This relatively clean and nicely original 1972 Dodge Charger is a fitting subject for my 2,000th Barn Finds posting! I’m a little plainer and not as spectacular as some of our excellent writers, and there’s a little bit of rust around both my and the car’s edges, but there’s plenty of life left in both of us! The Dodge is listed here on eBay and is located in Lockport, Illinois. Bidding is up to $3,700 but hasn’t met the reserve yet.
The body certainly looks good from a distance, but up close you can see where the original paint is damaged, and there’s a lot of rusty spots along the lower extremities of the car. By 1972, the Charger was a lot larger than the much loved previous generation and in this iteration only had a 318 cubic inch V8.
Based on this excerpt from the factory 1972 brochure, we’re looking at the Charger Hardtop due to the wood grain insert in the dash. I never realized until I started researching this post that there were two different rooflines on this generation of Charger. I wonder if it was a different stamping, or a separate panel was welded in under the vinyl top?
The clean lines of the Charger are best evidenced by this rear 3/4 shot. Somehow the whitewalls and plain wheel covers just work on this car–but I’d still have difficulty resisting putting some nice period aluminum wheels and wider tires on it!
Unfortunately, I keep coming back to this rust. It’s such a shame, as without the rust I would be so tempted to keep the paint original. As the saying goes, it’s only original once and I’d love to keep it that way. Perhaps (I’m dreaming optimistically here) a really skilled painter could blend the paint after the damage was repaired, as the lower body curves in so much it would be in shadow most of the time anyway.
Here’s that dashboard with the wood grain insert. The bench seat looks good in this picture, but there are some damaged areas that will require repair of some sort. A nice set of floor mats (can you even buy green floor mats now?) would cover up most of the carpet damage if you would be willing to put up with the wear spots a little longer. I guess the 78,136 miles were just too much for the nap.
The engine is said to run like a top, and a new fuel tank and carburetor should give you a little bit of confidence. Even the brakes are good, although I’d certainly want to replace the soft lines if they haven’t been already. Overall, this is a nice car that would make someone a great rolling restoration if you wanted it to look even nicer. And thank you very much for your comments and engagement with the last 1,999 posts! I look forward to more.
Hi Jamie, congrats, I probably have that many “hate” responses. I know fire-breathing Charger’s are what we remember most, but it truth, probably 90% of all the Charger’s ( like Mustangs and such) were cars like this. They were good, sporty cars, that got the owner to work, ( mostly swinging singles) and sat all day, and could easily do that again for someone, and catch a cruise-in on the way home. I’m trying to determine what went through the radiator to cause corrosion on the motor like that to a realtively low rust car. Following too close to a truck tanker leaking acid? Usually there’s SOME color to the engines. Very nice car.
Thanks again Jamie, for some great posts.
To me this car was always just a two door Coronet. Nothing special about these every day cars.
Thanks, Howard!
The coke bottle.
Cheers 🍻 to another 2,000 entries Jamie! Jesse and Josh should get you a cake 🎂 to celebrate 🎉.
Thanks, Rock On!
Nice wheels…car. I’d love to own it and then strip it and do a rotisserie restoration. For all the solid metal in this one it would be worth it. And yes, huge slots out back. Steamroller style! 😊
Boy, blast from the past Mopar day on BF for me! In addition to a ’70 Challenger, I owned a ’72 Charger in high school with this same motor/transmission combo. Mine had the “Topper X” package, so it had concealed headlights, the half “alligator” vinyl roof, and a white and green two tone ’70s-tastic interior.
I really did like that car. The 318 in it was pretty strong and it could hit 60 MPH in about 9 seconds – using our admittedly crude speedo/stopwatch method. This was way before iPhone and Android aps, LOL! It blew away the 350 ’75 Nova I had before it, and I recall it staying neck and neck with my friend’s ’69 Delta 88 with a 455 2-bbl during a drag race once.
Congrats Jamie. I can speak from experience on that paint, having blended 1990 vintage B5 blue with 2016 new B5 blue paint. It is totally, practically possible, and done right, only a body man will have a sufficiently keen eye to detect. Whoever buys this should attack that rust pronto because it is guaranteed to spread if left alone.
Thanks, John, that’s good to hear!
Had a high school classmate who traded in his Triumph Spitfire for a Charger painted in a color similar to robin’s egg blue with a white vinyl roof. The whole class thought it was a huge step down. His “cool” factor took a substantial hit. However in our area the Charger proved to be a much better four season all weather car.
Reminds me of the car from the Smashing Pumpkins “1979” video.
If my memory serves me, I only ever had the vinyl top off of one, but I think on the SE model dodge deleted the rear side glass and welded a sail panel in to change the roof line. They didn’t smooth weld off, just installed the padded top to hide it. That’s not what I would call a lot of rust, it looks more like road rash, but it should be addressed, and soon! I sure hope it gets fixed and enjoyed instead of becoming another RT or Hemi clone.
Thanks for the info, Rustytech!
Lockport, Il., just sw of Chicago. Spent most of my life around there. I’d check the frame for rust. They were never shy about dumping salt on the road. I bought a new ’69 Impala and was using Bondo to plug rust holes in the fenders a year and a half later.