'74 Rallye 440 Aztec after clean-up

[charger87]

Whoa! I thought I had the only '74 Rallye 440 with such a... unique interior! With only 208 Rallye 440s from 1974, I thought I might well have the only Aztec.

I stumbled across this thread while doing research for some work I'd like to do on my Charger (also found the chargerforumz thread). I was already energized about putting some more work into it, but I'm much more excited now that I've seen this exemplar. Mine is far from stock at the moment, but I'd like to get it closer and what I've seen here definitely helps. This car has been with me for a while and will always be special; it was my first car, and I purchased it in 2003.

I grew up around my dad's '72 Charger 440, and I wanted a classic mopar for my first car (I know, weird kid). He didn't volunteer his, and I knew that it would require a lot of searching to find the right car. I started my search in 2002, and I had my heart set on an e-body. I thought they were really slick, and there's no way I wanted a big ol' b-body. Even then, e-body's were becoming scarce, so I enlarged my search to include a-body's as well.

I kept up the search for about a year and a half, and I had seen about a dozen cars before I found the right one. My dad drove me about 60 miles to see it after some email correspondence with the owner, and when I got there I knew this was my car.

I have bits and pieces of this car's history, mostly from registration and insurance documentation which I found in the glove box. The fender tags were missing when I bought it, but the broadcast sheet was intact and decoded by Galen Govier in 1999. In the April of 1974 this fine automobile rolled out of the assembly plant in St. Louis destined for California (smog pump and all).
As I mentioned, we're far from stock at the moment. In 1993 somebody painted the car root beer brown, although what I suspected was the original color can still be found in spots around the car (notably the trunk and hood springs). Yours is the first Aztec survivor I've seen to compare the color, and I'm reasonably convinced that the trunk is indeed JL6 Aztec Gold. This information should help when I get it repainted.

The rear bench and side panels are original equipment (I can't imagine anyone installing that bench with the Aztec inserts aftermarket!), as is the "buddy" seat in the front, but the front buckets and front door panels were replaced at some point. The black bucket seats up front are actually out of an e-body, and a build sheet (for a 1973 Barracuda 318 car, if memory serves) was found beneath the driver seat. I thought this was kind of neat, but kind of confusing as well; of course the Aztec package isn't for everyone, but there couldn't have been more than a handful of these cars! The door panels are also black (even though it's an E5YW car), but the white headliner was retained. The white vinyl top appears to have been painted black at some point as well, although it's rubbing off in some spots (I suspect that these modifications all occurred around the same time, in the early '90s) and the road wheels on it were replaced with 15" mopar rallye wheels, something I didn't find out until just tonight (I skimmed over the build sheet when I purchased the car, but it was quickly filed it away after that and didn't notice the 14" stamped road wheels until I revisited the printout from Galen Govier tonight).

I have a few stories about the old Dodge and I'm shaping up some future plans for it right now. I'd love to go into more detail about tonight, but it's getting late. It's really good to see another Rallye 440 Aztec, and I look forward to continuing this thread!

[charger87]

Oh, I almost forgot: Some years ago my dad put together a website, 72charger.com for his own entertainment. On it are pictures of his '72 Charger, my '74 Charger, and cars in attendance at a few Dodge Charger shows put on by the Dodge Charger Registry over the years.

Cheers!

[bull]

Nice! I bet everyone wishes their resto was that easy.

[charger87]

Every time I look at these pictures I'm more impressed. Great find, MRHWS!

[CDN72SE]

Welcome to the site, I stumbled across 72charger.com years ago, cool site.

[Nacho-RT74]

Whoa! I thought I had the only '74 Rallye 440 with such a... unique interior! With only 208 Rallye 440s from 1974, I thought I might well have the only Aztec.

I stumbled across this thread while doing research for some work I'd like to do on my Charger (also found the chargerforumz thread). I was already energized about putting some more work into it, but I'm much more excited now that I've seen this exemplar. Mine is far from stock at the moment, but I'd like to get it closer and what I've seen here definitely helps. This car has been with me for a while and will always be special; it was my first car, and I purchased it in 2003.

I grew up around my dad's '72 Charger 440, and I wanted a classic mopar for my first car (I know, weird kid). He didn't volunteer his, and I knew that it would require a lot of searching to find the right car. I started my search in 2002, and I had my heart set on an e-body. I thought they were really slick, and there's no way I wanted a big ol' b-body. Even then, e-body's were becoming scarce, so I enlarged my search to include a-body's as well.

I kept up the search for about a year and a half, and I had seen about a dozen cars before I found the right one. My dad drove me about 60 miles to see it after some email correspondence with the owner, and when I got there I knew this was my car.

I have bits and pieces of this car's history, mostly from registration and insurance documentation which I found in the glove box. The fender tags were missing when I bought it, but the broadcast sheet was intact and decoded by Galen Govier in 1999. In the April of 1974 this fine automobile rolled out of the assembly plant in St. Louis destined for California (smog pump and all).
As I mentioned, we’re far from stock at the moment. In 1993 somebody painted the car root beer brown, although what I suspected was the original color can still be found in spots around the car (notably the trunk and hood springs). Yours is the first Aztec survivor I’ve seen to compare the color, and I’m reasonably convinced that the trunk is indeed JL6 Aztec Gold. This information should help when I get it repainted.

The rear bench and side panels are original equipment (I can’t imagine anyone installing that bench with the Aztec inserts aftermarket!), as is the “buddy” seat in the front, but the front buckets and front door panels were replaced at some point. The black bucket seats up front are actually out of an e-body, and a build sheet (for a 1973 Barracuda 318 car, if memory serves) was found beneath the driver seat. I thought this was kind of neat, but kind of confusing as well; of course the Aztec package isn’t for everyone, but there couldn’t have been more than a handful of these cars! The door panels are also black (even though it’s an E5YW car), but the white headliner was retained. The white vinyl top appears to have been painted black at some point as well, although it’s rubbing off in some spots (I suspect that these modifications all occurred around the same time, in the early ‘90s) and the road wheels on it were replaced with 15” mopar rallye wheels, something I didn’t find out until just tonight (I skimmed over the build sheet when I purchased the car, but it was quickly filed it away after that and didn’t notice the 14” stamped road wheels until I revisited the printout from Galen Govier tonight).

I have a few stories about the old Dodge and I’m shaping up some future plans for it right now. I’d love to go into more detail about tonight, but it’s getting late. It’s really good to see another Rallye 440 Aztec, and I look forward to continuing this thread!

RALLYE ? it looks A SPRING SPECIAL CAR... all these got aztecs interiors with bench and optionally, the M07 treatment roof

A77 code on Tag

Rallyes A57

this is a very rare car if you ask me.

Vinyl top looks has been replaced someday in the past ( wrong seam location )

Dunno if rallyes were M07 optioned or if Spring Specials were 440 and bulged hood optioned... interesting info to search about.

Does It have rear sway bar ? Rallye cluster ?

WELCOME!

We do have a 3rd gen website board around

[MRHWS]

Whoa! I thought I had the only '74 Rallye 440 with such a... unique interior! With only 208 Rallye 440s from 1974, I thought I might well have the only Aztec.

I stumbled across this thread while doing research for some work I'd like to do on my Charger (also found the chargerforumz thread). I was already energized about putting some more work into it, but I'm much more excited now that I've seen this exemplar. Mine is far from stock at the moment, but I'd like to get it closer and what I've seen here definitely helps. This car has been with me for a while and will always be special; it was my first car, and I purchased it in 2003.

I grew up around my dad's '72 Charger 440, and I wanted a classic mopar for my first car (I know, weird kid). He didn't volunteer his, and I knew that it would require a lot of searching to find the right car. I started my search in 2002, and I had my heart set on an e-body. I thought they were really slick, and there's no way I wanted a big ol' b-body. Even then, e-body's were becoming scarce, so I enlarged my search to include a-body's as well.

I kept up the search for about a year and a half, and I had seen about a dozen cars before I found the right one. My dad drove me about 60 miles to see it after some email correspondence with the owner, and when I got there I knew this was my car.

I have bits and pieces of this car's history, mostly from registration and insurance documentation which I found in the glove box. The fender tags were missing when I bought it, but the broadcast sheet was intact and decoded by Galen Govier in 1999. In the April of 1974 this fine automobile rolled out of the assembly plant in St. Louis destined for California (smog pump and all).
As I mentioned, we're far from stock at the moment. In 1993 somebody painted the car root beer brown, although what I suspected was the original color can still be found in spots around the car (notably the trunk and hood springs). Yours is the first Aztec survivor I've seen to compare the color, and I'm reasonably convinced that the trunk is indeed JL6 Aztec Gold. This information should help when I get it repainted.

The rear bench and side panels are original equipment (I can't imagine anyone installing that bench with the Aztec inserts aftermarket!), as is the "buddy" seat in the front, but the front buckets and front door panels were replaced at some point. The black bucket seats up front are actually out of an e-body, and a build sheet (for a 1973 Barracuda 318 car, if memory serves) was found beneath the driver seat. I thought this was kind of neat, but kind of confusing as well; of course the Aztec package isn't for everyone, but there couldn't have been more than a handful of these cars! The door panels are also black (even though it's an E5YW car), but the white headliner was retained. The white vinyl top appears to have been painted black at some point as well, although it's rubbing off in some spots (I suspect that these modifications all occurred around the same time, in the early '90s) and the road wheels on it were replaced with 15" mopar rallye wheels, something I didn't find out until just tonight (I skimmed over the build sheet when I purchased the car, but it was quickly filed it away after that and didn't notice the 14" stamped road wheels until I revisited the printout from Galen Govier tonight).

I have a few stories about the old Dodge and I'm shaping up some future plans for it right now. I'd love to go into more detail about tonight, but it's getting late. It's really good to see another Rallye 440 Aztec, and I look forward to continuing this thread!

Chris, looking at your rear window trim on your dad's web site, tells me your Charger may be a WH23 "Spring Special" not a Rallye. Similar to the WP29 SE but without louvers. Since you have the build sheet, look in the orange section under groups on far right, the Rallye package is code 57. Not sure of the Spring option code. You do have the '74 correct bulge hood without rear vents, black Rallye stripe and cutouts on rear pan. Do you have a rear anti-sway bar? As a Spring Special, it is still a rare bird, especially with the Aztec trim.

[MRHWS]

Here are a couple more photos taken saturday 11/27.

late afternoon


dusk


night time under the lights

[Nacho-RT74]

SE rocker moldings ? I haven't noticed that before!

[charger87]

Thanks for the great feedback, guys!

I see you got rid of the turndowns, MRHWS. Looking very sharp, those tips look immaculate; bet they set you back a few dollars! I have those tips on mine as well, but they're not near as pretty.

Way cool that you guys picked up on some of the little oddities present on my car - I didn't even know that there was a Spring Special package! I can tell Chargers apart by year (taillights, hood vents, stripes, running lights), but not to the level of detail you guys saw.

To answer your inquiries:

My sheet does have A57 Rallye on it. I have front and rear sway bars and the rallye instrument panel as well. I wasn't sure if the vinyl top was original and painted black or aftermarket (the seams always did bother me a little). I have the black Rallye stripe, but it came with a gold one (V6Y is the code, sport tape/gold). As I recall there were a few gold Rallye stripes (at least black and red versions that I've seen), but I'm told it was white (to match interior and white vinyl top, V1W). The rear window trim is original to the car (and the black paint it flaking off of them) - I have M07 Quarter Opera Window on the sheet.

Lunch break is about over, but I really do appreciate your input! It strikes me that this may be a good discussion for finding out more about Rallye 440 Aztecs in the abstract (e.g., how they were optioned) given that we have two of them (perhaps the only two). But maybe I should start a separate discussion for resto plans and specifics about my car's history since I took ownership? I just joined the board (don't really post around the inet anywhere else) and want to make sure I observe the proper etiquette - do let me know! I don't want to distract at all from congratulating MRHWS on his very unlikely find!

Thanks for the warm welcome to the community.

Chris

[doctorpimp]

 

[Chargerguy74]

Great pics. The V6Y stripe would look really good on that car. My Sienna Metallic Rallye was ordered with a V6Y stripe. Anyway, I feel like joining in. Here's my newly aquired Aztec Rallye...

[Brock Samson]

 WoW! I Like! 

[MRHWS]

Very nice 
Where on earth do you live with that snow? Good god, it was 84 here yesterday.

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

Some nice cars in this thread!!! 

[Chargerguy74]

Very nice 
Where on earth do you live with that snow? Good god, it was 84 here yesterday.

Alberta. Around the time of the picture it was -15F. I'm counting down the days to spring!

[tan top]

Great pics. The V6Y stripe would look really good on that car. My Sienna Metallic Rallye was ordered with a V6Y stripe. Anyway, I feel like joining in. Here's my newly aquired Aztec Rallye...

looks good  with centrelines

[Nacho-RT74]

NOT JUST AZTEC RALLYE, ALSO BROUGHAM PACKAGE... drooooling!!!!!!

Nice Score Ryan!

AND ANOTHER ONE WITH SE ROCKER MOLDINGS!!!

[TeeWJay426]

I would think that combo with the 360 4-speed would have to be pretty rare itself...... great score!!! 

[Chargerguy74]

Thanks guys! I am pretty happy with the car. You cant see it in these pics, but it is also a V8X striped car (transverse deck lid stripe). I didn't think I would be too keen on the Aztec interior, but when I saw the car in person I fell in love. It's going to be a long winter!

[TUFCAT]

I Love it!   Congratulations on an awesome find! 

[charger87]

Gotta love the 4-speed, and looks like a very clean car. Great find! And yes, the Aztec interior grows on you 

I think the V8X would look good on these cars, though mine didn't come with it. Would love to see a picture to see what it looks like!

Chris

[Nacho-RT74]

On an SE

Varelly visible but I think is there