I've been piddling with this for years, recently distracted by home restoration and building a garage around it. I've reached a point where I'm ready to pull it out again and take stock of where it's at. Here it is after a bath, looking better than it really is -



It was given a Maaco paint job by the guy who sold it to me, which has been flaking off for years. Not in big patches but spots in the back. If the paint weren't so bad, I would have never let it get this dirty -









But the paint is just that bad.

I'm trying to get into auto body classes at the local community college, we'll see. They don't seem to be very good at responding to people interested in giving them money.

The interior panels are a happier story -



I sprayed them with SEM a few years back and it's held up perfectly. These look very close to new. The A pillar's are slightly detiorated from UV. If you scrape them with a fingernail a little plastic dust will come off. But they're not crumbling apart.

The chrome trim needs refinishing. I'm open to suggestions on this, no idea where to get it done, how much it costs, how to remove the trim.

I know what your going through, sceduling stuff around the car is always fun until something slows it down. Your car looks to be in excellent condition and the marts are in very nice condition, which will shed off some time when hunting parts and repainting metal.

I spend nearly 20 years looking for a 1972 Blue Rallye charger, so I'm taking my time til it's ready for some nice resto. Most trim on a 72' is aluminum and stainless and can be easily polished at home. Tri City Plating it the place to go for bumpers and guards.

Wish you luck with your charger. Minewill be just waiting til the shop has a clear spot later this year.

I like the looks of the Rallye. I'm surprised it doesn't have the flush side marker lights. I love the vent design on the door. I like the gill design some of the other versions came with too, but I think this edges it out just a bit. I'd like to find a set of doors with the design like yours.

The chrome I need done is the plastic trim on the interior door panels. I'm going to paint the bumpers. I'm not going for a historically accurate restoration. This is a base 318 auto car, it's not very important. So I will have fun with it and make it look the way I want it to look. Purists can go drool over a numbers matching hemi.

Hey, I noticed you don't have the signal flashers on the hood. I'm thinking of losing mine, along with de-badging and shaving the antenna. Maybe the door handles too.

Looks like it cleaned up pretty good.

The flush side marker lights were 71 only.

The scallops on his doors are 72 Ralley only. I see the doors come up every once and a while either on here or E bag

Nice looking car J.R.!

You and migs are closer to working on yours than I am to working on mine (also a '72 Rallye with 340 in Gunmetal). For now I have to satisfy myself with following posts like this.

Wild Bill - The flush side markers only ran for one year? How bizarre. Any idea why? Is there a problem with them? You'd think Chrysler would have axed the clunky cheapo looking ones if they were spending too much money stamping two fender types.

How much do the doors usually go for? I might be able to find them locally.

DynoDave - I will try to get more pics soon. I might find a little time for it tomorrow.

The only reason I can think of for the 1 yr only lights would be going to generic mass production. 1 light fits all kind of thing.

AS for what the 72 ralley doors go for, No idea.

Those and the 71 RT doors are going to be the highest priced. I've also seen people selling just the scallops that cut out of ruined doors so you could convert a plain jane door.

The flush mount side markers were definately 71 only. As far as why...I can only guess but perhaps it was cost because 72, 73, & 74 based on the design was definately cheaper to produce IMO.
If Im not mistaken I believe those same side markers 72, 73 & 74 were used on other mopar models as well. As the 71 flush mounts were a one off only.

Go to the hardware store and get a roll of aluminum tape used for sealing up furnace and A/C duct work.

Lay it out very carfully on your door panel trim and press it down (without wrinkles) then trim the edges. It can also be polished to a chrome-like shine.

Tip-of-the-day.....FREE

WILD BILL, proshiftcharger - It's a shame Chrysler cheaped out on an important car like the Charger anyway. This may sound stupid, but what about filling in the big square hole and using the round lights from the 2nd gen Charger?

Just an idea . . .

anlauto - Hey, there's an idea! Now how do I remove and reinstall the plastic trim pieces?

BTW, what's the procedure for cleaning out rust spots and finding out how bad the situation is?

anlauto - It looks like it would be more trouble to do the job right with the trim pieces on the panels. I don't think I could do a good job of removing the old chrome, and then tucking the tape up under the edge of the plastic.


proshiftcharger - I used to like the idea of dipping, but I haven't been able to turn up a place near western KY that does it, and I've heard the dipping media can get trapped in the creases of the body and cause rust - right in the hardest places to fix.

For now I'm looking for a small home garage solution so I can see how bad my rust spots are.

Still haven't heard from the community college weenies, so I'm leaning more towards the idea of getting it running and putting off the paint and body.

The big thing standing between me and a running car is the fuel system. I let fuel turn to varnish in it, so now I get to deal with it. I've already done the carb and the fuel line.

Here's the tank, which is in way worse shape than I thought it would be -





The surface rust isn't a big deal. It can be fixed and wouldn't keep me from driving if I didn't touch it at all.



This rubber piece is 5 years new - took a few months to get last time, so I'm glad to see it hasn't deteriorated. Which it shouldn't have, but Murphy's Law and all . . .





Here's the problem - this tank was very carefully and painstaking sealed with U.S. Standard tank sealant, and yet there's all this rust. The varnish would be bad enough to deal with. I can get the varnish boiled out, and seal the tank again, but it looks like I can expect the tank to be rusted out again in a couple years.

Here's another problem along the same lines - the fuel sending unit -









I've cleaned it up before when it was rusted this bad. It didn't last. Not cool.

The filler neck is about as bad -











I sealed the inside of this with U.S. Standard Tank Sealant too, and here it is rusted through again.

Here's the cap -





I'm starting to think metal has no business being part of a car's fuel system. I could buy all this new, keep the tank full, and hope for the best. I'm open to plastic alternatives though. I don't care about keeping the car in mint stock condition. Whatever works best is best.

Moving on . . .





The worst of the flaking paint. In the top pic, the paint has peeled down to the bare metal. To the left you can see an old touch-up which is also starting to flake up.

The trunk is covered with flakes like in the bottom pic. This one's quarter sized. The others are mostly in the 1/4" range.

The interior of the trunk is decent -





This may have been legible before it was painted over.



There's surface rust under the trunk mat, but no holes.

Finally, here's the exhaust stuff I bought as a teenager and never installed -



Thought he was gonna go fast

Lookin' Good, I love driving my 72.

If a mod wants to move it . . .

Here's a look at the ratty engine bay -



Trusty but not especially powerful 318. I'll get the carb back on shortly.

I'm encouraged by the condition of the interior



There are a several spots where the original paint is bubbling up and/or flaking off -





l fixed a couple spots with POR-15 a few years back. You can see one under the steering column. It seems to be bubbling a little under the POR-15, which is alarming. I painted over it per instructions (black paint, didn't have any blue) to keep the UV's from breaking down the POR-15. It shouldn't ever rust there again. But it looks like it has.



Looks like surface rust again.



The dash is in o.k. condition. I put a dash cap on years ago. I was careful but still got it glued on too well and it split in the middle, on top. Not visible in this pic. I've got an idea how to fix it.



One of the head rests is mostly o.k. This isn't it. I wonder if I could take it to an upholster and have it wrapped in new vinyl? Since I'm not going for the concours restoration.




The previous owner put aftermarket seat covers on instead of having the seats reupholstered properly. I'll probably dye them black and stick with them. I'd like to replace the springs in the back seat first, which are sad and creaky.

Hi, I would go with a new gas tank and sending unit from Year One or another vender and be done with it. My tank is 7 years old and still looks great. It's not worth messing with an old tank in my opinion. Your car looks like a good starting point. Good luck on your restoration.