68 Charger RT need some help.

[60Buick]

Hello everyone. I have a very ambitious 68 Charger R/T project. I would be greatfully for ANY information I can get. This car is a complete mess and I may be nuts for trying to fix it.

 The former owner was a long time mopar collector and a member here, he went by sunroofsuperbird on this forum. I had met him several times at car shows and he was a super nice and knowledgable guy.  Unfortunately he passed away several years ago. He owned this car for 30+ years. He bought it to just to get the 4 speed as this car was pretty worthless in the early 80's. It sat in his junkyard and it was pretty much beyond repair and parted out. Luckily it avoided the crusher. I am the next chapter in this cars life and would like to save it. The first step is research.

This car is rough but it's pretty close to what I would have ordered new if I was alive in 68, it's a holy grail car to me. It's a 68 R/T 440 4 speed car. It is red, vinyl top delete, black bucket seat interior, console, a/c delete, drum brakes and manual windows. This car is a shell today, completely parted out and needs full floors and quarters. In the past this car was beyond repair but as Charger projects are drying up and aftermarket parts are more abundant, I would say the time has come where I can save it but it won't be cheap. Most of the projects you find today need floors, quarters and a top and the owner still wants a fortune for it. Why not just fix this one?

The first thing I would like to do is see if I can get the numbers for this car.  I'm not being lazy I have done some research and checked for the vin. Mine is a typical 68 in that it has the p o number instead of the vin on the core support. New information surfaces all the time for automotive archeology, is that number useful? I know it's a long shot. If I can get the numbers I can avoid the dreaded state ID tag and know what options to put back in the car. 

The Vin, Vin sticker and trim tag are all gone. The order number is B8X117500. So it was built in Hamtrack. That makes the first part of the Vin XS29L8xxxxxx. This is a rare car with only 2700 or so built. That narrows down the field considerably. Are there any records from the factory that could tie the order number to a vin? Could the order number nail down a production date? Are there surving cars with similar order numbers that might give some clues?

  The vin sticker might still exist on another car. The previous owner was building a 4x4 Daytona project about 10 years ago. I believe that car had received the drivers door from my car. Does anyone know what became of that car?  It's pretty unique. That might give me a number. I have enclosed a picture of the car he was building and a picture of my car taken around the same time period.

There is another number stamped on the front frame rail area. SS 139R,  does that have any meaning? 

Obviously my goal would be to get the numbers so I can put everything back as it was optioned in 1968. It's not a money thing, I still have the numbers off a 69 R/T, and a 69 Super Bee that I owned 20 years ago and they will never go on another car since both cars are no more. If I only knew then what I know now I would still have both cars and less regret.

Finally these cars are getting really valuble and there is a possibility the numbers have been put on another body. There are 1000's of Chargers but very few optioned like this one.  Has anyone seen a Red, R/T 440 4 speed vinyl top delete car?   If so check the tag for 117500. It might save someone some heartache. Buying a clone passed as the real thing sucks.

I bought a cloned 74 Gremlin XR-401 that was confirmed original by 4 previous owners as the real thing! Years later I got to talk to the people who built the XR-401 cars only to find out he marked each and every one built. That was never public knowledge and they can spot a fake if needed. I have a very well done clone and I no longer pass it as an original. I still enjoy the car but if I was ever to sell, the price would be 10xs lower for the next owner.

[Troy]

Just some quick info:
In 1968 the VIN tag didn't match the body numbers - they matched the fender tag. So nothing on the body is going to identify it as an R/T 4-speed unless you have the tag or build sheet. The VIN would be (likely) on the engine and transmission but it doesn't sound like you have either. The door wouldn't have any useful information. VIN stickers didn't show up until 1970.

Vinyl top, A/C, and disc brakes were options so they had to be added (if they were standard you could delete them). Not only that, A/C wasn't available on a 440 with a 4-speed transmission. Besides the stamped numbers, an R/T would have had the larger 11" drum brakes in front, bigger torsion bars, and a bigger sway bar. The rear axle for a 4-speed R/T would be a Dana with 3.54 gears.

It is a rare car if you can prove what it is. I don't believe that will be an easy task! The people who *might* have the ability to cross reference the numbers don't make that information publicly available.

Having said all that, people have been taking less expensive "base model" Chargers and swapping in a 440 and 4-speed and significantly increasing the car's value for decades. Not as much as the real thing but they aren't cheap.

Hey!!! This is post #11,000 for me.

Troy

[60Buick]

Thank you for some very good information. 11,000 post, this makes 2 for me! As you can tell I'm pretty new to learning about Chargers. I have been busy building the weird cars people threw in the garbage and I seem to be the only person who likes them.

I still have the front K member, front suspension and brake assemblies. The rear, motor and trans are long gone. Would the K member have any numbers on it?

The build sheet is missing, so is the back seat and the floor from the door jams on back.

I am still gathering parts for the car.  I got a good drivers door the other night locally and have been talking to some local 68 owners that have extra parts to sell me. 

Some of this cars past in parts and papers might still exist with the prior owners family but I don't want to push, they are extremely nice people and a joy to talk to. Being respectful is more important than a tag on a car.

[Johnp]

I thought even on 68 chargers the numbers from the driver side trunk lip were the last part of the vin?

[alfaitalia]

Out of interest....since you haver no tags, vin etc how did you find out the original spec you claim it had? Previous keeper?? As said there were no AC four speed so what made you think it did? The reason I'm interested is that my 69 came to the UK with no numbers AT ALL...no vin or body stamped numbers....Im sure it has a shady history from its time back in the US....but its lost forever now and has a UK issued 17 digit VIN so its legit as I can make it.....but I still dream of finding out more info. Every time I'm working on it I'm looking for any factory marks or mods made by the PO that I might be able to post on here to, just possibly, find some history.....but its like a blank car....no clues so far. All I really know and can prove is that is was originally black! (its on its way to been Ford Deep Impact Blue now....sorry about that!!!....other than  that anything could have been changed!! This is why I'm happy to ProTour a classic car....Im might not have been so keen if I knew the original specs......every cloud etc!!!

Looking forward to seeing you car progress and seeing what you find out about it .....good luck on your journey. You are about where I was nearly three years ago....time flies!!

[cdr]

I thought even on 68 chargers the numbers from the driver side trunk lip were the last part of the vin?

No part of , or any vin on the body of 1968, as Troy said in the post. body has Von , order # stamped on upper core support & left trunk channel & will be the # on the lower right of the fender tag.

[60Buick]

That's what mine shows as well, the Vehicle order number.

As for what the car was, everything comes from research and help from others. If I had found it in a field I would have no clue as to what it was born as. I was lucky that I found it through friends that know the car. I found confirmation from the last owners decade old post on this forum.

The best place to start is the beginning. I'm a station wagon / Mopar guy and a friend of mine (Stephen) who knew the last owner (Marty) were both big with the General Lee stuff and wagons. Stephen told me about a few junk Ford wagons being sold as scrap at what used to be a junkyard. I drove up looked around a little and bought the junk wagons for parts from Marty's family as he had passed a few years prior. All the good stuff is long ago sold but this rough 68 Charger was still there waiting on a date with me dragging it home or the crusher eating it. It was the only one there and I have wanted another Charger for years so I bought it.  I figured it was a nice top to put on another Charger should I find one worth fixing. Through our dealings we became friends and after talking for a bit things started to click and I realized I knew the last owner before he had passed.  I would bump into him at shows and we used to talk. I have not seen him in years and had no knowledge of his passing.

Fast forward a little and I am still trying to figure out what to do with the very rough Charger. Parts car, Bullitt clone, Christine Charger clone, put the shell on a crown vic chassis and paint it red, I had no idea about direction or even if it was any more than parts. Then my friend Stephen told me that was a true R/T 4 speed car. I took it with a grain of salt but I remembered Marty was huge into winged cars, had some very high end stuff and was building some unique cars. With a little looking for his cars, I found the man. Or at least I found his digital footprint on this forum from before he passed. I found his post confirming what Stephen had told me. The first 3 pictures are what little was written on the car. You all know what I know now. This car was now getting my attention. A true 440 4 speed 68 Charger is a dream car for me. Very few cars are higher on my bucket list.

As far as I know all the original stuff from this car has been used in his other cars. I wouldn't be shocked if it gave it's drive train to his Superbird clone 3 decades ago. It is all gone though. That makes it hard to figure out the rest of the puzzle. I was hoping the Von number could help unlock the riddle a little. Also the keen eyes from the knowledgeable people on this forum looking at the wreck it is, might be able to unlock what it was in the past.

As for my other claims about the car that's just a little archeology on the car. The original  burgundy/red paint is still there.  The big block K frame and drum brakes are still intact (I was told it was bb, I can't tell). The heater box has no a/c. I didn't know it wasn't available on a 4 speed car but that further confirm's the story. The old pictures I found of the car show bucket seats and the console brackets remain. The manual widows cranks are still in it. There is no vinyl top. I'm not sure if the car had stripes or not originally. The ones on the car sit on a repaint.

You guys see how rough this car is and why it had been passed over by many. I have been looking for a "decent" project that was affordable and needed a top.  What I'm finding are cars that need everything and have been butchered, packed with bondo and are a definitely not R/T 440 cars. Then I met a guy locally with a beautiful 69 and he showed me what he started with. It looked good but  was a little pricey. After the blaster got done with it, the car needed everything this car needs and more. That's when I realized what I had.  I have good rockers, no rust in the front structure and a dang solid top. I need all new floors, rear frame rails, quarters plus a thousand other parts I'm not thinking of yet. I do have a solid 68 Satellite 4 door doner car which will be a huge help with measurement's and parts.  It might allow me to make a jig as well. This will be a lengthy project for sure.

[Alaskan_TA]

If not having a VIN tag or documentation really does bother you, you bought the wrong car. 

[hemi-hampton]

Looks like that will take lots of time & money to restore. Have fun.

[Kern Dog]

Holy shit...That is not even a parts car!
I hope that you have deep pockets and  lots of patience.

[Alaskan_TA]

He was right in 2007 & if he were still alive today, his words here are still spot on;

[60Buick]

It's a rough one for sure. You guys stay tuned! Either I will save it, fail miserably or find a better start at some point!  It will be interesting either outcome, I can promise that.  But I assure you, it can be saved. The only question is do I have the skill set and determination. I warn you though,  I come from the world of 57 and 58 Plymouths. They were rust buckets new. Sometimes taking 3 cars to make 1 is the only way. I have a good parts car for sheet metal which will cut the cost tremendously as repo stuff is not cheap. I do everything myself so no labor cost. Just band aids, welding wire and beer. I must have had a few when I bought the wreck! I have scored a few parts very reasonably since I am after a driver not a show car. If I found a rusted out but complete 68 reasonably that would help. Thank you for all the feedback, it's motivation.

[chargervert]

AMD has made it possible to save any second generation Charger,If you don't think so just watch the Chop,Cut Rebuild episode where Ted Stevens pulls a wasted 69 Daytona from his junkyard,and AMD saves it. The problem I see for your car is the missing tags. Any Charger can be reconstructed,but without the numbers it can be hard to justify your investment. If you are building the car for yourself,I suppose you can get a state issued VIN number,and drive and enjoy it! I wish I had known that the day would come when all the sheetmetal necessary to save any Charger would be available,because I parted out about 100 of them back in the day due to New England rust issues,and I can think of a few nice R/T Chargers I would have saved!

[60Buick]

Thank you for posting that. I had not seen the Daytona rebuild before. I personally think they should have left the Daytona alone and put it on display at Tim Wellborns museum. It was a very interesting car as it was. It's kind of boring now.

AMD makes some good stuff. We used their stuff to do all the floors in my wifes Dart. In fact they are only 20 minutes up the road from me. I am hoping to get most of the bottom from my doner car. We will see what happens after I start on the project.

This one is for me. I prefer cars how they were born and I thoroughly enjoy the history of the car not just the finished product. I research every car I own and try to track down owners and the past. I just found the original owner to one of my wagons who is deceased but I contacted his son. He is sending me all the pictures of the car from when he was a kid some 40 years ago, he is very excited to hear the car still exist. I also drive my cars. When I finished my 60 Belvedere restoration it became my daily driver for 2 years. I do want to drive this Charger.

At the end of the day,  I'm only going to build 1. I can buy a solid base Charger and invest a lot less money or drive it as is. And when someone ask me what is it I can say, it's a base car that a retired school teacher used to drive. There is nothing wrong with that but because this car fell in my lap, I have the not so common opportunity to say "this was about the best muscle car you could buy, it was road hard and put away wet. It had a brief 10 years on the road before it's parts were going into other cars then it was cut up and left for dead. I spent way to much time and to much money on it but it's the real deal. This one was a brute on the streets in North Carolina in the late 60's early 70's and likely sent it's gut's through the oil pan but not before a lot of races were won".

[Y1CHARGER]

At the end of the day, this charger will be worth less than a 318 charger thats legit.  Sounds like any parts car obtained is the car to build, not this one...unless the VIN tags are found.

[Kern Dog]

What about at the beginning of that day or noon on that day? 

[GreenMachine]

It's a rough one for sure. You guys stay tuned! Either I will save it, fail miserably or find a better start at some point!  It will be interesting either outcome, I can promise that.  But I assure you, it can be saved. The only question is do I have the skill set and determination. I warn you though,  I come from the world of 57 and 58 Plymouths. They were rust buckets new. Sometimes taking 3 cars to make 1 is the only way. I have a good parts car for sheet metal which will cut the cost tremendously as repo stuff is not cheap. I do everything myself so no labor cost. Just band aids, welding wire and beer. I must have had a few when I bought the wreck! I have scored a few parts very reasonably since I am after a driver not a show car. If I found a rusted out but complete 68 reasonably that would help. Thank you for all the feedback, it's motivation.

I've heard that '57 Mopars rust quickly due to poor quality control at the factory, but, I had this one sandblasted last weekend. It's been sitting outside since 1965 in western Oklahoma. It has more dents on the outer skin than rust. It needs floors, trunk, rockers, and door bottoms. There are a couple of small holes at the back window lower left corner, but everything else looks very good. I think it just depends on the region mostly.

[charger_fan_4ever]

AMD has made it possible to save any second generation Charger,If you don't think so just watch the Chop,Cut Rebuild episode where Ted Stevens pulls a wasted 69 Daytona from his junkyard,and AMD saves it. The problem I see for your car is the missing tags. Any Charger can be reconstructed,but without the numbers it can be hard to justify your investment. If you are building the car for yourself,I suppose you can get a state issued VIN number,and drive and enjoy it! I wish I had known that the day would come when all the sheetmetal necessary to save any Charger would be available,because I parted out about 100 of them back in the day due to New England rust issues,and I can think of a few nice R/T Chargers I would have saved!

IMO cant say the stephens car was saved. It was body swapped. Didnt they use 1 inner rocker panel and part of the inner roof structure from the daytona ? rest was AMD and rust free frame rails.

[chargervert]

It's one of those cars like the Hemi Cuda convertible that was built from a cowl, or the Barrel Cuda,or Graveyard Carz Phantom Cuda.  The market will determine the value of these cars.  The fact that AMD has made almost any popular Mopar savable is something that I only could have dreamed of back in the eighties.  I parted out over 100 Mopars, mostly second generation Chargers, back then, because the parts were not available to save rusty New England cars.  The only way to build Mopars back then was to part out three or four cars to build one good car. Now Mopars are being saved no matter how bad they are! Only 503 Daytona's were built to allow them to  race in Nascar.  I would like to see all of them saved no matter what condition they are in. All the work was publically disclosed,and televised.  There are very accurate lists ,clubs,and registries that follow the wing cars closely, so any buyer should ask those in the know before buying any wing car.

[Johnp]

Are those pics of the car currently? I think if someone has the will and want to spend the time and money to restore a car no matter how bad off it is more power to them.  As long as there honest about the origins and restoration work if it's sold later on.  I do understand where your coming from on this car, it being a 440 4 speed it's a dream car for so many, so more or less you purchased a dream.  You just have to stick with it to make it a reality.  That being said I'm nuts I'd probably have purchased it to if it was cheap enough and even just kept it as a souvenir or whatever just not to see it crushed. 
    I would agree it was definitely a factory manual car because in the one pic you can see were the factory ball mount for the z bar was torched off the frame rail on the driver side but isn't that a small block wiper motor in the cowl?  I did notice the stripes on what's left of the quarter panel did only R/T cars come with those?   
One question if you found out the car wasn't a R/T for sure would you still pursue restoring it?

[60Buick]

  If it was not an R/T, not a 4 speed, not red or if it had a vinyl top..... I would not fix it. It's the combination that makes it a unicorn for me.  I gave scrap price for it. The original plan was to sell it to a friend who needs it for a rotted vinyl top car he is building into a G. Lee. He wants the roof, the rest would likely get shredded. I wasn't even looking for it, I bought 2 station wagons for the floor pans and trim then stumbled into the Charger. It was a flip to break even on the wagons and fuel to get them home.

You said it right I bought a dream. Only after I was told what it was did fixing it become a thought.

Every car guy has a list of cars that are out of reach, he would trade a left nut for. We imagine finding that car tucked away in a barn by a naive seller for an affordable price. But the reality is, there is a better chance of Jennifer Aniston randomly walking up and handing over a hotel room number, key and a bag of money, than of owning a car on that list. So we go without and buy something else.

Here is my list.

1) Ferrari 330 P3.  I'm pretty sure a lug nut off one is out of reach.
Funny story.....  A good friend of mine works at a movie studio where they are currently filming a Movie called Ferrari vrs Ford, its based on their rivalry in 1966. A half dozen P3's and GT40's are gathered there. He tried but I still can't get in just to look at them. He gets to move them around and complains they are ugly and cramped. That's life, I love these cars and can't even get in the same room with one while the guy that doesn't care about cars gets to play with them.

2) legit iconic screen used movie cars. The Family Truckster, Ecto 1, BTTF Delorean, Bandit's trans am, Christine, Bullitt Charger, truck from Duel, Kowalski's Challenger, Charger from Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, General Lee, Bluesmobile, anything from American Graffiti.......... Not going to happen for obvious reasons.

3) 1937 Willys coupe, Turquoise survivor in good condition. They were all turned into gasses long ago. My grandfather had a Willys coupe and sold it after WW2 for $10.

4) 68 Charger R/T, 440 4 speed. Red with black interior, no vinyl top and black bumblebee stripes......I'm waiting to see if Jennifer Aniston will show up with my bag of money now that the Charger did. The condition is definitely not what I imagined but it was cheap.

The pictures are a few months old that I took. Once I get it up on jack stands and cleaned up. I will post up more, you guys are more knowledgeable than me. I can't do that until I get a wagon stripped down and off to the crusher to make room. If it turns out to be not what I think it is, I won't fix it. I get back on my other projects and sell the top. If it is the unicorn, I will sell some other cars and make plans on how best to save the Charger. The people I bought it from are going to do some digging and see what they can find on the car. It might have a paper trail or tag's in a box somewhere. That's a start.

[Johnp]

I like your response, it makes sense to me.  Hopefully Jennifer Aniston and that bag of money shows up soon!  What state did you get the car from and are you located in the round about area?  I noticed this on Craigslist maybe it belonged to your car if your near by?

https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/pts/d/833-hemispeed-18-spline/6680513277.html
How many 68 R/T s (with 440s) were built?  Just a thought

I remember last year around this time a 68 red maybe copper R/T charger popped up on eBay and CL with the whole left rear quarter cut off and some trunk area.  It was just a bare shell, does anyone know what happened to that car? I think it had the vin tag, fender tag and title even with it.  I believe the person was asking $4500 for it.

[Y1CHARGER]

I like your response, it makes sense to me.  Hopefully Jennifer Aniston and that bag of money shows up soon!  What state did you get the car from and are you located in the round about area?  I noticed this on Craigslist maybe it belonged to your car if your near by?

https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/pts/d/833-hemispeed-18-spline/6680513277.html
How many 68 R/T s (with 440s) were built?  Just a thought

I remember last year around this time a 68 red maybe copper R/T charger popped up on eBay and CL with the whole left rear quarter cut off and some trunk area.  It was just a bare shell, does anyone know what happened to that car? I think it had the vin tag, fender tag and title even with it.  I believe the person was asking $4500 for it.

A 69 VIN trans would Never of come in a 68

[Johnp]

Sorry guys that's my mistake I was looking at to many pages at once and forgot it was a 68 not  a 69

[cdr]

Without a VIN # there is NO way to prove , or even SAY it is an R/T

[Homerr]

I'd say save it if you think you can, they aren't build any more.   

I'd suggest getting things worked out with the state, chances are that you'll end up with a state issued VIN.  But if you're building to keep then no worries.  Document everything, even post it here or elsewhere publicly to reinforce the car's story.  Hopefully the story and end result will give some value to offset the lack of VIN tag.

You can look at the registry in my sig to get an idea on some VON numbers, but it won't really help you find out anything in particular.

Someone here posted this guy's youtube channel here a month or two ago, he's got more to work with than you but it shows what some hard work can do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pVwXqIKsFg

[moparfan53]

...    I would agree it was definitely a factory manual car because in the one pic you can see were the factory ball mount for the z bar was torched off the frame rail on the driver side but isn't that a small block wiper motor in the cowl?  I did notice the stripes on what's left of the quarter panel did only R/T cars come with those?...

FYI; There is no small block / big block wiper motor. There is 2 speed and 3 speed. The 2 speed was standard and 3 speed an option on all engines except the Hemi. Hemi cars had 3 speed wipers as standard equipment due to the air cleaner size / clearance problem.

Yes, only R/T cars had the stripe. The stripe could be deleted on '69 cars but I do not know about '68 cars.

[60Buick]

I appreciate the comments and suggestions thus far. The registry is impressive. I can date the car to Nov 67 by the K frame stamp but the SO numbers are all over the place.

I have a little update on the car as well.

I got up in the middle of the night to make the 4 hour drive up to North Carolina to pick the car up expecting a long day. We decided it was too risky to drag the car to the trailer so we made a path to back the trailer up to the car. We took out 2 trees, the crest of a hill and filled in ruts in the eroded path just to back up to it. Then we had to drag out a van that had it blocked in. We picked the Chargers nose up with the tractor and backed the trailer under the car. I didn't hurt the car at all loading it up. The car was easy to load as if it ready to get the heck out of there.

I cleaned the car out. I found an 8 track tape, some 1970's pennys, a pill bottle and a whole lot of broken tinted glass. The pill bottle made me laugh, I couldn't help but think of Kowalski popping pills in Vanishing point.

Next we went parts hunting. I filled the bed of my truck with parts off this car. There is a bus that had a bunch of dashboards in it. There are dashes from A bodys on up to E bodys and every single dash has had the Vin removed. At least I know he didn't sell the numbers with the dash. I found the original dash frame to the car and bought the nicest charger dash he had.

Since the dash was a bust to get the Vin, we went to the file cabinet in the office looking for a paper trail. The files are great, they have BoS/titles, build sheets, receipts and some have tags and vins. Unfortunately instead of filing the cars by make/model, he did it in the order purchased. So the first car he bought was #1, the second was #2 and so on. The road runner next to the Charger is #373 and I remembered a 10 on my Chargers pass door in white.

His procedure was to photograph the car when it came in. Then he had a notebook where he would give a description of the car and give it a number. He then spray painted the number on the car and it was ready to be picked clean. He had a few thousand cars go through the property in this manner until he passed away.

We found the note book that he kept track of every car that came through the yard. Car #10 was a truck. The notebook shows #10 as a D50 Dodge Truck. Scanning for chargers we go back to the car with multiple numbers because I didn't notice any other numbers on the car. I was wrong, looking closely you could make out something faint on the drivers quarter. I "washed" the drivers quarter and sure enough there is some very eroded spray paint, it was #61.
We check the notebook. #61 is listed as 1968 Charger R/T orange. #61 was bought in 1987 for $100 and I doubt it had a title because he wrote the word title next to cars that had titles.

Back to the file cabinet to find it's bill of sale and possibly the Vin and fender tag. Well the file in the junkyard office only goes back to 2005 and he bought this car in 87. So he probably has those records in his home buried in a closet or attic. Then there is always the possibility he threw files in the trash every so often but we do know they were not lost in the fire that destroyed the yard and his Superbird in 85.... His granddaughter is going to dig around some when she gets time and look for a file on car #61. I offered a nice bounty on the tags or paper work should they be found.


Looking over the car for physical evidence it's pretty safe to say the car was a stick shift. The frame was torched for the Z bar mount and he torched out the tunnel. It also has the grommet for the clutch linkage. Is there any physical evidence that says this car was an R/T other than Marty's description? Yes. The car was repainted one time from red to orange. When they prepped the car to paint it orange they removed the original vinyl stripe and left a little bit of the original black vinyl stripe on the edge of the quarter. They didn't prep the area very well and repainted the stripe in the wrong spot.......

This car was a 70's hot rod. It had an aftermarket coil mounted on the fender. The exhaust was under it and it had 3 foot long straight pipes run off 4 bolt flange headers. A chrome dip stick was found as well. We did find the 8 track tape and a few other rusty chrome dress up parts in the dirt and leaves under the car. It was a Joe Dirt Special at one time.

The only other thing to add is, I gave it a bath. My wife still calls it the General Ug Lee.

[TTG]

Wow, that's a great story!!!
Hope everyone is staying safe during these times of peril!

TTG

I'd say save it if you think you can, they aren't build any more.   

I'd suggest getting things worked out with the state, chances are that you'll end up with a state issued VIN.  But if you're building to keep then no worries.  Document everything, even post it here or elsewhere publicly to reinforce the car's story.  Hopefully the story and end result will give some value to offset the lack of VIN tag.

You can look at the registry in my sig to get an idea on some VON numbers, but it won't really help you find out anything in particular.

Someone here posted this guy's youtube channel here a month or two ago, he's got more to work with than you but it shows what some hard work can do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pVwXqIKsFg

[MoparMike68]

It's a convincing history as to the cars identification but maybe not enough for some to
Purchase without a proper vin. I would pass only because if I had a choice I'd prefer documentation.
But by all means save it I love that combination