

Didn't know if I was allowed to mention the 3rd one...

Troy

I don't think he wants his full name put out there, but the car was for sale at Carlisle several years back so it's not a highly guarded state secret.  Steve's is the only FK5 4-speed car AFAIK.

[62 Max]

Gene,is the car you are refering to at Carlisle the one that was sitting on a trailer about 6/7 years ago that looked as if it had been used in a demo derby?

[nascarxx29]

 The other FK5 bird.It had a smashed 1/4 I got his name picture and vin I sold him a original triangle superbird jack hold down one year at carlisle.Another possible FK5 was to be a Hemi in NJ Eric Price 174616..A long forgottem trashed out back in the day hemi superbird.From that area Morristown Mendham NJ.Guys name was Eric Price  I found a old neighbor of his.But never found him or any parts of RM23ROA174616 And never found that FK5 Hemi superbird

[pettybird]

does anyone KNOW if that's how the cars got made?  three people in different parts of the country all picked the same non stock color?  and no one else (so far) picked anything else?

I still think it was a fat finger typo--someone at central hit FK5 instead of FJ5. 

[nascarxx29]

The earliest FK5 superbird accounting or ordering . I found was from this Aug 80 article from Carl Hall who originally ordered the FK5 superbird using the Inquiry #4923..mentioned  here in last part of the newsletter MOPAR PAINT CODE FLASH

[hemigeno]

Gene,is the car you are refering to at Carlisle the one that was sitting on a trailer about 6/7 years ago that looked as if it had been used in a demo derby?

Bill,

I've forgotten when Steve said he took the car, but it was a good while back - at LEAST the 6-7 years you mentioned since I've known him for 3-4 years.  He wasn't really asking killer money for the car at the time, but got tired of people telling him that he had a fake/incorrect fender tag and that the car wasn't worth anything close to the asking price at the time.  He does have the car's Broadcast Sheet, so the car's pedigree is about as confirmed as you can get.  That's still not enough for some people though     The car hasn't been back since and he doesn't talk about it too much to people he doesn't know.

Do you have any pictures of the car you saw?  Here are some pictures I have of the car:

[hemigeno]

... and some other saved FK5 Bird pictures as requested by Justin:

[pettybird]

The earliest FK5 superbird accounting or ordering . I found was from this Aug 80 article from Carl Hall who originally ordered the FK5 superbird using the Inquiry #4923..mentioned  here in last part of the newsletter MOPAR PAINT CODE FLASH

did he order it new?  it didn't say so.  even if he did order the car I think the others were typos...again, 2-3 other people ordering the same odd color that's one letter off from a standard color on a QWERTY keyboard?  we're not talking a batch of FC7 or FM3 or FF4 or TX9...

[nascarxx29]

I believe Carl Hall was the original owner .The window sticker on the FK5 superbird .Is Tenn I think.The others and how they came to be is there own individual unique story

[69_500]

I tend to think along the lines with Doug on this one and that someone made a typo on one sheet at the start of an order form, and no one questioned it as the car was coming down the line. I mean you could get a RR in FK5 so why would anyone not just do what the broadcast sheet and others said right?

[moparstuart]

I tend to think along the lines with Doug on this one and that someone made a typo on one sheet at the start of an order form, and no one questioned it as the car was coming down the line. I mean you could get a RR in FK5 so why would anyone not just do what the broadcast sheet and others said right?

typo  me to , if anyone could have just ordered other colors there would have been at least a few more non-standard colors running around   

[69_500]

Well Dave is also right in that there is a document showing how one could have ordered a different color other than the 7 that were set out for the Superbirds. But what are the odds of a dealership actually having access to that document in the short time frame one would have had to actually order one rather than just taking the one they had on the lot?

[maxwellwedge]

The painters could of read it wrong as well. Do these cars have FK5 on their buildsheets?

[69_500]

I know the one does, but haven't seen the broadcast sheet to the others. I don't recall if the Dave Jones car had a sheet or not, or just the fender tag, but I know the fender tag said FK5.

[62 Max]

The painters could of read it wrong as well. Do these cars have FK5 on their buildsheets?

Its east to mistake a E for an F

[UFO]

The petty blue color is not on the list.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

The 440 6BBL Superbird owned by Ken B. CLEARLY showed FK5 paint under the factory coded B5 paint documented by the fender tag & broadcast sheet.  I have wondered if some Superbirds were mistakenly painted FK5, then some corrected and others shipped as is...    Ken's Superbird was formerly owned by Jeff Phillips in Missouri.

XS

[nascarxx29]

I looked up the Carl Hall Centre Alabama FK5 superbird in old records its recorded as RM23UOA177577 Deep Burnt Orange.Dont know if other known FK5 cars are close to this vin give or take.Or if it was limited batch mistake on the line ??.I recall theorys as to maybe EV2 upside down mistaken for FK5.Or mistyped .Or even if FJ5 was intended and the K got typed??.Or if paint was sustituded keep the line moving .Who knows the real reason .But they exist.But how many

[CornDogsCharger]

I'm with the rest of the guys saying typo.  As stated before K and J are right next to each other on the keyboard.  I think K5 Burnt Orange looks NICE on a Bird.  But if I were ordering a new, I would have to go with the triple black.  I just love black mopars.  Heck, check out my picture to the left.  Wish I still had that car.  

Oh yeah, the project FK5 Bird that pictured... how much was he asking for it?

Justin
"cornDog"

[nascarxx29]

Im taking a guess I think it might have been $15K-

[XS29J8]

I always told Dave this Superbird reminded me of my 73 Kawasaki 900 Z1 colors of "Orange & Root Beer" here's a pic........................think HEMI Orange & Root Beer





Steve

[hemigeno]

I don't have any concrete information about why at least three FK5 cars were produced, but they do exist.  If it was a keypunch error, they were consistent in both the Broadcast Sheet's Roof and Body Color boxes plus the Fender Tag, as they all show FK5.

I don't know which was created first though - the fender tag or the Broadcast Sheet.  Perhaps it was a keypunch error on whatever source document was used to create the actual factory ordering instructions that was just never caught in the review process.  From what I hear, someone was responsible for checking all the orders to make sure that the options/colors selected were "available".  Even then, there were "waiver" cars that were built as long as the dealer or customer signed off on the car.  Chrysler wasn't proud back then: If you could stand to drive a Panther Pink car with green interior, they'd probably build it.     

Either the FK5 cars were deliberately spec'd that way through Document #4923 and/or the waiver form, or it's possible that a keypunch error wasn't caught by whomever was supposed to check for option availability.  About the only way to answer that question would be to talk with whomever originally ordered the car, whether that be the dealer/salesman or an owner who special-ordered one of them.  Unless the original order form was still around, there would probably still be those who would question any such recollections.  There's no doubt that whether they intended to or not, the factory sanctioned at least a few non-standard-color cars.

The Ken B. EB5/FK5 'Bird is yet another scenario though, where a car had a blatantly wrong color initially sprayed and then repainted at the factory.  I could see them doing something like that, as they weren't going to scrap a perfectly good car halfway down the assembly line.  Wonder if the error was caught while the car could still be sent through the regular hi-temp bake oven?  Lots of times a paint repair was done to cars further down the assembly line after plastic or rubber components were installed.  When that happened, the car was sent into a lower-temperature oven to partially cure the paint without melting anything non-metal.  That paint didn't seem to do as well as the initial paint job, although none of it was spectacular to start with.

[rustafarian]

Funny,  I was just reading about FK5 'birds yesterday on the Winged Warriors website (http://wwnboa.org/patik.htm) in the "Building a SuperBird" section:

Now is a good time to illustrate one of the assembly line problems caused by the special-ordered SuperBirds. Our tour guide through time, Engineer Gil, distinctly remembers one SuperBird that was painted a color not allowed for SuperBirds.

Every dealer announcement for the SuperBird, and every factory engineering document for the car states that it would be available in only seven colors:

Blue Fire Metallic EB5
Alpine White EW1
Vitamin "C" Orange EK2
Lemon Twist FY1
Lime Light FJ5
Tor-Red EV2
Corporate Blue 999 (Ditzler DRA 12785)
This problem car got painted FK5; that's Burnt Orange Metallic. The car went as normal through the baking oven, had it's vinyl roof installed, and had quite a few of its mechanical parts installed. Someone caught the paint error on the line in the Trim Shop. The painters had read the fender tag incorrectly, or the Production Scheduling people coded its color incorrectly, or an "illegally-ordered" color slipped through from a dealer's order.

By now the car was much too far assembled to pull it off the Trim Line, re-insert if on the Paint Line, scuff sand its new paint, reshoot it a correct color, and run it through the high heat of the baking oven. And, the car was already built in the Metal Shop as a SuperBird, so it could not easily be converted to a regular Road Runner, which did allow Burnt Orange Metallic paint. It was finally decided by Product Planning to finish building the car as a SuperBird, and send the car to Clairpointe as usual, along with a can of orange paint, and a note explaining the problem! (If the broadcast sheet and fender tag paint codes did not match the FK5 color, this car received re-issued identification). Researchers have so far found three SuperBirds painted the "impossible" FK5!

[pettybird]

The petty blue color is not on the list.

good catch--

[pettybird]

I don't have any concrete information about why at least three FK5 cars were produced, but they do exist.  If it was a keypunch error, they were consistent in both the Broadcast Sheet's Roof and Body Color boxes plus the Fender Tag, as they all show FK5.

is upper/lower paint on a dealer order sheet?  at what point does the car get coded as a V01 car, at the dealer or at central?  say, i ordered a limelight car, and someone entered FK5.  who enters the roof color as well? 

[pettybird]

I always told Dave this Superbird reminded me of my 73 Kawasaki 900 Z1 colors of "Orange & Root Beer" here's a pic........................think HEMI Orange & Root Beer

i totally want a Z1 or a K1000-those are too cool. 

[rustafarian]

Petty Blue = Corporate Blue 999 (Ditzler DRA 12785) ??

[pettybird]

Petty Blue = Corporate Blue 999 (Ditzler DRA 12785) ??

petty blue was never used as a description...it just fits.  corporate blue is the color used on the signage at the dealers.  there's also corporate white and (for Dodge) corporate red.  chances are nothing would have been painted that color if the good 'ol boy from Level Cross came along. 

I mean, how many Ford corporate blue Mustangs or Pontiac red GTO's have you heard of?

[Aero426]

There is a documented Grabber Blue 69 Torino Cobra out there.