Assembly line treasures

Micah Pohlman · Jan 1, 2022

Over the years of fixing, parting out and general disassembly of these I've found a few interesting things in nooks and crannies that don't belong or neat details in various locations that are usually lost to the years. What oddities have others found?

** I have found many extra new bolts and screws under the carpet (I'm sure we all have) but oddly enough I have found several coat hooks too, but never the color of the interior of the car they were found in.

** I finally found the paint code written on the inside on this 77 Charger I just parted out. I have heard this was supposed to be a common thing but never saw one until now. I have seen other markings that I don't know what they mean too.

** Here is something I have only seen a handful of times (bet never on cars, just trucks). The leaf spring ID decal. The fact that any of these lasted more than a few years is amazing on anything just given their location. But this one is clear as a bell, kinda. Also from this 77 Charger. If the build sheet was readable it would probably match up with a line on there.

** Here is one that is pure speculation as to how/why this got here. It's a Cordoba coin that was on the inside of the radiator support of this 77 Charger. It looks like it was put there before the radiator went in.

turbine68rt · Jan 1, 2022

I did a thread on this a while back and had some interesting replies. A friend's '64 880 wagon had a vending machine coffee cup, a parts punch card, and a letter suggesting to invest for retirement under the original carpet. Another guy with a '65 Coronet he bought new had chicken bones under the carpet.

SattyNoCar · Jan 1, 2022

Had a (wrecked) '73 Satellite Custom 4dr I parted out. I ended up cutting the car up to make it easier to haul to the scrap yard. In doing so, I found a new uncut trunk key between the rear frame rail and the trunk floor. Not in the frame rail. It looked like it had been done during assembly and not afterwards because the welds were skipped where the key was. How bored (stoned?) was somebody on the line to go thru that effort?
Only things I've found in my current wagon are signs of shoddy assembly line work...

AR67GTX · Jan 1, 2022

A bit off topic but pretty sure I left a magnetic base light in the upper area of one of my doors just before buttoning it up with panels, handles, etc. I will probably hit a bump some day and jar it loose with a resulting clunk and I’ll know which door I need to take apart again. I miss that little work light.

Dave6T4 · Jan 1, 2022

In the early '70's, we had a Gremlin as our second car and this thing always had a rattle in the rear cargo area. One day I had to remove the rear interior trim to change out a burned out tail light bulb. I also found the cause of my noise. I found an empty KFC snack box and Pepsi can. My car must have been built at lunch time.

1 Wild R/T · Jan 1, 2022

Back in the mid 80's working at a Ford dealership, customer complaint, intermittent clunk from the passenger side... Drove the car, heard the clunk, took the RF door panel off, found a coke bottle hung on a string tied to the door structure.. Note in the bottle "well you found it what the **** you gonna do about it"... Somebody was bored & didn't like their assembly line job much...

Superbeemike · Jan 1, 2022

I have a 65’ Tempest that my great grandfather bought new. I pulled the original carpet to replace it a few years ago and found these…

Zig Zags…it was built at the Fremont assembly plant?!?! The Automobile Club card has the name Mrs. Eugene Fedasz which I researched. Found what I think were several family members with the same last names in Northern California. Definitely not a common last name. Messaged them in Facebook in hopes to hear a story or two, maybe return the card to them, but never got a response.

View attachment 1216412

maxwedgechar · Jan 1, 2022

In 1972 I was working new car prep at a VW dealer and 2 different times I found a beer bottle and once a candy wrapper! Remember those guys take beer breaks like we take coffee breaks! Ya Otto alles gut!

SattyNoCar · Jan 1, 2022

1 Wild R/T said:
Back in the mid 80's working at a Ford dealership, customer complaint, intermittent clunk from the passenger side... Drove the car, heard the clunk, took the RF door panel off, found a coke bottle hung on a string tied to the door structure.. Note in the bottle "well you found it what the **** you gonna do about it"... Somebody was bored & didn't like their assembly line job much...

Were Ford lines that bad back in the day? I've heard a number of stories over the years involving bottles or cans and they usually involved Fords. Shop teacher I had told a story of a '70's LTD that had a bad rattle from the right rear. Someone had placed a soda can in the frame rail before the body was attached. True? I dunno.

R413 · Jan 1, 2022

I worked at a car dealer and I gave 2 weeks notice. So I left a note inside a car for a coworker who was going to install the parts I ordered. When I saw him again we both got a good laugh from it. He still works there 30 years later.

Those wrong color coat hooks were misses thrown at their favorite workers.

maxwedgechar · Jan 1, 2022

I walked into the local gas station. The owner pointed to the back of a new Cordoba, this was 1976/77. What's wrong? No shocks, looked closer, no studs on the frame to mount the shocks! Car comes down the line, no studs, OK, no shocks, OK, line keeps moving!

maxwedgechar · Jan 1, 2022

I was told the Aspen/Volare cars were really full of assembly goofs. Trim on one side but not the other, wrong trim, wrong name plates and really bad paint. The neighbor had a new Volare wagon that looked like it was painted in a sand storm at night by a guy who was blindfolded!

Big Bad Dad · Jan 1, 2022

When restoring his 71 Road Runner, my friend found a flattened coffee cup with Chrysler logo under the original carpet.

Cliff Ramsdell · Jan 1, 2022

Tearing apart a 383 in the mid ‘80’s I found something weird in the lifter valley. Turns out it was a cigarette butt. There was no smoking on the line so they would wing the butt down the oil fill of the motor.

Over 20 years of doing new car PDI at various Chrysler Plymouth and Dodge dealerships I have collected a few of the rosette rivets that must have fallen behind the dash at assembly of the car. By the time I started in 1984 most of the bad quality issues had passed but I have heard some crazy stories about the Aspen/Volare quality problems and fender recall.

Cliff Ramsdell

Chargerjase · Jan 1, 2022

When I removed the original carpet from my 73 Charger I found this. A bit of a strange one.

turbine68rt · Jan 1, 2022

These items were in my friend's '64 880

moparedtn · Jan 1, 2022

Wow, this stuff is fascinating for sure. Thanks everyone for sharing so far. :thumbsup:

(I'll just sit over here and wait for someone to break out the "look for the union label" song... )

XCELLR8 · Jan 3, 2022

I disassembled a 76 400 and found an unused rod bolt in the bottom of the oil pan.

YY1 · Jan 3, 2022

Still waiting for someone to explain (or top the story) of the 1972 Charger "DO NOT BUILD" broadcast sheet I found perforated to the correct sheet for my 73 Satellite along with the "LAST JOB" sheet.

SattyNoCar · Jan 3, 2022

XCELLR8 said:
I disassembled a 76 400 and found an unused rod bolt in the bottom of the oil pan.

That reminded me of something I found, though I don't think it was done on the assembly line. Back in '84, I had a clapped out '73 Satellite Sebring (I was in HS). When we took the radiator to be rodded out, they found a bunch of those little plastic army men in the bottom tank of the radiator. The shop showed it to me before they removed them, they looked like they had been there a long time. Car was only about 10 yrs old at the time, so, who knows?

Assembly line treasures

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