The other day, I watched one of those junkyard crawl car shows that stream online, and the host was singing the praises of a third-generation Dodge Charger R/T, such as today’s 1971 subject. What I learned that I didn’t know was that ’71 was the last model year for the R/T variant, and the hood and doors are unique to this very low-production model. A resident of Allen, Texas, this Dodge is clearly a project, but at least it does have its doors and hood…so let’s take a closer look. If you’re up for a Mopar muscle car restoration project, you’ll find this Charger, here on eBay where it’s available for a current bid of $12,600 with the reserve not yet met.
How do you one-up the iconic Gen II Charger (’68-’70)? Well, Dodge’s approach was this redesigned fuselage body. I’ll admit it: For years, I didn’t like it, though it has grown on me over time. Regardless, I still prefer Gen II variation, but styling is subjective. What’s not are production numbers, as the ’71 R/T replicated itself only 3,100 times compared to 1970’s 10,000 unit output.
Looking this car over in detail, it’s wearing what’s often referred to as a “Texas Sunburn”—lots of surface rust. Is it worse than that? There is some rust-through (fenders and floors), and the underside shows heavy scale. The grille and bumpers look OK, but knowing the propensity for these Mopar B-bodies to rust, this car should be eyeballed in person. You know it will need metalwork; the question is how much.
The good news is that this Charger still possesses its original, matching number 370 gross HP, 440 CI V8 engine. The bad news is that it has been reduced to a lump of a short block and currently looks like it has spent time in Davey Jones’ locker. A TorqueFlite automatic transmission backed up the big RB engine but that appears to have gone missing.
The interior is mostly gutted and is minus its upholstery, seats, etc. but the console is said to exist still. While the dash and instrument panel are part of the sale package, they all appear to be of limited value. The entire interior, from one end to the other, including all of the wiring, will need to be redone and supported with a lot of parts sourcing.
The verdict? I wouldn’t say stick a fork in it, but this one will be a worker. There’s probably no point in trying to account for the needed $$$, assume a whole lot. As stated earlier, this is a fairly rare Dodge performance piece, and it marks the beginning of the end of the muscle car movement, so I’m sure there are quite a few who would be willing to take this project on. Would that include any of you?
This would be a project for someone who really, really wanted a unique Charger and didn’t care about the money I loved to save it.
Personally the 3td iteration Charger/Road Runner were a favorite but this one is only for the wealthy and/or VERY talented..
Im with Jim on liking the second generation the best. But as time goes by these have grown on me as well I guess nostalgia. Also, its a shame that that numbers matching engine looks like it survived BOTH the sinking of the Titanic AND the Lusitana. Im not so sure that its able to be reused, but you wouldnt know until you try I guess.
Part of the Mopar5150 dealer/resto guys….funny they aren’t doing it but guess there’s no money in it.
The numbers matching engine may (or may not) be an easy save. I salvaged a 69 Z/28 302 out of a car that a friend burned in a garage fire in the 1980’s. The motor was out of the car with the heads off. I literally picked burned 2/4’s off the top of the pistons. It sat in the rubble of the garage in Richmond VA for months until the city threatened to clean it up and I went 400 miles to get it.
It took a year to find a roller 69 Z/28 that needed a motor and transmission, then I had to get it apart. After twice a week applications for a while of PB Blaster, it let go. The block was 35,000 miles and stock bore and cleaned up at .030 over and the crank cleaned up at .010 under.
If things are really bad, a friend recommended a company in Cleveland OH who does block welding. Welding on a cast iron block in not for the faint of heart but it can be done.
The people my friend recommended are called Guarantee Weld in Cleveland OH. They normally repair diesel truck blocks, but they may do passenger car blocks. That was a lot of years ago, but they may still be there.
Why you bringing up Camaro crud when looking At a dodge. What’s your point.
Having had a ’73 in high school & a ’71 & a ’72 right after college, I’ll have to say that the 3rd-gen is my fave. But this one is too much for my wallet. Hopefully someone out there can afford to save it. GLWTS.
The basic body is there but not much else. Someone with lots of ability, money and vision may make something of it. Lots interesting stuff in that first picture.
If nothing else, it would make a great donor/parts car. Here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that, though.
No.
I don’t think it would make a good parts car either. What is there? Some hardware? Hood, trunk, doors? For that money?
“knowing the propensity for these Mopar B-bodies to rust” ? And their competitors , the Camaro/Firebird and Mustang/Cougars didnt ? There’s no need to try and point out a cars issues when all the other makes did the same thing.
This is probably something for someone like Mark Worman. This would be a walk in the park for someone with his level of expertise, but for your average restoration skills, I’m afraid it should be a hard pass.
These excelled at it.
JO
If you lived anywhere on the East Coast , you’d find the 71-73 Mustangs and Cougars were far worse .Beautiful cars, but rusted as badly as the Asian imports of the time . Not just floors and quarters, but firewalls , doors hood and trunks well before they were 10 years old.
Can’t figure out why every owner of a 60s or 70s Pos has delusions of grandeur of what they’re beloved possescession. Imagine what they would want if they were halfway decent.
12k and the reserve not met….
Please Sir share whatever you are partaking of…
This site with the utterly insane prices 90% of the time
and old farts arguing over the most mundane details have cured me…
I am out…
Don’t blame us, we don’t set prices, we just report the news.
JO
Keep it up. I look forward to Barn Finds every day. I’m not looking to buy anything. I’m down to one car and done buying. But I like looking at the cars and keeping up with what’s going on in the hobby.
What a complete piece of garbage. There’s nothing left. Take your 12k, add some and go find a similar one that’s at least able to be sat in.
Have to agree. Who would pay that much for such a rough starting point?
I don’t see this a too far gone at all. It will be a lot of work but overall very solid car. You should see what many in the mid west and Canada have to work with. Decent skills would handle this without issue. Of course nothing is cheap these days.
I’d much rather have the ’65 Pontiac that’s parked next to it.. I have one already but a parts car Will be necessary unless I can get one in better shape..
My buddy Phil had a 71 SE similar to this back in the day. He didn’t smoke, but he used his cigarette lighter to light bottle rockets. Only interested in this one if the lighter still works.
We see a lot of this seller’s rusty items on B.F.
They are either great at hunting this stuff down, or are cleaning out their parts car collection.
This place in Allen tx sells lots of these old mopars you think for the price they could of thrown in some window glass and seats to get ball rolling maybe some date coded heads I’ve restored 3 of these things
Ready for a roll cage and a motor/tranny then on to the oval track.
The sad part is that when the bottom drops out of this market we will all be wondering what happened to these cars. Owners will not bother advertising them, they will have them hauled off for scrap and take the $500 they get.