The only console equipped '72 C-Body?

bigmoparjeff

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I finally got around to taking the Gran Coupe off the car trailer and took a closer look at the carnage that 30 years of poor storage has wrought. The big question burning in my brain: Has anyone else ever run across a 1972 C factory equipped with a console?

When my friend first called me about the car I was quite skeptical about the console being original, but a quick check of the '72 fury sales brochure shows that it was available only on the Gran Coupes. (BTW, the '73 sales brochure no longer lists it as an option). I was also surprised that it had the metal top plates instead of the vinyl covered ones, but I guess those were Chrysler and Dodge only.

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For those who missed my first post on this car: A friend of mine made a deal on it over a year ago and we had been waiting for the ground to dry out so I could pick it up, but every time I was available to get it, it seemed to be raining during 2018. I was forced to pick it up in the snow back in March because the old barn that it was in was going to be demolished the following week. The seller was the son of the person who ordered the car new in 1972. The father and son were both long time car guys, into hot rods and racing going back into the 1950's, and also good friends of Don Rook, who we were discussing not too long ago. The car itself is about as bad as they come, and certainly the rustiest car that I've ever brought home. It looks like the quarters were pretty rotted when it was parked in 1989, and the rest of the mess occurred during storage. As you can see in the pics, the car is bent where the fenders meet the doors, and that's because the back of the subframe is no longer attached to the bottom of the car. It's now parked with my other parts cars, and some day I'll get around to taking off the few parts that are worth saving.

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Fender tag coded for console. C16 Console, woodgrain.

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Seller pointed out that assembly line worker wrote "console" on glove box door.

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Another oddity: I can't recall ever seeing the emissions label on the hood before. Seems they were usually on the inner fender, then they went to the thin ones on the rad support.

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Seat track rotted through

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Along with the sub.

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Rear rails are actually pretty clean.

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Bumper smashed, lights busted, but license holder survived.

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That is roached.
Don’t slam the door too hard, you might break the latch.

Nice console though.
 
Hey that’s fixable if the rear rails are nice. Swap the sub and the body panels.

Never mind, too bad it’s junk now, unusual car.

How do you know a line worker wrote console on the glove box door? Could have been anybody.
 
Hey that’s fixable if the rear rails are nice. Swap the sub and the body panels.

Never mind, too bad it’s junk now, unusual car.

How do you know a line worker wrote console on the glove box door? Could have been anybody.

Who else would have a reason to write it? Seller says it's been there since car was picked up at dealership. It was probably a reminder for a worker further down the assembly line to install the correct speedometer with the gear indicator block-off plate.
 
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Hey that’s fixable if the rear rails are nice. Swap the sub and the body panels.

Never mind, too bad it’s junk now, unusual car.

How do you know a line worker wrote console on the glove box door? Could have been anybody.
I don't know if this photo verifies anything at all, but I do have something written (9126) on my glove box door, also in yellow.
 
optional console on gran coupe..which it is.. car is scrap part it out
 
Who else would have a reason to write it? Seller says it's been there since car was picked up at dealership. It was probably a reminder for a worker further down the assembly line to install the correct speedometer with the gear indicator block-off plate.

That’s not how they built cars. A copy of the broadcast sheet went to the dash assembly area and they built the correct dash for the options on the car, colors, clock, radio, Switches, heater or A/C controls, etc. The broadcast sheet was taped to the dash so they knew which car to put the dash in. Same for seat/upholstery department.

Pretty neat it came with the writing on the glove box lid
 
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Pretty interesting car. I don’t remember seeing many if any ‘72 c-bodies with a console.
 
Shame, it could have been a nice car restored.

Another oddity: I can't recall ever seeing the emissions label on the hood before. Seems they were usually on the inner fender, then they went to the thin ones on the rad support.

View attachment 281881

Seat track rotted through

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Along with the sub.

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Rear rails are actually pretty clean.

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Bumper smashed, lights busted, but license holder survived.

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DO THE CAR JUSTICE. PUT THAT CONSOLE AND OPTIONS RIGHT INTO ANOTHER ‘72 FURY
 
Is 9126 the last four digits of your VIN number?

Quite possibly it’s the dealership stock number. So they could go get the keys for it. Dealerships all use different ways to track the cars they have on the lot. Dealers in house stock number is a popular way
 
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That’s not how they built cars. A copy of the broadcast sheet went to the dash assembly area and they built the correct dash for the options on the car, colors, clock, radio, Switches, heater or A/C controls, etc. The broadcast sheet was taped to the dash so they knew which car to put the dash in. Same for seat/upholstery department.

Pretty neat it came with the writing on the glove box lid

What you state is the way it's supposed to work, but many who chased build sheets on their B-bodies discovered the "correct" interior (visually) with the wrong (for the VIN) build sheet on those items in their unmolested (while still used cars) cars. Even different build sheets for the front and rear seats, which visually matched the data plate info.

The instrument panel ASSY would have been done off-line, then the build sheet attached, and then sent to the IP inventory for the line assy people to pull from. The notation "console" could have well been put there by the off-line assembler, possibly to help the interior installers to get the right interior for the car itself. IPs would have gone in first, then the seats/console at another station, down the line.

CBODY67
 
As for the car itself, time and money can fix lots of things. BUT, unfortunately, I highly suspect there's much more rust in places you haven't yet seen, which can easily mean "It would be neat to save and restore, even for the neatness of what the installed options were, but at what cost?"

Get some good pictures of the car, the data plate, the VIN, etc. Take off the good stuff and possibly use the "dustings" for fertilizer on your trees or similar.

At least you know of ONE that WAS! With proof! The most rare one would be with the factory cassette tape player/recorder and the console, I suspect. Provided that that combination could happen.

CBODY67
 
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