The redesigned 1971 Dodge Charger was introduced right at the knife’s edge of the muscle car’s salad days. Within a year, the party would be over, as insurance, new tastes (Landau roofs, velour and a quiet ride) and Boomers entering early adulthood would change everything. Chrysler Corporation would have to do what would have been unthinkable 2-3 years earlier–turn their vaunted muscle car into a personal-luxury Brougham. With SIX opera windows, yet!
While the 1968-70 Charger had its own unique body, the 1971 “Charger” was essentially a two-door Coronet, as the 1968-70 Coronet two-door disappeared with the new model year. Thus, the Charger R/T and Super Bee became simple badge-engineered brothers, instead of separate models. High-Impact colors, burbly 440- and 426-CID V8 power, Rallye wheels, pistol grip shifters, and other must-have items turned your basic Charger into something special–in 1971.
But then a funny thing happened. Insurance went through the roof, regulations started catching up, and suddenly these Hemi- and 440-powered superstars were rudely pushed out of the picture. But the Charger had just been redesigned in 1971. What to do before the formal-roofed, neoclassical ’75 Charger and sister Cordoba took the reins to battle against the personal-lux Monte Carlo?
Answer: Improvise. The smooth, Coke-bottle flanks of the 1971-72 Charger were subjected to every tacked-on “luxury” cue known to man: canopy vinyl roof, whitewalls, wire wheel covers, stand-up hood ornament, hi-back bench seating, pinstripes and lots of chrome gingerbread. The only thing I can’t figure is why they didn’t include the optional hidden headlights of the 1971-72 model. They would have fit right in…
But the piece de resistance of the Charger SE (the SE, of course, came onto the scene in 1970, but without all the Broughamy stuff on the outside) was that, ahem, “unique” vinyl roof with a half-dozen opera windows (soundly beating the Ford Elite’s “Twindows” by two) and wreath-bedecked “SE” medallions.
Beyond the vinyl toupee and hood ornament, SEs came with an electric clock, inside hood release (such luxury!), bench seat with folding armrest, deluxe wheel covers (the wires shown further up were extra), Rallye gauges, and other fillips.
In 1974, the cheapest Charger was a no-frills coupe with Slant Six power for $3212. The V8-only SE started at $3742, and of course many went out the door with plenty of optional extras. The standard engine was a 150-hp 318 with a two barrel carb; 360 and 400 V8s were available for $222 and 188, respectively. Just shy of 31K SEs were built for the year.
I spotted this SE at the Galesburg car show in Standish Park last June, looking quite nice in its olive metallic paint and cream-colored Landau top. The only thing that was amiss was the car’s rake, fat tires and Crager S/Ss. To get the full SE effect, you really must have the wire wheel covers and whitewalls. Don’t you agree?
Like the blue one. Teacher ((science)), in “10th”, grade had a green one. It was a “71-2”.
(10th grade was “76-7”, years for me)
Recall he still had the car near my graduation time. Was looking “faded”.
Intermediate school was across the road from h/s.
Could see the parking lot.
One of my least favourite eras. I detested faux luxury PLC cars like the Gran Torino, Ford Elite, Monte Carlo, Cordoba, and equivalent Charger. The 1975-era Plymouth Fury coupe. Peak malaise, and some of the weakest domestic cars of the modern era.
“To get the full SE effect, you really must have the wire wheel covers and whitewalls. Don’t you agree?”
Agreed 100%. I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I’ve always hated Cragar S/Ss as well as RWL tires. I understand their historical appeal, but I just don’t like the look of either of ’em. Plus it seems that 9 times out of 10 they’re invariably applied to a wildly incongruous vehicle, as seen here.
I like the wheel style, both attractive and ‘period’, but never understood why you’d want RWLs though.
The wheels, tyres and rake really don’t go with all the SE styling tropes. Though I’m sure many non-R/Ts got turned into faux-R/Ts. Guess us teens and twenty-somethings never got the message that Brougham was cool. 🙂
FWIW SEs could get magnum 500s or rallye wheels with polyglass RWL tires from the factory(in fact you could even get the Cordoba Chargers with the rallyes too in 77-78). I don’t particularly like the Cragar SSs on this one because I don’t particularly like Cragar SSs in general. A slot or turbine mag would be my preference on this bodystyle, but factory magnum 500s or rallyes even paired with whitewalls would be just fine too… sorry, I hate wheel covers, especially wire ones
I like it in a “Daisy Duke in a cocktail dress” kind of way. Not what I was used to seeing with this era of Charger, but not objectionable, either. Agree that the six opera windows seemed to be stretching for something. The Charger SE could have turned out far worse.
I don’t hate it for the slotted windows, vinyl top, or any of that other stuff. Nothing wrong with dressing your muscle car (such as it was by ’71) up a bit.
I hate it because the ’71-’74 body is stupid and terrible looking. They took the iconic ’68-’70 design, let it sit under a heat lamp for a while to get all droopy, soft, and lumpy, stretched it a bit, and thought, “yeah, that’ll do.”
Then, as if Dodge needed a badge-engineered Cordoba, and they didn’t, they chose the worst possible existing name for it.
The Charger name ceased to exist properly after 1970. Nothing else since has been worthy.
I just don’t get it. Young males in their 20s were buying the 68-70 Charger. I was 16 in 1969. Come 1972 those young males in their 20s were only 2-4 years older and probably still in their 20s or very early 30s. I was now 19. How Detroit thought those same age group people would now like this broughamified Charger is beyond me. I didn’t like it then and I still don’t like it today. Have only seen one in the last 10 years and said to myself “oh look at that a 72 Charger and still an abomination.” This gold one fits that to a T with those tires and rims.
Those young buyers had been shut out by brutal insurance costs, so the broughamitude was an attempt to shift sales either to an audience that was a little older and not as punitively surcharged or that was more interested in luxury and wouldn’t be as surly about only being able to afford the insurance on a 2V V-8.
I hadn’t really thought of these that way but that’s a great point. It’s not that the tastes changed in prior Charger buyers, prior Charger buyers simply were forced/enticed to moved on and Dodge shifted focus for the model to a different demographic.
It’s not like ALL 73-74 Chargers were SEs, there were still 440 4-speed rallyes with a much more attractive roofline, but the younger buyers just weren’t there buying them in numbers, and we see that now with so much of the 73-74s surviving being the SEs
GM caught Ford and Chrysler flat-footed in the burgeoning, seventies’ intermediate PLC class, beginning with the 1969 Grand Prix and 1970 Monte Carlo. They were the de facto, go-to intermediate PLCs up to the 1978 downsizing.
Chrysler tried to split the difference with the 1971-74 B-body coupes that had unique sheetmetal from the sedans and station wagons. You could get your Satellite or Charger optioned up as an old-school musclecar or, now, as a quasi-PLC. Trouble was, GM had an answer with the quite attractive Cutlass which was just beginning its sales sweep of the decade as the PLC for those who couldn’t afford a real one.
Chrysler would finally clean-up in the PLC wars with the 1975 Cordoba (at least for a few years) but the Charger just didn’t fit as the Dodge version. A Plymouth PLC would have been a better fit but an awkward presence in Chrysler-Plymouth showrooms.
This roof/window treatment did do a great job of making a fastback look like a notchback which was crucial, because proper PLCs are notchbacks. Compare the 1978 AMC Matador Barcelona coupe, where a square opera window and two-tone paint failed to make the Matador coupe look quite like a real notchback brougham PLC.
I can’t get over how plain the interior looks, not at all the Broughamified look I expected from the outside of this SE. Didn’t the R/T have that wood too? I would have expected something like a patterned cloth fabric rather than normal-looking pleated vinyl on the seats. I’m not looking for the full Imperial, just something like mid-range Chrysler treatment. Something to make it feel as special inside as it looks from the outside.
While I’ve built many models of these Charger R/Ts and Super Bees, I’ve never felt moved to replicate an SE. But from these photos I am beginning to feel a bit of SE love.
As an current owner of a 74 Charger SE and a 70 Charger 500 I have maybe more data than most.
The styling of the 71-74 Chargers has grown on me since buying the 74 after the 70. Both have factory wheels BTW, Rallye wheels on the 70 and road wheels on the 74..
The 74 is tuned for a better ride and was styled to solve the aero problems of the 2nd gen. This was the win on Sunday, sell on Monday era. Ask Richard Petty. My 74 is better suited to bad roads and is more comfortable. I think people wanted more than they had in earlier years like now. Heated, leather seats in a Civic, for example. Luxury for the masses.
Charger followed the market, pure and simple. Personal luxury replaced bench seats and basic door panels. AC was more common and less expensive. Would you pay $3000 equivalent for AC now? AC was a $500 option on my 71 Cutlass that sold for $3800.
Interior hood latches weren’t a luxury item, BTW, they were a security item. Too many people were having their batteries stolen for example or having people mess with their engine. Mopars in particular are pretty easy to start with a screwdriver and a wire. No need to reach under the dash a la TV shows. Of course, getting into locked cars of this era is pretty easy so one could then pull the interior release.
By 75 luxury was king and Chysler and others, like now, realized options meant profits more than a stripped down Road Runner. Best example now are pickups and SUVs. Massage seats, self driving, cameras everywhere, large sunroofs, etc. all add tens of thousands of profit. No one wants a vinyl bench seat pickup with a manual, crank windows, heat only and radio delete.
Your Lean Burn website is on the fritz again.
That said, I love the wheels and stance on this car and encourage the owner to bring the stock looking engine up to its full potential.