grille colour of the 1970 Challenger R/T

[joehiggins]

I just started to work on a 1970 Challenger R/T, the car is a survivor, no rust and very original as far as I can see.
But one thing I don`t understand. The grille surounding and the headlight bezels on this car are silver or just polished. Not black or grey as they were on the R/Ts as you can read in all the e-body books. Does anybody know if it is possible that this is original, was it maybe a orderoption? I have seen some R/Ts on the internet that look exactly the same, but I don´t know if they are original. Maybe on my car somebody changed all the parts a long time ago.
I attach a picture of the car and I am thankfull for every information. The car is a factory R/T, I have the fender tags. Thx

 

[DetMatt1]

Welcome to the site from the Motor City! Looks like a great car but first off, what are the first 5 digits of the vin? That would be a grille that would have come on a JH car(non R/T). Could an R/T have left the factory with an argent grille? Anything is possible. I don't think it could have been possible to order the car that way though. Does it have a fender tag and or a build sheet?

 

[joehiggins]

Thanks for your reply! Yes the VIN starts with JS23NOE and the fender tag says the car has a A63 molding group, could it be that?
Thank you, best regards
Hardy

 

[72ls5fla]

somebody along the way just stripped the black paint off the grill and head lamp buckets.

All R/T's were blacked out and all nonR/T cars were painted in argent silver.
The black paint was a little bit less shinny than a semi-gloss.

I believe (not 100% sure) that the paint is available.

Hope this helps some.

Bill

 

[DetMatt1]

A63 didn't specify anything about the grille so I dont think that had anything to do with it. It was likely as stated above, somebody stripped the black off for one reason or another. 45 years is a long time for these cars to be messed with by who knows how many people. I have a lot of unanswerable questions about all of my cars and I wish they could talk.

 

[moparleo]

Here are some pics.
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/download.php?Number=3820124

 

[michael]

I heard somewhere that some EARLY 1970 RT challengers came from factory with argent silver grills. But then again I'm no expert...my 1971 challenger was no RT to begin with...original engine(383) long gone...painted it RT style cause I think it looks better....could give a rat's it's not original.

 

[challenger6pak]

It was very common, when the cars were just used cars (1980's), for people to strip the paint off to make a chrome looking grille. That is what was done to your car. I have seen a few R/T's with argent silver grilles. Oddly enough, they were all Sherwood Green cars.

 

[DetMatt1]

What's the build date of your car, Joe?

 

[72ls5fla]

here is a pic of my grill

r/t built on 6/13/70

 

[joehiggins]

Built date is 2/24/70

 

[joehiggins]

built date is 2/24/70

 

[DetMatt1]

Had to be one of the last ones built for '70 and 2-24-'70 is already 8 or 9 months into the model year run as well.
Nice cars gents!

here is a pic of my grill

r/t built on 6/13/70

 

[dongei]

My grill is the original one. The build date is August 1969. It's an R/T S/E and the color is argent. The same color as on the rear body panel. I have photos in the Photo Gallery. I have before and after photos. The before photos are original paint.( I don't care for red so much).

 

[dongei]

 

[dongei]

Color of rear molding for '70 R/T S/E