cruiser
Well-Known Member
Good evening my Mopar kiddies. I trust the new year has brought you happiness, peace and restful sleep. For some of us of course, the new year may not bring an end to your challenged sleep schedule, and so we'll try to remedy that with this evening's component resto chapter: The Paperwork. As you likely know, there was a lot of "paperwork" that accompanied our Chrysler vehicles when they were delivered new. For many guys and gals, this paperwork really isn't that important and missing it is not a big problem. Most of us, after all, are about mechanically restoring our cars and running down those elusive parts to make them complete. A small subset of our hobby has an obsession about acquiring the correct original paperwork that came with the car, and yes I'm one of those people. And so when my 1974 Gold Duster came up for sale in the spring of 2019, I knew that this one was a winner because it came with a remarkably complete paperwork package compiled by the original owner. He bought the car in December of 1973 and kept it until 2010. Two owners later, it was again for sale and I snapped it up via an ad in Classics on AutoTrader. So the following is my personal opinion on what makes a complete paperwork package. You may have a differing opinion, so feel free to add yours below. First, you've gotta have the "hardware". And yeah, I know this stuff isn't paper, but since it drives the paperwork package it seems really important to me. Start with the fender tag, which my Duster did not have. But it did have the dash VIN tag, the door sticker and a host of other evidence such as the car's serial number (129869) stamped upside down on the front of the driver's side of the radiator core support. Upon submitting the proper documentation to MMC Detroit, I had them make me a replacement fender tag. I found two of the correct fender tag mounting screws, then painted the screws and the tag in the car's original JY9 Tahitian Gold Metallic paint and installed the tag on the mounting location on the left inner fender. The first owner doesn't know what happened to the original tag, but it sure felt great to replace it after being missing for decades. So now I had the hardware issue licked. I had the fender tag, dash VIN tag, and numerous car serial numbers stamped in several places (including the full VIN stamped on the numbers matching original transmission). On to the paperwork. For starters, I think you need the broadcast sheet. I was incredibly lucky to acquire the perfect original broadcast sheet when I bought the car. At some point early in its life, the car's broadcast sheet was removed from its factory location (under the sound insulation pad beneath the carpeted floor of the front passenger seat) and placed in a plastic sleeve for secure storage. I've never in my life seen a broadcast sheet this nice. This of course provided a wealth of info for recreating the fender tag. Next is the window sticker. Oddly, the car came with a color photocopy of the two page window sticker, but not the window sticker itself. Strange I thought, but I contacted a company that reproduces window stickers and they made me a perfect repro window sticker set that's exactly identical to the original. So I had my broadcast sheet and window sticker set, and now it was on to the lesser known stuff. The Duster came with its bill of sale from Hershberger Motors in Woodburn OR, and came with the original factory warranty folder with the car's VIN on it. The car also came with the very rare factory supplied braking information sheet which contains the vehicle's VIN and SO (sequential ordering) number. In addition, I have the original owner's manual and its vinyl sleeve, and the warranty servicing brochure from Chrysler. Finally, the car came with a bunch of paperwork from its previous life documenting all of the major maintenance (such as an engine replacement in 1988 and a repaint job in 1994) that had been performed, and a bunch of minor stuff (like oil changes) as well. I was able to take this large heap of maintenance receipts and compile an accurate maintenance history of the car, which I add onto every time I work on it. So now I have the complete package: The hardware, the paperwork, and the service records, all of which I keep in a tidy folder in my nice warm basement in Minneapolis. So to summarize, this is what I think a really good paperwork package looks like: The broadcast sheet, the window sticker, the door jamb sticker, the warranty folder, the braking information sheet, and a nice stack of service receipts documenting the important stuff (like repaints or engine replacements). Less important receipts (such as tire replacements or oil changes) are nice to have but not as necessary as the big stuff. Regrets? My biggest one is not having the numbers matching engine. The first owner changed it out for a parts store motor in 1988 after it started burning a lot of oil. He tried, but was unable to locate the original engine for me. So I was left with a correct part number block out of another 1974 A body vehicle which I've restored to December of 1973 standards. So there you have it, kids. I hope you found tonight's discussion enlightening and are now ready for a nice long nap. Please see the photos below and note that I've obscured the original owner's info to respect his privacy. One final topic to touch on: I know that putting my car's VIN and other info out there on the interweb exposes me to scammers who steal this stuff. But I feel that most Mopar people are honest and articles like this help expand the knowledge of our beloved hobby, so I'll take the hit on this because I think its for a good cause. In any case, I hope you enjoyed tonight's installment and are ready for a nice long nap. Now go upstairs and have two cookies with a glass of milk and go to bed. Night night!
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