[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Hi one and all,

I'm looking at purchasing a particular chally - '70 383 727 etc FC7 plum crazy, factory a/c, power steer, white interior in fair cond etc and repainted in same. Seems like a very nice car from the photos I've received so far. Anyhow the vendor has supplied me with the fender tag codes and so far all numbers match. White vinyl roof and accent stripes are no longer there. Car has a brake booster and front discs although I cannot find any reference to B03 in the decode facility on the site - also what might H6XW be?? Any ideas would be gratefully accepted. VIN for your interest is JH23 N0E 116940 and odometer shows 18,164 miles (doubt if original though)

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

Look at the other postings on this subject in the technical/vin-options codes section. could tell you straight off but it is more fun to do the detective work!

[Luke (Luke)]

another one, or did'ent the other challenger work out.

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Okay Dave - I've looked and am still baffled. Does BO3 refer to the build date? Still have no idea about the H6XW...

Luke - I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Had my heart set on the '71 and was organised to go over to Sydney to collect it, then had a family drama which forced me to go to Canada. Everything was put on hold. When I returned (recently) I made contact with the owner of the '71 to see if still available (which it is) and then another car was offered to me by a different vendor. The '70 big block is not as original, but in my opinion, more collectable and a nicer optioned car. Also has been fully restored (except for drive train). The only drama is that it costs $10,000 more! This is a bit of a problem considering my short-fall in funds and lack of available buyers for my kids and wife....(a joke okay).
So what to do? The '71 is in fair condition and has genuine mileage (57K) but only a 318 with bucket bench, column shift 904 the '70 is a big block with 118,000 on the clock and has been driven hard I think, but in great condition (body restored and numbers matching etc slap-stick, a/c, discs up front, 727, plum crazy orig colour, blah blah.
Suggestions and advice readily accepted.
PS - Dave, now that we all have access to your postal address, expect to receive all manner of correspondence.

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

Oh come on! You're not trying. There are loads of examples of fender tags in that section. The main codes are all in the same place on the tag and the options are in alphabetical order. You read the tag from the bottom line up. The build date and the interior codes are always in the same place.

Build date codes are always just before the dealer order number. They start with the month i.e. 8 = August, 9 = september. But they could only use single digits so when it came to october, november, december they used a, b, c.

The interior codes are explained in quite a few posts in that section. H6 is your vinyl bucket seats and XW just means white.

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

In one of the posts in this section (I have moved this thread since it was started) I made this drawing based on my own 1970 R/T fender tag.



Remember you MUST read the tag from the bottom line up-over.

It is useful to note where the main codes sit on every tag. The only bit that changed over the years our cars were produced was the way they marked the car as built to USA (or whatever) specification.

In 1970-71 you got a code on the end of the options list (Y05 = USA in the example above).

From 1972 they put a single letter on line three just after the roof code and before the start of the alphabetical option codes (U = USA, C = Canada etc)

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

Oh. I forgot to say. Buy the the big block if you possibly can. It costs less in the long run to buy a restored car than to have one restored. If it is numbers matching you will always be able to get your money back.

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Dave - that's great. now that I can see the fender tag layout, I've got a far batter idea of what to look for and have figured out what the other codes were. The difficult thing for me was that I only received the codes via email and all on one line, so didn't know where it started or ended.
Well - you've convinced me! I'll be going for the big block if I can afford it and get to the vendor before they advertise it nationally (next month). Just waiting with baited breath to hear from our bank manager...Oh to win the lottery eh?

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

Is it a 383?

R/T or non R/T?

[Hans (72challenger)]

You're right Dave, about that getting old!
Read the first message: ...chally - '70 383 727 etc... ...VIN for your interest is JH23 N0E 116940...

Propably caused by the fumes when you're decorating at home.

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

I shouldn't eat that wallpaper paste should I?

Funny because I thought he had said a 383 but couldn't see it when I looked. Blind as well as daft!

So (unless my brain is really cooked) that makes it one of the 383 4-bbl non-R/T cars.

I like these. Wolf in sheeps clothing. Much rarer than the common 383 R/T. But not as sought after just because they are JH cars and not JS. Shame because there is little different between the two body shells.

On my web site I say that the JS body has a lot more re-enforcement than the JH. I only found out a little while ago that this is only true of the 440 and 426 cars. So as far as the 383 cars are concerned a JH is just as good as a JS.

Only 1,480 JH23N0 cars were made. 949 autos like this one, 454 4-speeds, and 77 3-speeds. It is rarer than my 440 4bbl car. But the way of the world is mine would fetch a lot more on the market. Not fair really because the 383 is a great engine for the Challenger.

It is an LA built car too so a good chance it had a rust free life. For sure the better of the two cars.

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Bad news for me. The vendor phoned yesterday and advised me that someone else has offered him cash and unless I can send him the money by first thing monday morning - he'll sell to the other person. While I would dearly love to buy this car, I first must wait to hear from my bank manager (I'm re-negotiating all my loans and going to another lender) and would obviously prefer to see the car in real life before parting with A$27,000. What a disappointment - I was depressed all day yesterday (and still am). Plum Crazy from the factory, 383, 727, all the little goodies, right down to the original radio - what a find. All I can hope for now, is that the other person dies or something so the deal won't go ahead for some reason - although I doubt it.
Very f***ing pissed-off - I can assure you.

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

Never let anyone pressurise you into buying anything. If someone tried that one on me I would tell him to stick his car up his backside. It may be true what he is saying or it could be he just needs the cash fast. See what happens next week. Trust in fate. When it is the right car it will happen.

There is always another car. Always. Bide your time. Get the cash first. If the cash is hard to come by then wait until you can afford it. Don't stretch yourself too far. Then when the right car comes along (and it will) you will be in a position to wave cash under the owners nose and get a good price reduction.

Let this one go. Every dog has his day. Your day will come. Have a beer and chill out.

[Jack T (Jackt)]

Hey Roger - $27K for that car was way too much and there are better deals out there. An R/T 1970 383 Challenger is for sale in San Diego for just under $20K, for instance. Had you inspected that car personally? For that price on a JH23N, every nut and bolt should have been new, the car should have been disassembled prior to being painted and reassembled after, the wiper motor should have been show-room fresh and everything should have been replated - silver and gold cadmium and black phosphate - the radiator recored, the motor rebuilt completely, not "refereshed" whatever that is, and the drivetrain completely rebuilt as well as even more little things I'm not listing like the interior. At this time of year, you should be able to find more car for your money. Patience - I looked for my six-pack for 18 months before finding it. Good luck!

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Thank-you for your thoughts and words of encouragement. I agree entirely and will not let anyone pressurise me. Went to my shed last night and started another brew (home brewing is a hobby of mine and very rewarding - tastes much better than commercially made stuff too). It takes at least 5 pints of consumption in order to get the next batch just right - so I was feeling much better about myself and my situation by the end of the evening.
The figure quoted was in Australian Pesos, so just over half of the value in green-backs - around $15k in your money Jack. Still, this is a great deal of money to me regardless. I did not inspect the car as it's located in Adelaide, which is about 1000 miles from me.
Could be that the vendor is playing games or honest - who knows. Regardless, i'm in no position to do anything about it until my bank manager comes to the party.
Your advise is greatly appreciated and worth following. - Thanks.

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Since you have all taken such interest in the car and offered me your advise, I thought it only courteous to post a couple of images of it (see if I can get this right).
The first is a from view - check-out the license plate - very cute eh?
This next shot reveals the nice lines of the car
Finally the engine bay - love the twin snorkel on the air filter housing - needs a good clean-up though
let me know your thoughts guys....Cheers - Roger

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

Rear springs look like they need replacing or re-tempering. How much else of the suspension and steering needs attention? The body does look good but that is true of most cars in photos.

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Don't really know much more about the car to be honest. Apparently it's in "really good condition" and is a "numbers-matching car". The real attraction for me, was the fact it is already licenced to drive as a LHD car in Aussie. While this is a mere fomality, it does require mods like you would have to do in the UK also. Yes I noticed the sagging rear end too. Unfortunately, I only got a few low resolution images to go by and all rather dark too, so difficult to make much out. The interior looks to be in good condition, although I noticed that the door panels did not have the fake wood-grain inserts - just plain white, while the centre console did have it. Black carpet, white seats etc. Air-con not working, 18,000 on the odometer, non-rallye dash, original paint to engine bay and trunk area - no rust anywhere, although the original white vinyl roof and stripes are not there anymore, so I can only assume that there may have been the usual rust around the rear window area prior to the repaint.
I have not heard anything from the vendor and did ask him to confirm with me if the other prospective purchaser had bought the car - maybe he was just doing the usual "there's another guaranteed buyer" thing to put me under pressure?
Spoke at length with my bank manager yesterday and won't know anything for at least another week or so (waiting on my accountant to finish his thing). If the car is still for sale in two weeks, I might fly over to Adelaide and meet up with a good friend of mine there and check it out. They agreed to a compression test and to put up on a hoist to inspect. Never know - could still be on the cards. Geez - I'm hung-over - bloody home brew has a kick to it - about 9.5% and tastes like nectar of the gods, so hard to stop.

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

I used to make home brew from kits back when I was REALLY poor, married to my first wife, and far too young to be married at all. One night after I found out the wife had been cheating on me I had a few pints in the pub (about 8 or 9) with a friend and then came home and we drank 28 pints of the home brew between us (althoug we spilt about a pint each falling over a few times). It had not been quite ready to drink either.

I have never been able to drink home brew since. The mere smell of it makes me feel sick! Although I bet the kits you get now are 200% better than the kits you got then.

I still shudder at the memory.

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

I can relate and sympathise - not about the wife thing - but the too early to drink brew. I was on 6 months old bitter last night, flavoured with additional malt, wheat extract and honey too - thus the nice flavour and additional kick.
I have not let my fermenter stop in 10 months, so have about 500 litres in storage in my shed. The nearest pub is 40 km's round trip on a very winding road, through a forest with huge trees - so not a good place to vear off line. We've had 4 fatalities in the past 9 months - last one only three weeks ago involving a young girl of 19 years who hit a small Karri tree (only 1.5 metres in diameter) at 70 kmph while trying to adjust her car radio (so they think). The korean built plastic car was unrecognisable except for the rear bumper. This is why I drink at home most times.

[Dave_R (Roppa440)]

It does sound like a tempting pint that.

[Christer (Christer)]

Roger, we on this MB have a little disagreement about the wood-grain inserts in the door panels.
Some say that all door panels had them and others say that all did not have them.
But, as I wrote, we disagree about this. Any facts out there?

[Jack T (Jackt)]

I had a set that was not drilled for inserts and believe they came out of a Deputy.

[Roger Bettoni (Roger)]

Here's a picture of the interior of the '70 383 I was interested in. As you can see, the door panels are plain white. Whether this is a result of an interior "restoration" or from the factory is anyone's guess.