Well alright then. Here's my story (and I'm sticking to it).
I bought a 1972 Dodge Charger SE (with the "Brougham" interior package) about 20 years ago for a few hundred bucks from a man who could barely muster more than two syllables past his heavy slur. In terms of the "era of the muscle car", this Dodge Charger was nearing the tail-end of the last muscle generation. It is the 3rd generation of the Charger. Dodge ended up pulling the plug on the whole "muscle" concept in '75 and went the "luxury" route.
My car was rumored to be rare. As in, less than 50 of my exact type and interior package were ever made. I've had one heck of a time following up if that's true or not. Another fun "fact" the owner told me, was that a woman from another state used to race the Charger in circuits. I was told that she retired and put the original engine, transmission, transaxle, and bench seat back in the car before selling it. "Hell yeah, I gots me a race car!" I would tell my young friends.
The original engine took leaded gasoline. It ran OK but had trouble passing emissions. It sure as heck had trouble starting unless I pumped the gas pedal about half a dozen times. The suspension and brakes were shot. The transmission was sluggish as mashed beans. The radiator has some nasty dings in the cooling fins. I didn't have a whole lot of money, so week after week I spent squirreling away money so I could save up for the "next big thing".
Fast-forward a few years later after I rebuilt the carburetor, transmission, and replaced the radiator; the day before I was going to take my car to get it registered, a fire erupted from my intake manifold while I tried to back my car out of the driveway. It was all that darn gas pedal pumping I did, I ended up flooding the intake with too much gas and one of the cylinders backfired through the intake because the timing was also extremely advanced (in order to pass emissions tests).
I ran inside to grab something to smother the fire, when a neighbor, who had seen the fire erupt, rushed over with a chemical extinguisher and sprayed it all over my engine. The chemicals from the extinguisher ruined the inside of my engine and the fire had destroyed the carburetor and all of the electrical (which also lead to a few wires shorting and burning some wires under the dash). I thought it was the end of my beloved Charger. I didn't have a lot of money but I did have a pretty good support network.
As the years passed, I met a lot of people who helped me. Some people helped with parts (my old boss sold me his brand new 400 engine he built for his son-in-law, basically at cost!!), or others would help me transport the ol' "beast" from place to place, or offer me temporary storage while I "figured out what to do next".
I ended up moving to Chicago a handful of years after "the fire". I had to keep the car stored in some drab lot where it just sat there getting all sorts of weather and nature beaten down on it. Every now and then, usually when I was strapped for money, or was unemployed, I pondered selling the car. My chances to bring it out to Chicago were dwindling and I had bills to pay. My friends all persisted that I keep the car. It was all I would ever talk about (aside from music, girls, or jokes).
Luckily things worked out. It's been a long time but I finally was able to bring the car out to Chicago. For the first time in 20 years, I've finally got some plates on it and have driven the car around the city a few times. The car is currently in my garage so I can do some work on the interior. I've pulled out the old bench seat, carpet, and dash, so I can make some modifications to bring some things up-to-date. Here's what the beast pretty much looks like now.
Power:
Drivetrain:
Suspension, Steering, & Brakes:
Interior:
Exterior:
To-do:
Finish installing the seats and take my car to the nearest body shop to see what they can do for me. My initial goal is to paint the car flat (matte) black and go from there. I would love to convert my car to a manual transmission someday, but since I already invested $150 in this new floor shifter, I'm going to enjoy the A727 for a little while. ;-)
All in all it's a great car. Everywhere I go I get "nods of respect". My girlfriend exclaimed once that "I've never gotten this kind of attention from being in a car before. I think I like it!" I gotta say, the attention and spreading excitement is a perk for sure. But what I really love is hearing that exhaust and that feeling you get when your body is thrust backward into the seat when you put your foot down.
I can't wait for the car to get painted so I can cruise this bad beast for years to come.
Welp. It's getting pretty late so I'd better get my rear in gear and get outta here. I hope you enjoyed my little story!
