Then what is the purpose of the tag and why the need to hide the VIN "to protect yourself".

I don't have a great respect for check writers or polishers myself but they have brought a lot to the hobby some bad but a lot good. Some people simply aren't mechanically inclined, should they be barred from the hobby? Some have limited time to enjoy the hobby and their kick comes from cleaning the glass and talking about their car with others, do they not belong in the hobby? One of the biggest of which is that all the repop stuff (good and bad) would not be available if it was just people like me in the hobby, it takes the big money guys to make it worth someone's investment to reproduce a part. I'll spend years finding a piece and days restoring it to save a dollar, many want or cant. I can also put up with less than perfect, many cant. I drive my cars 1000s of miles each year, all of them and give little thought to the value of them or the risk I am taking but I am very aware of protecting my money so they are insured accordingly. So far I have not made a bad financial toy car decision but I do proceed with caution sometimes to my own handicapping. It's not always about money, documented cars are worth more and as of yet MOST fake tags can be identified as such, except of course the ones we cant tell and no one was honest about he tags origin. If you at least report the VIN to the registries then the next guy is protected if he does his due diligence regardless how many times the car change hands.

Calling me out now..lol
You have lots to learn grasshopper
People can spot a fake tags pretty easy
If you know what to look for
and anything you create will be easy to spot
With your obvious lack of knowledge on the subject and rantings about it.
you can argue all you like
But it's about the money to you
Your talk of value gives you away...
why can't you just say your concerned about value
Because you dumped a boatload of loot into a resto?
I would believe you a lot more then
Some historical bullion. .

I like to call them spectators with deep pockets.

why don't you post a lesson on how to spot a fake tag. I would love to learn from you. By the way, the last grasshopper I flew on was in the Marine Corps in Vietnam in 1968. So I have no clue what you mean by that.

No spectators have little to no effort OR money in the game. Again, I do see them differently than a guy who has blood sweat and tears in their cars but I know they have a place in the hobby.

A vet?
Cool
thank you for your service.
I don't know what it adds to the discussion?
I'm far from a expert
but I would bet your fake tag would be soon
Exposed after you screwed it down..
so you know
People do not give lessons on
Spotting fakes
It helps the crooks..

You stated there were clearly options that could not be seen in the 2 pictures you posted. I can see there are more options ... and pictures ... now , take all the pictures you want to document what you feel needs to be documented and even make a tag if that makes you think it will be more a complete car.

The car was only original once, once it's restored it is what it is ...

Good luck in your venture.

My observation from over the years is that whatever you do with a restoration, someone is going to gripe about something on it.
You'll never win if you think you'll get everyone together on a consensus agreeing with what you do so don't waste your time worrying about it.
You do what makes you happy and if anyone doesn't like it, tell them to pound sand.
I would be the first to agree that a inner fender looks wrong with a missing tag, but any "repro" tag is always going to be spotted by some experts too. So there is no perfect one size fits all answer.
The tag on my T/A was rusty by one of the holes, one code was indecipherable but it was apparent what it should be. I had tags backeast make a repro, and the original is stashed with my car's documentation. Some would say I should have put the tired tag back on the restored car, but then I wouldn't like the way it looked. If someone doesn't like it, tough, do what you think right on your restoration as I did on mine.
Trying to satisfy everyone is like herding cats, you say you are restoring your car for your own satisfaction, so do what you want with it that makes you happy. But without the original tag, or a picture or rubbing of it, you will never be able to duplicate everything that the tag should have on it either, so don't think anything you do if you do have a tag made, will be considered accurate. To that end and maybe expanding on JohnRRs point, you could put 0's on your made up tag in areas you don't know what was on the original, like for the SPD and VON, which would be a signal you weren't trying to make the tag into something someone could incorrectly think is "real". Rather, you were making a tag replicating just what you are fairly confident was on the original missing tag.

He

a

My Opinion is just take all the pictures to document what you have and what was there and rebuild it in as found condition. Only putting back and restoring what's there. It is a valuable car just because of it's heritage. No one can change the fact that it is an FC7 R/T SE U code 70 Challenger and just leave it as that.
On another note...
IMO also is that you found the way the internet works too...These threads always get crazy especially in winter. Now that you have "outed" the car that it does not have a tag or a broadcast sheet it will take a huge hit because by the end of this thread it will have been a /6 a/c 71 Challenger that has now been re-bodied and now highly optioned 70. I would keep the Vin number myself to prevent further tainting of the car and leave the fender tag missing...

Here is another one to mull over,JH23R 4spd,no fender tag !

JH or JS?

Would you mind posting pictures of the inner fender wells to see what else can be told about the car.

Does the VIN tag really read JH23R.....???

Would love to see a pic of that!

No, not here. But I will show you a picture of my 416 stroker motor I an putting in my Demon. I has about 550HP. It needs no fender tage but it does have them... It was an original 340 72 Demon and I even have the build sheet and fender tags.. It is an A/C car also. But I chose to do this motor for it instead. NMot too shabby for a person looking to scam people right. Oh, maybe I just stole this photo off the web.

Bill I would take that one along with your wing car to the crusher, you will be doing the comunity a great service!🤔😳😉

Different game, huge difference in value between a 70 U code RTSE and a 72 Demon. A 72 mod can exceed the price of an EO restoration and not sure what a built engine has to do with the discussion, but it is nice enough.

Bill is this car really a JH23ROB or did you fat finger the keyboard? If it is this would make 2 JH23ROB's. I can already hear the TYPO police shouting......typo typo typo ........are you sure???

A fender tag is only a fake when used to commit fraud. A reproduction fender tag is just that a reproduction. I work with technology that can scan a FT and from the data it is way too easy to spot the differences between oem and repro. As the crooks get better the technology will help. Maybe i should open an FT authentication service

Regardless if some one wants help recreating a fender tag it's not rocket science and you don't need moparts to do it.

looking at all the deleting the OP did i'm thinking that this thread did not go as he intended...lol