Anyone know WHEN the LAST Challenger was built?

by **Mopar_Magic** » 04 Apr 2009 23:37

I may be wrong, but it is my understanding the the E-body production line shut down for good the 1st week in March 1974. So, anybody know that date that the very last Challenger was built?

My 1974 Challenger Rallye JH23G4B302203 (at 46,000 original miles) is a 318 2BBL with a 3speed manual, power brakes, manual steering (oddball assortment of parts to say the least if you were to read the full list of options). The fender code says it was built on January 21, 1974. The door sticker on the driver side says "Feb. 1974"....which doesn't add up...but who knows.

Even the paint code came up "unkown" with the code number of KL8. The original color was a deep forrest green looking paint. In 1981 we painted it with Chrysler Imperial "Sable Sunrise" brown with gold metallic paint, and that is what she wears today.

I'm wondering if at the "end" of production they just started putting cars together with "left over" off the shelf pieces just to deplete inventory and clean off the shelves?

Anybody know? Any extra details here?

by **Alaskan_TA** » 05 Apr 2009 0:48

This question has come up several times over the years.

The highest VIN that I have heard of (so far) for a 1974 Challenger is over 9500 numbers higher than your VIN. I do not have a date for it, but it was likely made sometime in April of '74.

Fender tags do not always have the same month as the mylar door sticker as you have noticed. The date on the fender tag is the SPD, (scheduled production date) it is the date they HOPED to build the car when the order first hit the system. For Hamtramck, the car may have been built earlier or later than the SPD, in your case most likely later based on you door sticker.

by **burdar** » 05 Apr 2009 1:41

I can't remember what magazine it was in...probably Mopar Muscle...but someone wrote in and said their Challenger was the last one down the line. There was a small article on it in the mag. That was quite a few years ago now. I could probably find it if I had the time. The car in the article was orange with a white top I think.

by **Mopar_Magic** » 05 Apr 2009 2:14

Hi burdar....yeah, I remeber seeing that article too and I was hoping someone would remember it, because I can't remember the details. I do however, remember that it was a red challenger with a white vinyl top, and I think it was a Rallye model. That's all I remember, and I can't remember a build date.

Thanks for the extra detail Alaskan_TA it is much appreciated! But, I'm kinda puzzled! If only 16,000 or so 1974 models were built....and mine was built sometime in February and the last one was built in April....is it possible for them to churn out over 9,000 in that short a period of time, at the very end of a car run? That's over half the model year production in just 2 short months.

I guess I was thinking that mine was a little closer to the last Challenger, rather than right in the middle of 1974 production.

John

by **dave-r** » 05 Apr 2009 8:03

Let me see if I can get this right.

My understanding is that the number in the VIN is not the number of Challengers built. It is the number of cars (all models) ordered.

When a car is ordered (any model for that production year) it is allocated a VIN and scheduled production date.

It then goes in the system and generally they are built in order. However if possible cars that were a similar spec would go down the production line together.
So it is very hard to tell from either the date on the tag, OR the sequence number in the VIN, when a car was actually built on the line. However the door sticker is correct. Except of course it only gives you the month.

All you can say is that the bigger the sequence number, the later the car was probably built.
So if you have a record of a huge number of VINs like Barry does and you compare door stickers, order numbers and VIN sequence numbers together, you can build up an approximate picture of when any particular car might have been built.

by **nomopar** » 05 Apr 2009 12:53

yes, there was an article long ago, but i can't remember if there were any numbers

by **nomopar** » 05 Apr 2009 13:02

sorry, but there are higher numbers :oops:

what about B37.... :shock:

by **nomopar** » 05 Apr 2009 13:09

it ain't my day today :oops:

Barry was missing a zero :shock:

the highest could be 397584

http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/foundByVin70.shtml

by **Alaskan_TA** » 05 Apr 2009 17:20

The VIN numbers were for every model built at that plant, not just Challengers. In the 9000 or so VINs between the two cars mentioned here, there were Dusters, Dart Sports, Valiants, & Barracuda models as well. :wink:

Dave,
As far as finding out if a car was built on any certain date, it is just impossible right now. But by using the broadcast sheet sequence times, it is occasionally possible to discover a few cars made one right after the other. The VINs are often thousands apart on cars produced one after the other. I am in the middlle of a rather large research project on it for the 1970 models right now. :thumbsup:

Barry

by **Alaskan_TA** » 05 Apr 2009 17:28

Other notes on 1974 models from Hamtramck;

The first VIN number assigned ended in 100001.

The 1974 model year ran to at least July 26, 1974.

The highest VIN I have seen so far ends in the 525xxx range.

It would be nice if someone started a 1974 Hamtramck Registry, no one really tracks all models from there yet. I would like to, but 1970 already eats up all of my available time & then some.

by **Alaskan_TA** » 05 Apr 2009 19:14

Something else I just remembered about the newer cars. Check your Mylar door sticker for the MDH code (Month - Day - Hour)

Evidenly the sticker was the last or one of the last things to go on the car before it rolled out of the plant for them to note this.

This 1974 example shows 052120 for May 21 - 20th hour.

Interestingly enough, the car this is on has a scheduled production date of 426, so for whatever reason this car was built about a month late. :nod:

by **Alaskan_TA** » 05 Apr 2009 19:15

Photo;

by **Mopar_Magic** » 27 Jun 2009 18:10

Thanks guys! The sticker on the door says 020610, so apparently it has a theoretical build date of the 10th hour, February 6, 1974.

The mileage on it right now (Jun 27, 2009) is 46,336, all original, and it's unrestored. I only travel about 100 miles per year in it now, and just to car shows. But it is never "trailered" (sorry "trailer queens") it is always driven....with the exact same original drive train that came off the assembly line.

We are about to take her out to cruise night in Mesa, Arizona... so I just got done another polish and shine (geez, I wonder how many thousands of polish jobs I've put on this thing?!).

This is the first car I ever owned...and I'll probably be buried in it when it's time to make the "last pass" down the track! This car has brought me nothing but pleasure for the last 30 years or so, and I treat "her" like family.

...by the way, this photo was taken very close to the "remains" of the old "Beeline Dragway" near Mesa, Arizona. Only the timing tower still stands. The track is just gravel in the desert now. You can see "Red Mountain" in the background, which was often seen in photoshoots from the track in the 60s and 70s.

John

by **Goldenblack440** » 28 Jun 2009 3:14

Nice car M_M, i like the overall unique look of it. And the wheels. Is that a black or dark brown vinyl top? What colour is interior? Is it a console car and what does the shifter look like. Does it have the Rallye dash? Never seen a 3 speed E body, although i did just sell a 1970 spec A230 3 speed gearbox. They are very strong. They put them behind 383's so they must be pretty solid.

Did you get the hood painted with the whiteout? I often thought how one would look, painted like that with the front area done like that, following the raised area. But i think on that colour, black would look better. (only my opinion though!)

by **drewcrane** » 28 Jun 2009 4:16

with all the cool lines on these cars its interesting to say the least how people interpreted the artistic way of accentuating the colors, with different paint schemes the one in the photo really shows what can be done with these cars,1974 that was a long time ago..................... :s024:

by **ron69rr** » 18 Jan 2012 18:19

I have a buddy that has a 74 360 rallye that was built 4th week of April. I also remember a story in one of the mopar mags about the last 74 challenger being built was light green and was totaled.

Re: Anyone know WHEN the LAST Challenger was built?