1972-1974 Dodge Challenger History

When the 1972 model came out, the brochure was a disappointing one at best. The grille had been redesigned with a new egg crate filling, with a chrome piece along the top which sloped downward at the corners where it met the headlights, giving the car a frowning look. Many speculated that the Challenger was sad due to the fact that the R/T option was gone, and with it, all big block and high performance engine options, giving the car, and the owners, little reason to smile. 1972 did feature a new look with the gills now moved up the car, to just behind the front wheels, with gradually broken stripes seemingly pouring out of the gills, and down the body. The base model Challenger came equipped with a 318 cubic inch engine building only 150 horsepower, and the new performance model, labeled the "Challenger Rallye Edition", came with the 318 cubic inch engine, with an optional 340 cubic inch engine making 240 horsepower, only 10 more horsepower over the base model V8 one year earlier. Sales slumped again, this time down to 26,658 , and as new government regulations on emissions were coming out all the time, there was no end in sight for the steady decline in performance car output. Read more about the 1972 Dodge Challenger 1973 brought about almost no cosmetic change from the 1972 model year Challengers. One slight alteration was the addition of bumperettes on the front bumpers. The grille section, and fender gills remained the same. The Rallye option was offered, but only as an option package on the base model, and Dodge offered a sort of "build your own car" program, where you could piece together the various offered options in order to make the car exactly as the buyer wanted it, and evidently, even with the same balmy engine options as in 1972, sales increased to 32,596. Midway through the 1973 model year there were rumors that Dodge would drop the 340 cubic inch engine to make way for the new 360 cubic inch engine, which boasted a whopping 5 horsepower increase over the 340, but this engine would not debut until 1974. Despite the 240 horsepower engine, the 318 cubic inch engine was by far the most popularly chosen engine in 1973. Read more about the 1973 Dodge Challenger 1974 brought about no changes on the Challenger over the 1973 model, and the only real news in 1974 was that the car would be discontinued after the 1974 model year. There were no trim lines offered other than the base model and the Rallye option, and the only engines offered were still the 150 horsepower 318 and the 245 horsepower 360. While the Challenger surely made its mark in its short 5 year existence, the last few years were sad ones, marked by low performance 'economy' engines. Sales in 1974 were at a disappointing all time low, at only 16,437. No car really took the place of the Challenger, as the market was shifting away from the high performance gas guzzlers to small engine powered, economy driven family cars. Read more about the 1974 Dodge Challenger