If you lived through the 1970s, you either loved or hated the fact that most things from cars to clothes to home decor were either green, gold, brown, or burnt orange, or all of the above at the same time. I personally love those colors on cars for the fact that they’re actual colors, not tones like most cars are coated with today on their fancy robot-dip-tank assembly lines.. Back in my day, real cars were painted real colors by real people and we liked them, we loved them! Ok, enough of paraphrasing that old Saturday Night Live bit. This beautifully-colored 1972 Dodge Charger is listed on eBay in Lockport, Illinois with bids coming in at just over $5,600 and there is no reserve! Someone will be taking this one home in pretty much exactly one day.
The third-generation Chargers, 1971-1974, followed probably the most popular design for Dodge’s mid-sized car and it came in mild, medium, or red hot configurations. The 1971 Charger was the last year that a buyer could officially get either a 440 six-pack or a 426 Hemi engine. The buyer of this 1972 Charger could have chosen a 225 slant-six up to a 440 V8. The seller says that this car does have some rust, even though it was stored for the last 25 years. That still means that it could have been driven for two decades of winters on salt-encrusted winter roads.
Isn’t that a nice color? Just like your mom’s oven mitt collection. This is a car that a normal person would have driven. I mean, not that abnormal people drive fast Chargers, but this is more of a librarian’s Charger than a muscle car lover’s Charger. I guess it’s sort of the same today with the four-door Charger, you can get them from mild to wild depending on your likes and/or your lifestyle – and, of course, your budget. Give me a mild ’72 Charger over a wild ’17 Charger any day of the week. There are a few scratches and mishaps with the Light Green Metallic paint on this car, unfortunately. It sure would be a shame to paint it since it’s an all-original car.
There isn’t really one good overall interior photo, which is a bit strange. But, if a person had several years of intensive detective and/or sewing experience, the myriad of unusual detail photos could be pieced together like a 1972 patchwork denim leisure suit. The dash is cracked which is never a good thing, but then you look at the driver’s side door panel and it literally looks brand new! Yeah, but what about the passenger side door panel, Scotty G? Boom, like new, too. And, the interior is green! As if you had any doubts that it would be.
Here’s the 318 V8 that powers this Charger which would have been parked in the employee’s-only portion of the public library lot. It had around 230 hp and 340 lb-ft of torque when it was new. That’s not horrible power and I think that a person could do a reasonable burnout with this car if they had to. The seller says that it has a “new carb and fuel tank, runs like a top.” It looks like this Charger was possibly stored in a humid environment with all of that surface rust on the engine. It would be quite a task to detail this one while it’s still in the engine bay, but maybe this is a get everything working and just drive it as is sort of a car instead of a restoration project? If this car had a 440 four-barrel engine I’m sure that it would be monetarily worth restoring, but Hagerty lists a #2 excellent condition 1972 318-equipped Charger as being worth $17,000. You’re not going to totally restore this car for $10,000 over the selling price. Are you a drive it as is sort of person or would you restore this car? And, even more important: do you like 1970s colors?
Hey, folks.. my mistake! Jamie posted this same car a few days ago when I was on the road and I missed a couple of days of being on the site. Sorry about the repeat!
Ah, but yours was more entertaining, Scotty!
yeah I was gonna say… lol
Reader test!
Seeing double.
Engine bay looks rusty but clean. I think someone may have cleaned it with too harsh a cleaner. Back in 90s my parents 73 Dart greasy engine. I cleaned it with a Castrol Purple clean ?? Degreaser. As soon as I rinsed it. Everything flash rusted in minutes. Black paint came off engine surfaces. I learned my mistake
Not to take anything away from Jamie’s post, but I enjoyed Scotty’s rendition as well. I think he should write professionally.( color of the mom’s oven mitt,,,it’s true) Besides, some people may be doing other things and not checking BF’s every 15 minutes for new posts, ( like me) and may miss some postings. I’m glad he’s back. I’m still trying to understand why the engine is so rusty. Typical of years ago when a car would overheat , it would blow rusty colored water all over. (it’s on the preheater tube too) It’s a really cool car, not a lot of money ( relatively speaking) great driver, you could stop at a car show on the way to Walmart.
Oh, and the “leaking heater core fix”,,,I’ve done that more than once.
That’s one rusty engine ,nice car .
I would go with the ‘harsh chemical’ engine clean too. The top radiator tank looks the way they looked after I finished cleaning the engine bay when prepping used cars in the ’70s. That bypass hose looks too long. They must have been trying to avoid a trip to the dealer on Monday for the proper molded hose.
Any hose that does it’s job is proper in my book.
Back in about 1980, a friend sold his hot rod looking, but totally stock 1954 Chevy 2 door. He bought a ’72 Charger in this same color, with a 318. I believe it was an SE(?). You can imagine the difference between the two. Huge upgrade! It was bought new in ’72 by literally a little old lady, and was like new! He drove it for nearly 10 years with hardly a problem.
Winning Bid $7,099
Love the green, and am happy to see green showing up on some new cars today. I would take this car, fix what needs fixing, do some upgrades on the engine ( i.e.: cam 4 bbl carb set up ) and maybe dress up kit, then drive and enjoy it. Bench seat and all!
Theory on 50’s car’s that have a variety of green car color’s – surplus olive drab from Korea or WWII that was cut with something….maybe white ? Same thing on late 60’s cars….we were winding down from Viet Nam….sorry… more surplus olive drab….
I think there is rust but, could that be rust colored clay ???? just wondering
340 Hemi 440 Hemi 426 Hemi fit at any one of those Motors to be worth a lot more
Very clean Charger! I even like the bench seat. What’s that B-52s song about having a Chrysler that seats about 20? Growing up, my neighbor had a 73 or 74 optioned like this one. It was grey though and through the years all the paint flaked off of it. This seems like a restomod candidate. Yank out that 318 and put in a crate 360, some Crager S/Ss, Cherry Bomb mufflers!