After reading through the AAR/TA thread on here I can't help but to think of an interesting car I seen this past summer at the CNY Mopar Madness - June 2016.

It was interesting for quite a few reasons and I will try and cover them here with some pics. I'd be curious to hear what other people know about the same car. Anyway I thought is was cool and it would be a pretty interesting topic for a Saturday afternoon in January.

Here's the story:

The couple sitting under the tent bought this one new in 1971. It is a 1971 Challenger R/T. Ordered with the 426 Hemi a 4-speed and a 3:54 Dana. The story on how he came to own the car was pretty cool. He said he was a 100% Ford guy and had just ordered a 1971 Boss 351 Mustang, went to work on the midnight shift and when he got home he got a call from the local Dodge dealer. He had heard he had ordered a new Mustang and wanted him to come down to the dealership to check out the Challenger. He told him that there was no chance he was buying a Dodge but decided to drop by for some fun, As they sat down at the desk and went through the Challenger and the options they ended up building Hemi Challenger that was equipped with close to the same options that he had ordered with his Mustang, that is why you see the spoiler package. The first shocker came when they tallied up the price...the Challenger and the Mustang came within $22 of each other! Pretty much a no brainer at the point but Bill (the Challenger owner) thought to himself not soo fast...no why these guys are going to be able to match what the Ford dealer is giving me for my trade.a 1967 Ford Fairlane GT 390 4-Speed. What about my trade Bill said....will how much was Ford offering?...I am not telling you that Bill said chuckling. Anyway the Dodge boys go out and check out the trade in....come back in and say its worth $1500....Bill puts his head down....well what was Ford offering? $1100 says Bill....the Dodge sticks out his hand and says I guess we have a deal....and that's how a Ford guy comes to own one of fifty eight or so 1971 Hemi Challenger R/T's.

First weird thing about this car is when you look at the front of the car it has both Challenger and Cuda front spoilers...both Plymouth and Dodge J78 Front Spoilers were shipped in the trunk for dealer install with this particular car. History is that the original dealership installed both sets....."

The next thing I asked was about the paint: So I asked Bill how he ended up ordering a FC7 Plum Crazy car....Bill said he had wanted a blue one but the dealer had told him he had just sold a GB5 Challenger with a white R/T stripe and he didn't think it was a good idea to two of them running around there small town. I asked him how long the original paint lasted....Bill said the original paint started coming off in giant chunks as soon as he had brought it out of winter storage in the spring of 1972....because it was a Hemi car...Dodge didn't warranty the paint so it got its first repaint before it was even a year old.

I thought this was a bit weird myself as I thought Hemi cars came with a 12 month/12k mile warranty. He wouldn't have been over for time. I guess he could have been over the mileage but it didn't seem like it would from the way he told the story. I wonder if back in the day if that was a common occurence with the too bad soo sad warranty denial.

As you can see it has a very late scheduled build date of June 16th 1971...one of the last Hemi cars made...what made this more interesting is that Bill said he didn't actually take delivery of the car until September 11th or 14th (I can't remember which day he said now). Looking back now it would have been nice to have taken a pic of the door sticker as well but I didn't. He was pretty adament about the daye he got the car. He was getting pissed that the car was taking so long. His wife was sitting in the chair beside him nodding her head the whole time.

So where does this car fall in line in regards to the last Hemi built. Can anyone share the discussion that is going on about this? I seemed to have missed it.

Dave

More pics. And no those aren't factory louvers.

Dave

I've known Bill and the car since I first saw it at the Syracuse Nationals in 1982.
It was then painted a cross of pink and purple ( I have a picture somewhere )
He told me when he ordered it he had thought about a shaker hood but it was one more car payment ( about $100.00 ) so decided against it.
ears later at a NHOA meet, I mentioned he should contact GG regarding the late build date which he did some time later.
That is another story that I prefer Bill tell

He said the car was painted about the same colour as the elephant on the roof. That would be a cool picture if you can find it. He also mentioned the Galen story to us...pretty funny.

Dave

Found it Dave...
Unless one surfaces IMHO there are no Hemi E-bodies built after this one that are known .

I'd be curious about the date on voltage regulator, that one was a dealer part and not the assy line reg.

thanls for sharing !

Carsten

this Challenger R/T is ~6000 assigned VINs after the "LAST hemi'cuda" - you would need the broadcast sheet for each car to see when they were on the assembly line.

so, is the broadcast sheet available for this Challenger R/T?

they were not all built on the fender tag's SPD "SCHEDULED Production Date" or in VIN sequence order, my Challenger R/T was built ~14000 cars "LATE"

notice the T/A style fender hardware & the '72 battery hold down "HUMP" w/o a weld-nut LATE '71 e-body stuff!!

There is a very nice original broadcast sheet with the car.

the "LAST hemi'cuda" is BS23R1B429180 & sold at a MECUM auction in INDY 2011.

based on my research & in my OPINION: the 'Cuda was built 5,000+ cars before the subject HEMI Challenger R/T (JS23R1B43xxxx).

it appears assembly line #2 was running 2 assembly shifts during June of '71 when these two cars were built. I don't have enough info on '71 HAMTRAMCK at this time (working on it, but '70 HAMTRAMCK line #2 was building ~1100 cars per day in June)

the two HEMI e-bodies were "SCHEDULED" two days apart: BS23R1 on Monday June 14 VS. JS23R1 on Wednesday June 16, but IMO they were built closer to 5 days apart with the 'Cuda being built first.

that leaves B-body VS. E-body & Lynch Rd. Detroit, MI VS. Hamtramck, MI

1971 HEMI Charger R/T contenders:
WS23R1A190774 "SCHEDULED" Friday June 11 - yellow 4-speed
&
WS23R1A192238 "SCHEDULED" Friday June 18 - white automatic

IMO

Lynch Rd. b'cast sheets sequence numbers track early VS. late
everything I've seen in regards to these two HEMI Charger R/Ts indicates that they were in process/in plant on "SCHEDULE" +/- 800 cars, which was +/- 2 days as Lynch Rd. 1971 was ~400 cars per day. & with VINs 1464 apart, the numbers can start to get close.

IF:
WS23R1A190774 Friday June 11 (2 days late = Tuesday June 15)
&
WS23R1A192238 Friday June 18 (2 days early = Wednesday June 16)

so, was the 'Cuda early or the Challenger late?

Definitely a late build car. I have got an old black and white photocopy of the build sheet. Next time I am home I am going to talk to Bill and see what the dates are on the block. If I can ever find the time, I would like to sit down with him and Judy and scan some photgraphs of the car from "back in the day". I do know that he he raced it extensively and won his Super Stock class in '73. I do believe that him and Judy went on their first date together at the races with that car.

Stan

I did a study on the parts changes and broad cast sheet information a long time ago. If I can find the information I put together I will post the information or send it to Dan so he can add it to what he has already. Challengers at this time lets say June of 1971 have the studs and nuts for the fenders. This would eliminate man power in the process of putting the fenders on. Have not studied Plymouth Ebodies at this time and not sure if this happened with them. I say this because there is no logic in Chrysler when it comes to what Dodge did and Plymouth did but you would imagine that both had the studs to hold the fenders. End of May start of June was the month that the 1972 build was starting to show up on the 1971 E Bodies. Trunk Floor pan with the rear access holes, Tach is different on some, fender studs. front and rear bumpers became slotted and lots more. Now why did Bills car sit for a month or more and then get delivered in September as he has said. Michigan to Detroit is not over a months trip. One problem at this time was getting these car built. My Challenger was to be built at the end of May but has a June door sticker this makes it at least 7 days late on the SPD and possibly more because there is not a day that is on the door sticker just a month. Hemi Cudas I have looked at with the same SPD have a May door sticker. So looking at this information the Challengers or Dodges were running around 5 and up days behind the Plymouths or Cudas. Back to Bills Challenger, it has been painted twice since it was new. It has had some work after a lady hit the Challenger. The bumpers are not slotted and what else was changed during the restoration if anything. I guess I should take a road trip and visit him and ask some question about time lines from when he ordered the Challenger till when he received the Challenger from the Dealership. When these cars are Hemis they usually have the old Hemi casting date in the cars not the 1970 blocks and assembly dates.

Stud/nut change for e-bodies started with the mid year TA/AARs right?

The first time Chrysler used the stud and nut for the fenders on E Bodies was on the Trans Am cars in 1970 and I believe only on the Trams Am E Bodies in 1970. All other E Bodies received the bolts. I never saw this again till I bought my 1971 June built Challenger back in the 70s and started to notice my car had different panels and the studs on the fenders, different Tach and a bunch more stuff that was different than the 1970 and other 1971 Challengers. Even the trunk lids are different from 1970 to 1971 even if they all were made for all options of Luggage Rack and Wings, there was eight square holes that hold the wing bracket that are made bigger for easler access for the clip. There are two trunk floors designs in 1971, front bumpers there are 3 different front bumpers and 2 different rear bumpers on Challengers. This never stops in automotive production and there must be a break point for all these changes and this information usually makes it into the parts book so you can order that part that fits into the time frame your car was built.

To come up with detailed information Dan (6 bblgt) or I would need anyone with a Challenger or a Cuda with a serial number from 400000 and higher. What we need for a comparison is the top complete line of the broad cast sheet that starts with 2 and then the Sequence number, then the build date(SPD) then the VON then the serial number or just send the complete broad cast sheet. Putting all this together can give us information on what went on during this time from late May to the end of production in the plant for the E Body build.

met Bill in 1983 in syracuse and again in milan in 1985 .
just checked my ownership vin is BH27G1B429165 fender tag is 6/14 .Yes i know only a lowly 318 car have owned since fall of 1982

do you have a b'cast sheet and an original door sticker? can you share?

Do have broadcast sheet will require some hunting tag was on door at one time but does it not only say month /year

Using the door sticker for a reference you can find out the exact date were the Sequence number changes over on Plymouths and Dodges on June 1. This can give us all a good starting point to look at and refer back to on cars built later in the month. Hope everyone is following me here.

GVH no car is great than another. Because your car is a convertible it gives us information if your Sequence Number is much higher that others SPDs of the same date then there has to be a reason for this. Being a Convertible if it is later could be because of parts availability. Since no one was there we are trying to put a picture together of what went on at this time via what was built.

I also have a 1971 Challenger 318 Convertible. Any ebody still around now is special and I like taking a look at those E Bodies that are not RTs or Cudas.