Proud new owner of a 1970 Challenger R/T

[jnjdragracing]

Hello Everyone,

My name is John and I am a proud owner of a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T that I stumbled across three weeks ago. It appears to be all original with the exception of a few missing parts. It has been sitting since 1988 and has devlopment a lot of cancer. I have just begun the restoration process of dis-assembling it. I was searching the internet and stumbled accross your forum. I am sure I will be doing searching and asking some questions.

John

[brads70]

   welcome glad you found us! Post up some pictures when you get a chance!

[Sleepychallenger]

Welcome. What engine/trans combo did you get with it? Color? Plans? and as always 

[jnjdragracing]

Here are a few pictures, she not too pretty right now, but maybe in a few years she will be.

I am in the process of doing research on the car, I have the vin number, and some waht of a fender tag (really rusty). I plan on have a new one made but need to clarify the numbers. I did do the fender tag decoder. I do have a question but I have not searched the forum yet but plan on doing it. From what I have been reading the vin number I have is JS23N0B124755, when I put his number in the fender tag decoder it puts the JS23 - NOB-124755 on the bottom of the tag. The fender tag that I have the last 6 numbers are different.

My fender tag is as follows from what I can make out.

V9X Y05 26 EN2 J45 M21 N41 N42 N85 R35 V1X A62 C16 C55 G33 H51 FE5 H6X9 000 A22 052069 E63 D21 JS23 NOB 165298

BY looking up the options they are correct for the car, example the red paint is under the blue paing, it does have a 4 speed, bucked seats etc.... The car did come with AC, you can see it on the firewall and has ac control in the car.

Not sure if the 6 digits are tha same as the 6 digits of the vin?

Any help or info appreciated.

Thanks,

John

[jnjdragracing]

Sorry had to leave the site for a minute. The history behind the car is the previous owner found it in a salvage yard. He had to find a carb, water pump etc for the engine and was able to get it running. This was done in the early 80's and he purchased the car from the salvage yard so it does have a salvage title and he drove it out. He drove it until 1988 and has been parked since. It appears to be all original except for the old timey et slots rims. It is missing the console, driver side remote mirror is broken off / missing, he has replaced the driver side fender, missing the carb and ac compressor / stuff, exhaust tips are gone, and the main item that i have searched that is expensive to replace other than the console is the front head light bezel drive side fender. I have started taking apart and will post the progress in the restoration forum.

John

[brads70]

Look on the cowl near the cowl screen drivers side and also on the structure where the rad bolts to, also on the drivers side. There should be the last part of the vin stamped  in there. The dash pad can simply be unbolted from the car and installed on another so you can't go by just the vin tag. ... or cowl tags

[jnjdragracing]

I posted this in the vin area ans a use sent me a photo for the rad support vin but no luck finding any numbers except on the radiator itself. do you have a pic of the cowl area you are talking about?

[brads70]

Does this help?
http://www.challengerspecs.com/challenger_vin_decode.htm

[jnjdragracing]

Thank you so much Brad, that last article did the trick. It seems someone did change out the dash. The good news is I do have a matching number challenger r/t. I could not of located the vins with out your help. I owe you one.......  Hopefully I can return the favor one day. It also appears they had taped up the door vin and painted over it, I guess because it has a salvage title and south carolina hp dept assisgned it a new vin which is mounted on the driver side door jamb. The good news is that the door, cowl, rad support, engine, and fender tag are matching numbers. I have attached the photos.

Thanks again,

John

[mikeljAAR]

Welcome, and everybody has to start someplace, some cars are more challenging than others, but hang in there, lots of work ahead, but lots of fun too.  At least you have a good one with lots of available parts and help around here.  Good luck.

[jimynick]

Welcome to the site and congrats on figuring out your vin info! That'll be a very nice car once you're done. 

[jnjdragracing]

Thanks,

I am not sure what to do with the dash. I am in the process of removing it, so this is my task this week. Since the dash I have is not the one that came with the car, maybe I can find the car it belongs too and vise versa. Is there a place to report such and maybe some ones has my original dash pad with vin?

I am also unsure about the top, it came with a vinyl top. Not sure if I am going back that way or not. How much would it hurt the value of the car if I did not go back with it? But hey I have a long time before worrying about that.

John

[Cuda Cody]

"Is there a place to report such and maybe some ones has my original dash pad with vin?"

Barry Washington

http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/

[usraptr]

Welcome.  Looks like a great project!  Keep us posted on your progress!