The early 1970s were full of cars wearing distinctive paint colors. Case in point was Hemi Orange, one of the “Hi-Impact” colors offered by the Chrysler Corp. This 1972 Dodge Challenger wears Hemi Orange where it counts and below the grey primer on the exterior sheet metal. This edition has been in mothballs for the past decade, and runs and drives, but doesn’t look pretty. Located in Forest Grove, Oregon, this mostly rust-free project is available here on craigslist for $10,500. Thanks for the tip, “Curvette”.
When the Dodge Challenger arrived on the “pony car” scene in 1970, the market had become saturated, and the muscle car segment had peaked. The car delivered sales of nearly 77,000 Challengers in 1970 but dropped 54,000 units to 23,000 just two years later in 1972. The big block engines were history, so if you wanted a V8, your choices were two: the venerable 318 and hot 340. The seller’s Dodge has the former engine, which carries a fair amount of aftermarket bling at this stage.
The fender tag on this Challenger confirms there is Hemi Orange lurking on the car. The vehicle spent some time in a body shop back in the day, taking some of the rough spots off this mostly sound Mopar. There is unfinished business throughout this Dodge, including the interior, which is either rough, removed, or missing.
While this project is a driver, we have to assume there are some issues to be sorted out with the factory 318 cubic inch engine or automatic transmission. The car sports dual exhaust but won’t come with the aftermarket wheels seen in the photos. They will be replaced with stock rims before the car transfers from one party to the next. Superior Challengers can fetch big bucks these days – could this car be one of them in the near future?
Raccoon tested, raccoon approved. Not a superior Challenger with a SBD, unless it means ‘silent but…’
The racoons have safely been relocated to a 67 mustang at the shop…
It doesn’t look good but for that price, I don’t think they’re asking too much. I’m just curious about the seam on the C pillar. Did they have to replace the roof? The inside floors look solid, so I would hope that rust isn’t an issue. Overall I think it’s had some body work done and it can be restored for a fair amount. If that 318 isn’t #’s matching, I would have to upgrade it to a 383 at least
I wondered about the seams too. The ad says he had the original lead removed and replaced it with welds and it just hasn’t been reintegrated with the rest of the body post op.
Always learning something new on BF!
It originally had a vinyl roof. The holes are where the pins to attach the chrome trim once were.
There is also a seam on the A post
Decent early-1970’s Challengers are hard to find. Though this car isn’t inexpensive it’s worth a look for someone that lives within driving distance. I’m not a fan of listing a car with parts that aren’t included in the sale, the valve covers are trivial, if potential buyers don’t want the rims, so are they, even though a set of 15’s is probably worth $700+.
Steve R
I remember when a car like this wouldn’t bring 700 bucks, even with the wheels like this. I liked it better back then.
Sad/funny how a lot of the classic cars were just throwaway cars… Now they’re getting dragged out of the woods/barns for decent money… Oh well, keeps us crazy guys busy bringing them back to life… I’m more of a Rat Rod guy, than a Concours guy…
Ad says he’s keeping the valve covers. No deal!
This is only a couple of hours away from Worman’s place. I’ll guess that he knows about this and has passed it up.
Probably because it’s not rare enough of a spec to warrant a costly restoration.
Would not be so costly if he didn’t charge so much. Just saying.
Again I’ll make the statement that the sellers think they have holy Grails in their possession evidently they’re not in touch with what’s really going on in this world yes us guys like cars especially us older guys but not all of us have money but this car is not worth what he’s asking for it’s a piece of junk that has been left out to be weather and now he’s asking this kind of money for it I wouldn’t even give it a first look if I lived across the street from this guy have they seen what’s going on in this world right now difficult to pay bills it’s difficult to put groceries on the table and they think that because we’re in this horrible economy no thanks to that idiot in the White House that wants to change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and the state of New Mexico to new America and then he sits there and thrives on studs with muscles and they’re good looking we got an idiot in the White House I understand that this is a car application but sellers get real you don’t actually own a Holy Grail just because it’s a 1973 or a 71 Challenger had best you could get Maybe $2,500 for this car at best
Well said.
As Steve R said decent early 70s challengers are hard to find. This one being a 1972 base model with a 318 engine may not attract a lot of people. It is nice that it has air conditioning. But because it’s not one of the high value type of cars you don’t feel so guilty about making modifications to it and not keeping it stock. It does look pretty solid, which is great and hard to find nowadays. There is a lot to put back together though. I always wonder how people organize all the screws or find screws. I guess you can get complete screw kits to restore a car.