Standing in front of a beige-colored 1970 Dodge Charger, Steve Magnante presents to his audience a build sheet. The piece of paper that the automotive YouTuber presents to his audience at first glance is not much more than a mess of numbers and colors. According to Magnante, this paper is the “DNA to your car.” Back when cars came from people on production lines with minimal robotic assistance, the workers used build sheets to track what they needed to install to each car. As ever classic cars leaving factories maintained the same chassis and body panel, the build sheet has no impact on these.
Where Can You Find A Build Sheet?
The build sheet tracks the plethora of options buyers specify. Things like engine choice, interior color, and extra gauge clusters. Magnante cites a Plymouth Road Runner that he once worked on that had one headrest on the driver’s side, this specification appears on the build sheet. According to Ford, Marti Auto-Database has a record of every Ford model’s build sheet from 1967 to 2007 with more recent models using a simple window sticker.
But for those who can’t request from the manufacturer, Magnante takes his audience on a tour of the 1970 Dodge Charger 500. First under the hood, revealing the 383 two-barrel that produces around 290 horsepower. Largely unrestored, the Charger has factory imperfections such as the build-up of paint beneath the hood. But the likelihood of finding a classic car’s build sheet here is low.
Starting in the rear lifting the trunk mat makes perfect sense. Far away from the intense temperatures in the engine, the paper has a higher likelihood of surviving. Turning to the interior beneath the carpets just like in the rear. Another location where workers stuffed these sheets are inside the seats, although opening these up should be a last resort as reupholstering seats gets time-consuming. Other locations include the glove box and the headliner.
Magnante searches this Dodge Charger’s seats to find the precious piece of paper. Removing the front seats he sees no luck. But with the rear bench removed tucked between the padding and wire support, a pristine sheet exists.
What’s Interesting About A Build Sheet?
This build sheet for many collectors is highly important. We all know how significant a vehicle’s service history is for a car’s resale value. Well, the build sheet essentially acts like a car’s provenance, proving where the vehicle started its life and in what state. Magnante claims that as a car traveled along the production line workers referred to as many as nine build sheets. These sheets would get left in random places in a vehicle.
It’s hard to get excited about paperwork. However, this sheet can hide a special secret. One of the sheets Magnante has to hand is for an AMC Concord, a rather mundane compact car. The build sheet reveals that this Concord had a previous life as a rental. Now for whatever reason, if you were on the search for a Concord, this information is pivotal. Rental cars, just like taxis and company cars, have hard lives and mechanically often present more problems.
