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Little Old Lady From Fargo: 1975 Dodge Charger SE

You know a car is special when it only comes one way, as a Special Edition. This 1975 Dodge Charger SE is in Minneapolis, Minnesota and can be found here on craigslist, or here on the CL archive. The seller is asking $1,150 or best offer for this Charger that was owned by “a little old lady from Fargo.” Thanks to Jonathan for this submission!

Remember that time when Chrysler basically put a Dodge Charger badge on a Chrysler Cordoba? Yeah, this was that time, 1975. In essence they were the same car other than a few details. The company wanted to jump on the bandwagon and move upmarket a bit towards the personal luxury car market, since for all intents and purposes, or “intensive purposes”, as the kids say, rubber-burning muscle cars were all but dead due to regulations and gas prices and shortages. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that but basically Chrysler threw everything into the new Cordoba and there wasn’t enough left over to redesign the Charger so the two cars shared almost everything. These new Chargers were so square, literally, that Dodge couldn’t even use them in NASCAR and be competitive, they had to continue to use the 1974 cars until 1978 when the Dodge Magnum was introduced. But, they were perfect for a then young lady in Fargo, North Dakota.

The seller says that this is, or was, a one-owner car owned by a little old lady in Fargo and that it has 31,600 miles on it. There aren’t a lot of photos here and what photos there are aren’t the best, but you can at least get a hint of the exterior, the interior, and the engine. This car has “ps, pb, AC, green valore interior and factory turbine wheels.”

This engine is the gas-saving 318 V8 which would have had around 150 hp compared to 180 hp for the standard engine, the 360 two-barrel, or 200 hp for the 360 four-barrel. A 400 V8 with four-barrel carb offered 245 hp for an extra $73 over the standard 360. In any case, this 318’s operating condition is a mystery, as is most of this listing. There is a gas tank leak and it needs a new vinyl top and tires, but there is’t much info given about this car. Is the price enough incentive to check this one out?

Comments

  1. Avatar Redwagon

    Suspension sur Is shot for 31,600 miles. Vinyl top too. These did little for me back in the day and nothing more now

    Like 0
  2. Avatar Oingo

    Dad’s pal had a codoba made me see how much better it was than the vega. It was even better than the satellite sebring my uncle had. Pass on this one though.

    Like 0
  3. Avatar Mallthus

    I’ve always wondered what valore seats looked like. When I was a kid, we had velour seats, but never valore.

    Like 1
  4. Avatar Dick Johnson

    Theys called v’lure seats. Y’ ain’ts lived until y’alls tried to pull a fishin’ lure outta’ thems seats. Our car had thems new radio tires. Steel belted.

    Like 0
    • Avatar ccrvtt

      Sure hope y’all din’t have them Firestone ‘500’ steel-belted radyuls. Them things could turn themselfs into one o’ them Mobius strips in 5,000 miles.

      Like 0
  5. Avatar Madmatt

    I never realized that they made a Charger, That was a Cordoba,
    and I never thought that some one out there might want a nice one 40 yrs later!?
    I still remember “Ricardo Montalban” on the comercials…lol.
    May make a good project for a young gearhead,price is realistic for sure!

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Whippeteer

    It looks pretty beat for only 31K miles.

    Like 0
  7. Avatar Jesper

    It is on Mitula cars, for 2300$

    Like 0
  8. Avatar Karguy James

    Can we please raise the bar on the quality and caliber of cars on here? These were crap cars when new and have been crap cars ever since. They built so many of them that they are not interesting, rare or in any way desirable. It’s like going into a strip club and finding nothing more than 60+ year old women that weigh 200+pounds. A little disappointing.

    These are the kind of cars I DON’T mind seeing wrecked in movie chase scenes.

    Like 0
    • Avatar KEN TILLY Member

      I agree with you KarguyJames, however, the youngsters of today will remember their Dad having one of these and from a nostalgia viewpoint, they would love to have one. Remember, us oldies are fading away fast so we need the new blood to carry on our passion.

      Like 0
    • Avatar Scotty Gilbertson Staff

      …”they are not interesting, rare or in any way desirable”…:.. to you, Karguy James. A Barn Finds reader sent in this submission so someone finds it interesting and desirable, and that’s all that matters. We don’t all like the same things, cars or otherwise, that doesn’t make them less important, it just makes them less important to you, personally.

      Like 0
    • Avatar Hagarcobra

      I find this every bit as interesting as any other rusted out hulk on here. I haven’t seen a decent Charger/ Cordoba on the road for years( and as a trucker I see a lot of vehicles)so I would consider it rather rare. I know for a fact a 440 will fit in that engine bay and they can be fun and very fast.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Charles G. Van De Sampel

        Only after you change the K-member and the torsion bars. I owned two of the Chargers with the Daytona trim. A 75 and the last 77, before they went to the Magnum front end. Both developed issues at about 8K on the odo. The 75 had the 360, and the 77 had the 400.

        Like 0
    • Avatar CCFisher

      If you want a site that features only cars you find worthy, you are certainly free to create one. Good luck generating the necessary ad revenue to keep it operating. Personally, I offer my kudos to the Barn Finds staff for featuring a wide variety of cars and keeping the site available to all!

      Like 0
  9. Avatar Classic Steel

    What not one Million dollars and realistic price?

    How did this happen 😎

    Give them trashed 61 Corvette phone number quick!

    Like 0
  10. Avatar John

    31,600 miles? Nope. 131,600 would be accurate.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Gerry

      Mileage is correct but mom could never get her garage cleaned out so it sat out it’s whole life

      Like 0
  11. Avatar Maestro1

    i agree with john. the car looks like 131,XXXX. Try at $800.00

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Pete Kaczmarski

    Usually the back shackles of the leaf spring go thru the trunk if rusted. I personally like my ’79 Magnum G.T. car styling over this car.

    Like 1
    • Avatar r spreeman

      I wanted one of those in dark metallic blue, black leather bucket interior, t-tops and power everything and whatever the biggest engine was you could get… then Dodge introduced the Mirada and I ended up buying one of those.

      That Mirada was THE biggest piece of JUNK I have EVER owned! The list of defects and failures would not fit in this column. How I regret not getting the Magnum instead.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Charles G. Van De Sampel

        And you thought the Mirada was junk.

        Like 0
  13. Avatar Peter

    Go Granny, go Granny go…
    What unusual styling on that black 79 magnum, sort of post Loewy.

    Like 0
  14. Avatar Frank

    Good job on posting this…keep all the weird and interesting stuff coming!

    Like 0
  15. Avatar Jubjub

    Something looked amiss. Then I saw the window louvre on the driver side. It also features the infamous self ejecting taillamps.

    In my eyes, Time has been kind to this design. It has aged much better than its once ubiquitous competitor, the Monte Carlo.

    Years ago, I saw one of these at the base of a stack of cars…the one that unfortunately wasn’t saved…black on black with red stripes turbine wheels, no vinyl top, sunroof, 400. In the right and rare combination of colors and trim these are good looking.

    And Pete, nice Magnum, always liked them.

    Like 0
    • Avatar r spreeman

      The last Monte Carlo I liked was the ’73. My cousin had one, fairly unusual, all silver / no vinyl top, swivel buckets, and a 454. I was also familar with one that came from the factory with a 4 speed.

      After ’73 the bumpers and grille got ugly and the power dropped, the ’73 is the last year Monte I have ever cared for.

      Like 0
  16. Avatar Charles G. Van De Sampel

    Even though I owned two of the Daytona’s in the Charger line (75 and 77), I never had nor did I ever see any of the “self ejecting” tail light issues that you mentioned, even on the ones that came into the garage. As to the louvre panel, now those ‘did’ pop off. Both of my Daytona’s developed driveshaft issues at about 15K .

    Like 0
  17. Avatar Christopher Silva

    I love classic cars if u wanna talk deal? U can reach me anytime i754 215. 0652 – chris- thanks for ur time hoping to hear from u

    Like 0
    • Avatar Gerry

      Car is in Minnesota so probably a little too far away to chase after but I just uncovered it again for the summer. Needs gas tank and some patch panels in the quarters. Rear down due to tires & rims in the trunk.

      Like 0
  18. Avatar PAPERBKWRITER

    That puppy looks very tired.

    Like 0
  19. Avatar jeff

    Unfortunatly as prices continue their upward climb on VINTAGE mopar muscle cars these UNDESIREABLE models will continue to be sought out and restored The anemic smog motors can EASILY be hopped up using basic sound hot rodding 101 tactics cool entry level car .They made a charger DAYTONA this year and although it was a disco version with nice 2 tone paint work it was cool in its own right. As I recall these b bodies had excellent road manners riding smother than any previous models due to their rubber iso mounting system on k frame and leafspring shock mounts which can b fitted with poly mounts to take out the slop and give it a nice firm ride .They also made a dodge 300 which is apreceating quite nicely but with no aftermarket support they can b extremely expensive to restore .If a guy was inclined he could easily take out 800 pounds or so and get the weight down to a reasonable P T W ratio making it as quick as an older b body change rear end gears and youd b good to go And definitely toss the lean burn

    Like 0

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