1974 Dodge Charger - It Is What It Is

Man, Chrysler had it going on in the early 1970s. What with the all-new for 1970 Plymouth Barracuda and its slightly longer wheelbase brethren Dodge Challenger sucking out eyeballs (in a good way), they followed those now impossibly valuable muscle car icons up with something no one asked for; a restyled Dodge Charger for 1971. And, wouldn't you know it, they hit it out of the park again. Our subject here is a 1974 Dodge Charger SE. 

Restyling the Dodge Charger for 1971 was no small feat considering what an accomplishment the 1968-1970 Charger was; despite what some say about how much of a GM derivative it was. And how spectacular those cars were was remarkable considering what a horror the 1966 and 1967 Charger was.

These cars, though, considered by Car an Driver magazine to be the best styled new cars of 1971, were even more remarkable considering that they were two-door versions of the also new for 1971, and frumpy not, four-door Dodge Coronet. The first two Chargers were stand-alone designs that didn't share sheet metal with any four-door variant. That was an expensive way to do business especially if sales don't warrant it.

I found this green beast on my Facebook wall recently with an asking price of just $4500; you'd think it would be worth more, y'know? So, what's up? Well, for starters, it apparently doesn't run but I've seen non running Barracudas and Challengers of this vintage in similar condition going for more than twice this car's asking price so there's got to be more to this.

Best I can surmise is that being a "1974", it suffers from "last year of the model run" syndrome. That and the fact that most anything made after 1971 is less valuable these days than anything made before then. That "what year was it made" thing one of the more disconcerting facts about collector's cars; it doesn't make sense of course but it is what it is. Factor in also that this car is green, inside and out and has only a 318 V-8. This is better than a "Slant Six" but still, a 360 would be jack the value up higher - even if it wasn't running. A 1974 Charger with a 440 would be really, really cool. Rare as a sunny and warm winter day in Cleveland but cool.

Understand also that back in the day GM had the personal luxury car market locked up with their, depending on your point of view, fabulous or ridiculous Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The Pontiac Grand Prix and Oldsmobile Cutlass also took sizable bites out of what was a large but far from inexhaustible market. Funny that this vintage of the Ford Thunderbird, a model that ushered in the personal luxury car niche in 1958, really couldn't compete here because it was just too damn big and ungainly; it competed more with its stablemate Continental Marks and GM's Cadillac Eldorado. 

Finally, as fabulous as these cars were when they first came out, and the same applies to GM and their 1973 "colonnades", their glow didn't last and they haven't appreciated the same way their predecessor models did; the market appreciates what it does regardless of personal taste. Perhaps if the producers of "The Dukes of Hazard" had chosen to cast one of these vintage Chargers as the General Lee things would be different but as it stands, and sadly, it seems our green '74 Charger here is just another old car. In the Facebook ad for this car, which I'll post if I can find it, the current owner hopes this goes to someone who will restore it  back to what it was. I hope so too. I like this car, despite being green, a lot.