Date of last 74 Challenger produced???

[Glennster]

What was the build date of the last 1974 Challenger ever build?
Or, what's the easiest way to find out?
THANKS!!!

[ChallengerHK]

Hey, Glenn. There are lots of folks here who know more than me, but the short form of the answer is that for Chrysler in this time frame these answers are hard to come by, if not impossible. What I have heard and read several times is that a warehouse fire claimed a lot of these records; I don't know if that's an urban legend from back in the day, and I've personally never heard it confirmed by Chrysler.

On the other hand, if you go to the Challenger registry you could peruse various build dates and come up with a close approximation.

[Roppa440]

Yes the Chrysler records were lost.

14th of April is the scheduled build date on one I know of. Can't remember seeing one built after that. Barry Washington is your best bet for that information. http://www.hamtramck-historical.com

[Alaskan_TA]

I do not know the answer. I would love to know also - if it can actually be determined.   

Barry

[ChallengerHK]

I do not know the answer. I would love to know also - if it can actually be determined.   

Barry

Barry, do you know if the warehouse fire thing is true or urban legend?

[Alaskan_TA]

One "legend" says fire, another says flood.

It could be some of both if the building had a sprinkler system or if the fire was doused by the local FD?

I would love to know for sure myself. 

[Roppa440]

I am told that Chrysler themselves say it was a fire when asked.

[ChallengerHK]

No offense, Roppa, but I've been told that several times as well. Every time I check it out, though, I always hear "I read it in X", or "A friend of a friend worked there back in the day." It may still be true (and I'd guess it is) but I'd just like to get some real confirmation that wasn't hearsay.

[Roppa440]

Well back in the 1990s when i was looking into this myself my understanding is that Chrysler used to do a service where you could call them about your VIN and they could give you details about the car as far as their records go. People doing that with cars from our area of interest (late 60s - early 70s) were told that those records were lost in a fire. Several people I was in contact with at that time told me they had called and that was what they were told.
Details of cars made before and after these dates still exist at Chrysler (I am told).

Now maybe they all made that up. Maybe Chrysler made that up? Maybe I am just making it all up to annoy you? Who can tell?

But Chrysler would have no reason to hide what happened to the records. Would they?

[ChallengerHK]

Not trying to upset you, Roppa. Just trying to verify the data trail. If I understand what you're saying properly, you're in the same boat as me: a lot of people have told you this, but none of them were Chrysler employees with responsibilities that would lead them to know this for certain.

[Alaskan_TA]

Chrysler Historical can do a VIN lookup for 1967 model year cars & earlier, I think the fee is $25.00?

[Super Blue 72]

On JJ's registry he shows April 12, '74 so Roppa's date is more toward the end, at least of the ones we know of. 

http://challenger-registry.com/index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=14&Itemid=34

[trublu]

Well, what would anyone say if I said that I'm the original owner of a '74 Challenger that was built on 4/26/74? (VIN 3976XX). I have seen two other ones built on 4/12/74 (the generally accepted last day of production) with both having VIN's of 3731XX, making mine built 24,500 cars later. Would anyone know the VIN of that red 'last one built' Challenger?

[Roppa440]

Well, what would anyone say if I said that I'm the original owner of a '74 Challenger that was built on 4/26/74? (VIN 3976XX).

I wouldn't be suprised at all.

But are we talking scheduled build dates (as on the tag) here or ACTUAL build dates (when the car was actually assembled)?

Also. I think I am right in saying that the VIN number has no relation to the actual order cars came down the production line.

[72bluNblu]

VIN number does show the order they came down the assembly line, but its for the entire plant, ie, other models would be mixed in, depending on the assembly plant. From what I've seen, if your vin was 123456, your car would be the 23455th down the line that year.