Hello,

I am new to this forum. I am looking for some advice on a 1972 Charger I am considering purchasing. Here are the details:

1972 Dodge Charger SE

440 out of a Power Wagon. Has a mild purple cam, Mopar high rise manifold, Holley 750, Accel distributor with mechanical advance, some sort of long tube headers, and mostly stock 906 heads. Seems to run very well.

727 BB Tranmission - Stock TC

8 3/4 Inch 3.55 Sure Grip

The body is fairly clean, some rust bubbling thru a really hack paint job. The frame has one small patch, the floors and trunk are rock solid. It has all the original body parts except the passenger door. There is a little mud in the body. All the glass and tim is original. It was a column shift, that was converted to a console.

Everything on the car works, all lights, all mechnicals, etc. the guy is asking $7000.00 for it. Any insights would be great.

 

pics would help determine the price better
7 grand doesn't seem to unreasonable though
the car runs right?

 

Hello,

Yes, the car runs quite well. Idles nicely at about 750RPM, has a bit of a lump in the idle due to the cam. It shifts well into second, it's a little soft into third, I suspect because of the lower stall converter.

Here are some pictures. It's a nasty color.

Thanks, Jake

 

It sounds like you have done your homework. You know you will need some body and paint. I agree, 7k does not seem out of bounds.

 

have you checked the car out yourself?

 

I have driven the car and spent an hour crawling around it. It appears to be very solid. I pulled the VIN and it was an original 400BB SE car. The fender tag is correct as is the tag inside the drivers door.

So, all in all, it seems like a decent place to begin my project. I am not looking at this car for it's potential resale value, I want to build a nice car I can drive and enjoy.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback.

Thanks, Jake

 

let us know how it all turns out

 

open the trunk and check the rear quarters for holes with body filler coming thru it. and check the car with a magnet,, dont wanna buy it strip the paint and find an inch of body filler down one side of the car. or both

 

Good advice... I did check the trunk and could not see any signs of filler, in fact it look at though the original coating was still on the insides of the quarter panels.

I did find some bondo in the rocker panels and some evidence that some small dents had been filled. It looks like all the factory spot welds are there, so I don't believe any major panels were replaced.

Thanks, Jake

 

Well.. I bought the car. I paid the asking price but got an additional 440 Block, heads, and crank. Also got extra fenders, trunk lid, and door.

So, I think it was a good deal. Bringing the car home on Saturday. First project will be the front drum brake to disk conversion. From there, body and paint.

Jake

 

post pics of all of that

 

I picked the car up yesterday and drove it 120 miles home. What a ride. Brakes are pretty bad, but that car screems....

Here are some pictures. Try to imagine it a dark metallic red....

 

Second Picture

 

congrats man!

gotta love fast cars with bad brakes haha

 

haha
that must have been some ride home

 

Congratulations from me as well. The car looks good! Sounds like an adventure just getting it home.

 

congrats on the new ride, find a Volarie or Aspin and grab the spindles, rotors, and calipers, new ball joints brake hoses and you should stop on a dime, your car should have a duel master brake cylinder

 

Thank you for all!! I am very glad I found this forum, I am going to have lots of questions.

And, the brakes are the first challenge. 62Furious, what year Volarie or Aspine would I need? And, my car has manual brakes and it doesn't look like a dual master cylinder. Right now, I am considering a manual to power brake conversion kit from Year One. Allows me to run 11in disks, 4 piston calipers, add a 9in brake booster, and new proportioning valve. All this fits on the stock spindles. Also, since the car has a cam in it,I will add a vaccum resevoir.

http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/f...ain2.asp?cat=1

Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

Thanks, Jake

 

yes all cars '67+ have dual master cylinders. power/manual has nothing to do with that.

 

Good find, price from pics and your inspection seems dead nuts! I finally fixed my brake problem. I replaced the master, pads and installed the Summit rear brake conversion to disk, just to find out the rebuilt master I bought was bad along with needing to install a vacuum canister (do to the cam) I ran out of vacuum and the peddle dropped.

 

Thanks Kids.. I felt good about the purchase and while I'm not a Mopar expert, I have spent my share of time crawling around cars.

I went hog wild on my brake solution and bought a power disk conversion kit from Year One. 11 Inch rotors, 4 piston calipers, new Master and power booster, new brake lines, new proportioning value, etc. Should bring the car to a stop nicely.

As for the rest of the car, this spring/summer project will be to clean up the body and repaint. I'm not a fan of robin's egg blue.

Jake

 

Atta boy, good job on the ride, good buy for sure.

 

nice looking car, keep us updated!