Demon non-option question

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tom999w

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If I was to buy a base Demon in 1971 with a slant 6 and 3 speed manual column shift trans, does anyone know what would be the standard things included with it? I was looking at the "1971 Demon Options & Accessories Report" located in another thread on this website, and alot of the things on my car (non-options?) are not in this report. So that leads one to believe that my Demon is a very base, bare bones car.

Does anyone agree with this for a base model Demon?: black rubber flooring, black vinyl bench seat, black vinyl interior panels, no radio (radio blank-out plate), four wheel manual drum brakes, poverty dog dish hubcaps with body colored wheels (I've read in another thread that body colored wheels ended in spring 1971 and were replaced with semi-gloss black wheels), no cigar lighter, no rear defogger, no power steering, no power brakes, manual foot activated windshield washer, 2 speed wipers, one body colored side mirror, no body mouldings or tape stripes, no undercoating, three Demon stickers....
 
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I am sure that most dealers would have ordered the basic package which would have included AM radio and cigarette lighter. I would also think automatic transmission would have been optional and 3 speed manual would have been standard.
 
That's what I thought too, but the "1971 Demon Options & Accessories Report" shows the cigar lighter as option J15, a $4.00 option. And the AM radio is option R11, but maybe there was a more basic AM radio than R11 that came standard... You're right about the transmissions, the report shows the 3 speed manual trans as standard for the 198 & 225 slant six Demons..
 
These look like the standard hubcaps and steering wheel for a base 1971 Demon.

hubcap.png


steering wheel.png
 
tom999w said:
That's what I thought too, but the "1971 Demon Options & Accessories Report" shows the cigar lighter as option J15, a $4.00 option. And the AM radio is option R11, but maybe there was a more basic AM radio than R11 that came standard... You're right about the transmissions, the report shows the 3 speed manual trans as standard for the 198 & 225 slant six Demons..
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But they also grouped them in packages to sell items commonly sold together.
 
There's tables here that tell you what was standard and optional at the time of printing. It doesn't appear that the lighter was standard on the Demon, but was on the Demon 340 and all Darts. It doesn't show the lighter packaged with other options, but White Hat Specials, Spring Specials and the like would bundle popular options for a limited amount of time.

The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1971 Dodge Dealership Data Book - Dart & Demon
 
My Uncle bought a new red 71' 198ci in Maryland that mirrors yours almost exactly except it was a 3spd.
 
So your uncle's was a serious base model Demon. At least mine has an auto transmission. Without the optional side and rear stripes it looks like any other car, and not a super cool Demon.
OldmanRick said:
My Uncle bought a new red 71' 198ci in Maryland that mirrors yours almost exactly except it was a 3spd.
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S'cuder said:
There's tables here that tell you what was standard and optional at the time of printing. It doesn't appear that the lighter was standard on the Demon, but was on the Demon 340 and all Darts. It doesn't show the lighter packaged with other options, but White Hat Specials, Spring Specials and the like would bundle popular options for a limited amount of time.

The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1971 Dodge Dealership Data Book - Dart & Demon
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Thanks for that information. It pretty much coincides with the 1971 Demon options & Accessories report. It really helped to put alot more of the puzzle pieces together..
By the way, I was asking this question because the build sheet is missing, and the data plate is present but rusted to oblivion. I was thinking of getting a new data plate made once I gather all the info and separate what's standard from what's an option. Thanks.
 
The Hamtramck Registry site and also the 1971 Demon options & Accessories report say that the Music Master AM radio (option R11) is an extra cost option, but it doesn't say what was standard. Does anyone know if there is a more basic radio or a delete plate that was standard?
 
Also, does anyone know if 1971 Demon wheels were painted body color or black (with the standard poverty caps)?
 
Sometime in spring 71 all the body color wheels stopped, and everything was black after that. This is one of those things thats “known” but documentation of such is a bit obscure. Similar to the radio - the radio IS the option, but most cars had the bottom of the barrel R11 2 1/2 watt Music Master. The factory and dealers both knew that a stripper w no radio was a turn off back then.
 
Demonic said:
Sometime in spring 71 all the body color wheels stopped, and everything was black after that. This is one of those things thats “known” but documentation of such is a bit obscure. Similar to the radio - the radio IS the option, but most cars had the bottom of the barrel R11 2 1/2 watt Music Master. The factory and dealers both knew that a stripper w no radio was a turn off back then.
Click to expand...
So I've been doing some research and it seems that before the spring of 1971 (some people say February, some people say May, etc.) base model Demon wheels were body painted and had red line poverty hubcaps. Then after the spring of 1971, base Demon wheels were semi-gloss black and had plain poverty hubcaps.... The pictures below show an example of pre-spring 1971 Demon wheels, and post-spring 1971 Demon wheels.... Does this seem correct?

demon junk2.jpg


demon junk.jpg
 
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