Dan and I went to go look at the ’69 Custom S this morning, and I can report back that it is indeed a real factory produced numbers matching 350HO, 1 of 55 Tempest Custom S 4-door sedans (23569 body style)! The engine code is XU (EUN 0268241), the VIN on the block & TH400 (PS code 69-3540) are kosher, the casting dates are all tightly sequenced and the rear end is a tight XH code 3.55 HD Safe-T-Track. The alternator (1100704 8L5), distributor (1111946 8L6), drum brake master cylinder (BX, EX, or FX? stamp), brake booster (305 Julian date), pulleys, fan, and shroud are the born with pieces. The block and heads have casting dates of K068 and K138 respectively. The trim tag is 11D dated. It’s only missing the factory intake, 7029264 Q-jet, and the single large snorkel are cleaner.
The body is pretty solid with only the driver door (bottom) and both rear wheel openings and behind in the rear quarters with rust repairs and filler. The hood, deck lid, and front fenders (possibly older NOS replacements) are rust free. The trunk is amazingly clean and solid with its original spatter paint, spare and jack. The floors are solid too. The interior is really nice, clean and all original. The front seat upholstery is the only worn item. It looks like the headliner is newer as does the rear parcel tray (homemade).
The salesman said the widow consigned the car after keeping it for a few years (he died in 2020) and included all the extra parts in the car, which most are junk and not even for that car. She told him that her husband bought it new (ordered) and babied it. He had dreams of fixing it up and that’s why it looks the way it does. We guess that he was slowly converting it to his hotrod with the dual quad set-up. It has been a well-preserved car…not perfect, but far better than the pictures show. It definitely was garage kept most, if not all, its life…in Michigan, not too far from us.
Dennis
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