With the ebay auction, I just thought it was timely to the discussion, also
I find these types of emails more interesting than the technical ones.
I can't speak on experiences with Ford or Rootes (manufacturers or dealers),
since I have none.
With Chysler vehicles I had a 1966 Plymouth with 1965 seatbelts, I was the
3rd owner (my grandfather the 2nd and his next door neighbor the first), it
was an early 66 model year build. Nobody touched the seat belts until I had
them re-webbed 30 years later. Also a friend has a late build 1971 Dodge
with a 1972 instrument cluster. My understanding is Chrylser used whatever
was on hand, for example they had 3 vendors (or more?) for radiators so I
have seen similar cars with very close VINs produced at the same plant with
different radiators. The assembly guys used whatever they had not knowing
years later people would be worrying about correctness.
So what is correct or incorrect? should I have taken my 1965 seatbelts out
(my friend dump the 1972 cluster?) even if they came from the factory that
way?
On a dealer level, 5 or 6 years ago I met a guy with a 1971 Road Runner
painted a Porsche red. In the 60s/70s he loved that color and had his local
dealership paint a couple of the cars he bought that color before he took
delivery. He had paperwork and everything for his car showing the date and
additional cost of the paint job performed by the dealer.
So should he restore the car to be red (it was still beautiful and didn't
need to be restored) or the color it came from the factory?
Mr. Norm of Grand Spalding Dodge, in the Chicago IL area, dropped in 383s
and 440s into Dodge Darts and later the factory would copy his work. My
favorite was the 1972 Supercharged 340 Demon GSS. A Mr. Norm's Sport Club
car is generally worth more than a similar factory offering.
A favorite story of mine is...a local guy I know bought a used car from a
dealer in the 1960s when he was a senior in high school and his dad who
worked for Chrysler co-signed on the loan. It only had several hundred miles
on it and was called a "demo" car. After a week or so the car was running
real rough (but suprising real strong) so his dad took the car back to the
dealer with him. Turns out Chrysler had pulled the car from the assembly
line and dropped in an experimental hi-performance motor but failed to
removed it afterwards somehow winding up on the dealer's lot. The dealer
generously installed a brand new plain-jane motor saying the other one was
shot, later that day several "suits" showed up and whisked the engine out
the back door...
On the Rootes side of this, I thought I saw a club newsletter cover (maybe
TE/AE?) and it had a Rootes dealer invoice on it that showed someone having
a Shelby 289 installed by the dealer...so from the factory it came with a
260 but to the owner's door it came with a 289 (perhaps even with Cobra
valve covers?)
Sorry to ramble on this long...but stories to tell.
Paul
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