Its consistent casting as the hero car has clearly labeled the 1968-1970 Dodge Charger “America’s Protagonist” when it comes to movie vehicles. But what about the third-generation Charger, which was produced from 1971-1974? I’ll argue that it’s sinister enough to be the foil to its forebear, “America’s Antagonist,” if you will. Muscular, attractive, and totally different from the second-gen, it is a collectible all its own. This is one of the rarer examples, the 1972 Charger Rallye. A replacement for the retired R/T badge, the Rallye was the top-of-the-line performance Charger for 1972, and this orange Rallye is as good as it got. With a factory 440 under the hood (one of 785 so equipped), it’s for sale on eBay right now.
After spending more time than I’d care to admit crunching numbers into the various internet Mopar fender tag decoders, I’ve come to the conclusion that this car is legitimate save for one thing – the transmission. Originally a Torqueflite car, this one has been subject to some hackery in its past. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with increasing the world’s population of manual transmissions by one, but cutting up a factory console to do it? That I cannot condone. But what’s done is done, and if that’s the worst thing about this Charger, we can relax.
After all, it’s what’s under the hood that counts, and this Charger has the big 440. Things were a little bleaker in 1972 than they had been, with 8.2:1 compression and a (net) horsepower rating of 280, but the 440 was still one of the best street engines around. Someone ordered air conditioning on top of that, because you might as well feel cool while you look cool, but (surprise!) it needs a charge. Don’t they all.
Aside from those inconveniences, the car is reportedly ready to go. Although it’s advertised as a barn find and is photographed as such, it’s a running and driving car, according to the seller. It has a new radiator, all new fluids and filters, and new valve cover gaskets. It might just need a spring cleaning and perhaps a set of tires. The interior (aside from that console) looks beautiful, and you could hardly find a better color combination on a Dodge (and the seller claims that the paint is original).
Located in Aromas, California, this solid Charger is a neat alternative to the 1968-1971 Charger R/Ts you’re always hearing about. Nobody has entered the starting bid of $32,000 as of yet, but the auction doesn’t end until Friday evening, and as far as muscle Mopars go, that doesn’t seem too far out of line. Would you like to cruise around in a third-generation Charger?
32K? Yipes!
Wow, wasn’t expecting a 440, 4sp. 🏁😲
I’m good with swapping to a four speed, but, yikes. Whoever hacked up that console should never hold another wrench in their hand as long as they live. Goodness gracious. Who does that?!
That’s hack work to an extreme. He would have been much better off running the car without any console. It also looks odd with a Hurst Competition plus shifter rather than the OE style pistol grip.
Steve R
Yeah, could’ve sold the console for hundreds and put in an armrest/buddy seat instead. WOW!
Yeah, that’s a bad hack, but fortunately, auto b-body center consoles aren’t super rare, so wouldn’t be too terribly expensive to replace. A 4-speed one would be much harder of course, but why bother, just remove the hacked up one and call it good. I didn’t read when it was hacked up, but if it was done long ago, so many of us did stuff to cars back then that we’d regret now! Granted, not stuff this ugly, at least not that I’d admit to!
You are right, people tend to forget these cars had little value in the late-70’s through mid-80’s, and assign todays logic to what was going on decades ago. There were lots of consoles, bucket seats and other desirable parts at junk yards and swapmeets. I’ve seen a lot of more rare and “desirable” consoles than this hacked up far worse, same goes with most every part or car that’s sought after today. It’s the way things were. Modified cars shouldn’t be dismissed, done well they ad a certain amount of character that is often lacking from cars restored to stock, because that’s not what was roaming the streets, cruises and drive-ins.
Steve R
An 18 year old who slept his way through shop class.
You can go on YEAR ONE and get a console for a four speed
The gate for the slapstick can be used as a coin holder now…😄
I had a ’73 back when I was in high school. It had a 318 w/a column-shift 904. I converted it to a floor shift: bucket seats, console, Slap-stik shifter, the whole shmear. But, it was a base model coupe. I would never even contemplate doing that to a Rallye model. The 4-speed is a cool addition, but it was not done well. GLTWS.
I would like to meet the person who did the conversion and cut up the concole and say WHY!!
Jimmy Joe said to Billy bo ya know what gonna hack up perfectly good console for this here wrong shifter and open the bid at 32000. Ya think anybody will notice? Sorry but now I can’t unsee it! Still worth saving but if you’re gonna 4spd it do it right! Glwts . Peace out!
Had a ‘72 SE Brougham back in the day, light gunmetal metallic with a black vinyl top, black interior, 400 Magnum and slapstick auto, fully loaded, bought from the original owner, an AF officer whose dad owned a dealership in NJ. What I wouldn’t give to have that car back
I think that the transmission has maybe a tail shaft that has only the front shifter mount. Transmissions were interchangeable only when the tail shaft has 2 different shifter mount positions. Chargers shifter mounts on rear and Challenger shifter mounted on the front. The shifter looks way too forward to fit even in a 4 speed trans console. I would bet it doesn’t have the 4 Spd tower in the floor.
A833 4 speed transmissions usually had a front and a rear mount for shifters for Chargers and Challengers. Although some only had a front mount for Challengers. Chargers use rear mount. It looks as though the shifter is in the front mount. Looks too far up even for a 4 speed console. My thought is there is not a 4 speed tower (hump) that has been added.
The location of the hole for the new 4speed looks a little suspicious too. Almost seems like it’s a little bit close to the dash, I could be wrong. Like to know which transmission it has. Some of the 833 had two locations to bolt on the shifter. One for E-body and one for B-body. The 833 for the A-body is a different animal if memory serves
Look, it has the rear window defogger, like my otherwise low content ’73 Barracuda had.
I pulled it out and tossed it when mounting my Jensen triaxials back there.
Not me! I simply relocated the blower motor and kept the defroster functional and added the speakers. :-)
I was a stupid kid back then, interested only in cruising around with tunes cranking.
Somebody used a pre 70 B-body 4 speed in this one. My brother did the same thing in the late 70’s when we put a 383 4 speed out of 68 Superbee in a 72 Challenger. He really had to bend the shifter to keep it from hitting the dash. He finally found a 70 up 4 speed and he had to cut another hole in the tunnel. This one reminds me of another 72 Rallye that I looked at around 1979. Orange and perfect from the doors forward, interior was very nice but the quarters were rotted off it. I can only assume that this guy had a rusted out car and found a very nice parts car