Hello Newbie to the site

[ChallengedOne]

Hello,  I bought my Challenger in 2006 at the age of 23.  I have since set aside cash, purchased some parts, done a lot of research, and will be delivering the car to a friends house/shop to begin the resto.  She is a '71 JS23 383 car by factory.  She has had at least three different owners and had had at least 4 different paint jobs.  She quit running late '99 or 2000 by the license plates.  The orig. 383 is gone replaced by a standard 440 truck engine.  My first muscle car...  I was not aware to look for build sheets or fender tags...  So I don't have any,  only hope for a build sheet is in the dash or behind glove box.  All others have been destroyed.  Really font know what to do at this point...

This Is my intro:  guys have any tips or advice?

Andrew

[acr mopar]

Hi Andrew

Welcome any pics of the car ... sounds nice. Now for fender tag maybe try the past owner and work back words on the list.
 
Have you checked the backs of the front seats or under the back seat. The back is where l found lots of    just not enough to restor the car.   Keep looking

Doug

[ChallengedOne]

Seats have no build sheets, either does the floorbords, or the roof headrest thingy.... for the life of me cant think of the term, lol      I DO have a few photos of when I found it... and brought it home and the search for the build sheets.  No resto pics yet as this has not begun yet...   I will hopefully post soon.   The only thing that I have not removed from the car yet is the dash or glove box so  hopefully a build sheet has been hiding there.  That the 63 mice carcases did not get too.  Ummm yeah 63...

[Gus cuda]

Welcome to the site and have fun with the car. Being young like you are the sky is the limit as to how far you can go with the resto. Just depends on how patient you can be and how much you want to spend!

[ChallengedOne]

The FInd...

[Challenger III]

  Welcome! Looks like a nice car to start with. Keep us posted on your progress! 

[hemiken]

Do you have a fender tag on the inner fender of your Challenger ?
If you do have one, we can decipher it to see what options it had and what the original color combo should be, I just had a quick look at the pictures you posted and it looks like someone put a 1970 Tan interior in to your 1971 Challenger ? for what reason, i do not know , but i can tell you that the Tan interior parts are very rare and you should take extra care in taking them out of the car and not to scratch them up any more than they may already be. If you are going original, we will have to decipher your fender tag if that is what you want to do  ?
All in all, very cool score, great find

[GranCuda1970]

Looks like that infimous late 70's early 80's GM guys hit the engine compartment with the black rattler, very common. Mine had that treatment also.  Nice car!

[ChallengedOne]

Do you have a fender tag on the inner fender of your Challenger ?
If you do have one, we can decipher it to see what options it had and what the original color combo should be, I just had a quick look at the pictures you posted and it looks like someone put a 1970 Tan interior in to your 1971 Challenger ? for what reason, i do not know , but i can tell you that the Tan interior parts are very rare and you should take extra care in taking them out of the car and not to scratch them up any more than they may already be. If you are going original, we will have to decipher your fender tag if that is what you want to do  ?
All in all, very cool score, great find

The car has been painted at least 4x during one of the paint jobs fender tag was removed and lost.   I am going through the car piece by piece to try and figure out options and the related codes.  The interior is pretty crummy the carpet a (deep brown) was pretty well used for the mice fort under the rear seat.  The seat backings are crumbling apart and the doors are faded and crumbling too.  I figured it was unique since most restos have black or white interior.  The original paint appears to be the dark bronze met.  Or "rootbeer" color.  Not sure the interior is salvageable. 

[Super Blue 72]

Hi Andrew!  Welcome! 

Wow!  Found someone that had more mice in their car than mine!    You check the headliner?  I had a couple penthouse suites up there.  I still have a few tenants, the glue boards let me know that. 

Ah, the eternal build sheet quest.... so the places if I remember: under front seats, seat backs of front seats (the hard plastic backing), under the rug, in the springs of the rear seat lower/upper halves, behind the glovebox...I think that's it, yes?

You know, one nice thing about not having a buildsheet or fender tag is that you can make the car any way you like.  You're not restricted by any codes or anything.  My car is mostly stock and yes, it's my car and I can make it anything I want, but since it's so stock, I don't want to sway from factory.

Have fun with your car!  Ask lots of questions!  Lots of knowledgeable people here! 

[Jamiez]

For build sheets:
Under the package tray and under the carpet I've heard as well.  There is even a rumor of one being found on top of the gas tank.

A 70 interior might be possible stock in an early 71, it certainly wouldn't be the first car where the some pieces crossed years.

The tan interior (particularly the plastic pieces) is definitely worth attempting to save.  Even if you do not want to use it yourself, you should definitely take care pulling it because someone will probably give you a few bucks for many of the pieces. 

As for the color it sounds like it might be
Dark Bronze Metallic 

[4Cruizn]

WOW looks like a decent car to start with for sure!  Nice score!  Good luck with the build sheet . . .

So what are the plans?  Are you after a full restoration or just get her going?   

[ChallengedOne]

Plan is right now to strip down, clean up, stop the corrosion.  Then possibly use and tweak a little before the full blown restoration.  I want an original factory car, but might go resto mod if no papers.  That will be what the hang up in the restoration will be....

[hemiken]

A 70 interior might be possible stock in an early 71, it certainly wouldn't be the first car where the some pieces crossed years.

The tan interior (particularly the plastic pieces) is definitely worth attempting to save.  Even if you do not want to use it yourself, you should definitely take care pulling it because someone will probably give you a few bucks for many of the pieces. 

As Jamiez said also, i would take care removing the plastic parts, would you be able to take pictures of the dash plastic please, will be able to determine what year the plastic parts are and if they are Barracuda or Challenger plastic mixed in to your Challenger. We have an extremely late build 1970 Barracuda slant 6 car that has a 1971 Black console from factory. Going by your pictures, you have a 1970 Tan console in your car. That is what prompted me to thinking your interior is out of another car, do you have a picture of the seat button hinge covers< that will determine if the seats are out of a 1970 car.

All said and done, like you have stated, if you do not find what you want, you have the option to personalize the car anyway

Kenny.

[Super Blue 72]

Sorry if I missed this, but do you have a door sticker?  It'll have the VIN and scheduled production date.

Challenger production starts August of the previous year so if you have a 1971 model, August 1970 would be the start of the 1971 model year cars. 

Like Jaimez/hemiken said, you might have some '70 parts in your car if it's an early '71 Challenger.  My '72 Challenger has a '71 style Rallye gauge dash.  It's original to the car as I spoke to the original owner.