ILLMOPAR

Having trouble finding the original paint color to my challenger r/t. The car had its fender/waranty tag removed during one of its four paint jobs and was lost by the previous owner. Or rather removed for safe keeping, "ITS REALLY REALLY SAFE" way to go boss. Anyway I recently removed the seats, console, and carpeting since it was all original in hopes to find the broadcast sheet. LOL, 35 years later I only found a dime sized corner the rest = DUST. BTW found 75 mice and $3.28. The paint color here is a dark brownish almost like a burgandy metalic. I have seen some paint chip models of '71 and nothing really looks like it. Did chrysler use different paints in this area? The carpeting was a turd brown and the vinyl is a tan color, I beleive its the standard R/T trim.. BTW does anyone know the INTERIOR TRIM CODE FOR THAT as well? Besides the 383 being replaced by a 440 the car is still original, to the best that I can tell.

Andrew

demort71

I can help you (again) with some of your questions regarding your 71. First tan or saddle was one of the interior option colors for vinyl bucket seats according to the 1971 Challenger Illustrated Facts and Features Manual, which was published by Dodge for its dealers to explain and show pictures of options to potential buyers. You might find a reproduction of this booklet on eBay. Tan is was a pretty unusual color choice, but earth tone colors were coming into vogue then. I can't be for sure what the interior trim color code was, but it was something like this H56T...Someone else give him some help here, I can't find a complete listing of the complete codes in my reference materials. Leather was only available in black on 71 Chall. models. The vinyl used in 71 was a real high quality vinyl and the inserts felt like leather, but weren't.

In 1970 and 1971 there was a chocolate brown paint color available on Dodge and Plym. ABCE bodies. I owned a brown 70 Duster this color in 1974. I don't know that there was such a color shown as being available on either the 70 or 71 Challenger or Cuda. Also I don't remember ever seeing a chocolate brown E-body. However, that doesn't mean that someone didn't special order one in this color and trust me, Chrysler would have painted it that color. Heck, if you wanted a Hugger Orange Challenger instead of a Hemi Orange one, they would have painted it that color too! It may be another color too.

I saw a 70 Chall. convertible painted a wierd, brownish-burgundy color at the 08 Nats. I have a picture of it I could send to you via email. I don't how to download it via the forum.

A lot of people replace 383s with 440s. You get more bang for the buck with the extra cubes. The 383 is a good engine and plenty of fun. It's a little more economical in stock form than a 440, if you have 3:23 gears. Instead of getting 10 mpg on a good day with a 440, you could get as high as 14 with a 383! We are talking 1970 economy here. I guess this isn't your daily driver though!

I have a nicely restored 71 R/T 383 Challenger that I could share pics with you. There are several pictures of it in the May '06 issue of Mopar Collector's Guide too, if you subscribe to that mag and keep the magazine for future reference. Without the fender tags or broadcast sheet, you're kinda SOL for any other info about how the car was originally ordered! You will just have to do detective work as you take it apart. I suggest you take photos of the car as you disassemble it to document what you find.

BTW, if the VIN starts out JS23N1, you have a 71 Chall. R/T. The N denotes 383-4bbl. Magnum, the standard engine in a 70-71 Chall. R/T. The next digit is the plant code, which might be "B" for Hamtramck. The last six digits are the sequential number, which is unique to each Mopar of that era and identifies each car.

BkChallenger09R/T

I remember seeing 1 71 Challenger in the brownish color you talk of . I got back from Nam in Jan. 71 and wanted a T/A . But they had stopped building them I was told . I looked everywhere and ended up with a 71 R/T 340 color code F7 . A medium green color with white R/T stripes. I remember seeing a brownish Challenger SE with tan top I think .

demort71

There were definitely some chocolate brown Challengers made. I also remember seeing a chocolate brown T/A during the last ten years. I think this chocolate brown T/A was used in an advertisement in a Mopar magazine. That chocolate color was definitely not one of the more popular choices back in the daypeople loved green colors, just look at the color of furniture and kitchen appliances from the early 70s! Thinking back 35 years to my chocolate brown Duster's paint, it may have had dark metallic particles in the paint, if it had any metallic particles in it at all. It wasn't a bad looking color for a Duster, but it wouldn't do much to accent the lines and contours of a Challenger.

I really doubt that the chocolate brown color is the same color as Andrew's 71 Chall. R/T was originally painted. I mentioned that I saw (for the first time since 1974 when I got my liscense) a wierd brown/maroon color that seems to more closely meet Andrew's description of the original color of his car, on a Challenger convertible. The color had a definite maroon hew to it, but also looked somewhat brown (it had a burnt orange interior). I don't remember seeing this color on any other Mopar, ever. Unfortunately I can't find my 70 Challenger brochure at present which gives (at least) the advertised available colors for that year. I believe there were as many as 20 Challenger color choices for that year, though several colors were dropped and/or replaced for the 71 model year. I did take a color picture of this Challenger convert, which was at the Mopar Nats this past August, so if Andrew replies to my post, I would try and send a picture of this car to him or try to post one in this forum.

We all remember that various shades of medium and dark green were very popular in the mid to late 60s and early 70s (wonder how much Vietnam had to do with that!), but there were other colors. Bright red and medium blue metallic (especially on GM products) were two other very popular choices. I wonder how many 66-69 muscle cars (as well as pedestrian models) were painted maroon? While maroon wasn't that popular on Mopars of this vintage, it was pretty popular on Chevelles, Novas and Impalas made in those years. My teenage neighbor during the early 70s had a 67 Impala fastback that was maroon.

Andrew give me a holler if you want to see the picture buddy!