Possibly the last 340 Challenger?

[smilys]

I recently purchased a 1973 Challenger, once I got home I found a car show placard in the trunk, you know the kind people set next to a car at car shows. Well this one implies that this challenger  might have been the last 340 challenger to roll off the line at Hamtramck, MI. Build date is Jul 31st 1973, last six of the vin# are 597960 any ideas on how to verify this?

Thanks Scott

[burdar]

The SPD is just the date the factory "hoped" to build the car.  It's not necessarily the date it was built.  There is no way to know for certain but you can get a lot closer with your 73 then you can with earlier years.  At the bottom of your door VIN sticker there should be an MDH code.  MDH stands for month/day/hour.  The factory started adding that information late in 72.  Since the stickers were presumably printed towards the end of the line, that gives you a pretty narrow window.  What does yours say?

[smilys]

I got the 7/31/73 date off the fender tag, unfortunately there is no door vin tag.

[burdar]

The "sticker" on the drivers door is gone?

Just for reference, my Challenger's SPD on the fender tag reads 927.(September 27, 1972)  The VIN "sticker" on the door says October 72.  If I remember correctly, the MDH code reads 101218.(October 12th, 18th hour)  That means my car was built two weeks AFTER the SPD.

[smilys]

The "sticker" on the drivers door is gone?

Just for reference, my Challenger's SPD on the fender tag reads 927.(September 27, 1972)  The VIN "sticker" on the door says October 72.  If I remember correctly, the MDH code reads 101218.(October 12th, 18th hour)  That means my car was built two weeks AFTER the SPD.

Yup its gone, guess the last person who painted the car like the clean door look 

[72bluNblu]

I'm not an expert on this by any means, but typically the last production for a given model year was in the first couple weeks of July. Then the assembly line would shut down for re-tooling, and the new model year production would start in the first week or two of August. So, a July 31st production date seems weird to me. Not impossible by any means because those dates were not set in stone, but I would want more than just the fender tag to confirm it. Fender tags have been, and are, reproduced. Some by less than honest people.

The next problem is this- pretty much all the factory records for those years were lost. And that means that there's no way to prove absolutely it was the last 340 Challenger, even if it actually was.

Since its a Hamtramck car Barry might be able to help out more, he goes by Alaskan_TA here, but also has this website http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/index.shtml

[anlauto]

You could also try Galen Govier, his registry covers all years of Mopars. It may very well be the last 340 Challenger "KNOWN" to exist in his or anybody's registry.

There will NEVER be any concrete proof until every single car is registered (never going to happen)

[smilys]

I'm not an expert on this by any means, but typically the last production for a given model year was in the first couple weeks of July. Then the assembly line would shut down for re-tooling, and the new model year production would start in the first week or two of August. So, a July 31st production date seems weird to me. Not impossible by any means because those dates were not set in stone, but I would want more than just the fender tag to confirm it. Fender tags have been, and are, reproduced. Some by less than honest people.

The next problem is this- pretty much all the factory records for those years were lost. And that means that there's no way to prove absolutely it was the last 340 Challenger, even if it actually was.

Since its a Hamtramck car Barry might be able to help out more, he goes by Alaskan_TA here, but also has this website http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/index.shtml

Thanks for the info, I was also under the same impression as you about year end production time frame, the car does have all the same vin sequince numbers stamped in 3 locations. excellent info anyway thank you, will keep searching. I did check Berry's hamtramck site, oldest 1973  sequence number the was 597561