What is the difference between 72 and 73 charger fenders?

[hotrod98]

What is the difference between 72 and 73 charger fenders?  I'm trying to adapt 72 rallye doors to my 74 charger. It looks like it can be done with a little body work.

[andy74]

the body line,and the wheel well opening are different,i believe they wont line up correctly

[TruckDriver]

the body line,and the wheel well opening are different,i believe they wont line up correctly

Your right. The blue '74 I am buying is a good example to that cause it has '72 fenders on it. You can see they sit higher in the rear.

[RallyeMike]

The back of the doors wont meet the top of the quarter panel by an inch. Seems it would be easier to graft the 72 depressions into the 74 doors.

[twilt]

The back of the doors wont meet the top of the quarter panel by an inch. Seems it would be easier to graft the 72 depressions into the 74 doors.

  100%      BTW,  its been a long time but I have  put a 73-74 fender on a 71 before and didnt see any issue with any of the body lines. Me thinks the previously mentioned body line difference is incorrect info.  The wheel openings are different as stated.

[hotrod98]

I've read on here before about the doors not lining up, but was unsure as to what was different. A friend of mine has a rallye shell that still has the rallye doors and a sunroof. I was trying to think of a way to graft the doors on my rust free 74 charger that I'm doing the daytona thing to. I would use the sunroof setup as well. I won't be starting this project until my superbird clone is finished. I always plan about two projects ahead so that I'm not having to collect parts at the last minute. We still have to build the molds for the 3rd gen wing using the aluminum daytona wing that I bought from Dane.

As for the quarter panel not aligning, the guys here at the bodyshop swear that they're better than Coddington's guys any day. lol Besides, I would have the quarters from the donor car to play with.

Exactly why would the quarters be off by an inch when the quarters and doors look so much the same, dimensionally? Anyone happen to have pics of a 71 or 72 door on a 73 or 74 car?
Longshot on that request I'm sure.

[Nacho-RT74]

-No different body lines, they match perfectly.
-both bolts the same
-wheel opening cut is around 1 and a half higher on 73/74.
-inner front splash shield with valence is a plane shield on 71/72 and 73/74 is longer and folded in the middle, so if you change fenders also need use the correct front shields.
-73/74 use a big inner rubber bumper bolted inside the fender, on front end... I don't remember on 71/72.
-headligths pedestals are shorter on 71/72.
-of course, different sidemarkers on 71


About doors... as stated, match on front but never won't match on rear top with body lines, curvature and quarter window opening

[RallyeMike]

Exactly why would the quarters be off by an inch when the quarters and doors look so much the same, dimensionally?

Although the 71/72 cars look very much the same as the 73/74 cars, they are quite different. On the 71/72 models the upper body line rises faster from the front of the doors as is moves back to match the higher upper quarter panel line. If you put a 72 door on the 74 car, the entire upper body line on the door will raise higher as it goes back, and the whole door top will be 1 inch higher than the quarter panel. A good body shop could spend a fortune in time cutting at 72 door down to fit a 74, but why?

Sounds like a cool project.
 

[Daytona R/T SE]

What is the difference between 72 and 73 charger fenders?  I'm trying to adapt 72 rallye doors to my 74 charger. It looks like it can be done with a little body work.

Hotrod,
I've got a set of the 72 Rallye door louvers somebody cut out of some doors years ago, I was going to graft them into my "Regular" doors on my 72. I think it would be less work to graft these into the 74 doors, than trying to cut the 72 doors to fit a 74. Give me a good deal on your 72 rallye doors and the cutout louvers are yours...

[hotrod98]

What is the difference between 72 and 73 charger fenders?  I'm trying to adapt 72 rallye doors to my 74 charger. It looks like it can be done with a little body work.

Hotrod,
I've got a set of the 72 Rallye door louvers somebody cut out of some doors years ago, I was going to graft them into my "Regular" doors on my 72. I think it would be less work to graft these into the 74 doors, than trying to cut the 72 doors to fit a 74. Give me a good deal on your 72 rallye doors and the cutout louvers are yours...

I was wrong on the year model of the donor car. The guy has a 71 rallye car. He hasn't given me a price yet on the shell with doors. The sunroof setup and roof are good, the quarters are pretty nice and the doors are solid. There's no front clip and no interior or rear end. I heard from a friend that he wanted $1500 for it, but I lost the guy's cell # and he lives about 30 miles from here. As soon as I get a chance, I'll get with him and find out more. Sounds like I should just go a different route with the '74. I really would like to use this car since it is so solid and complete, but I may just sell this one and buy a 71 instead.

[RallyeMike]

71's are still R/T's, not Rallyes. A 71 R/T is at minimum at 440 car, and the sunroof option makes it quite rare. If that car is salvageable, it should be saved from a fate of being parted out.   

(Exit soapbox)

[ramit]

 

[TruckDriver]

71's are still R/T's, not Rallyes. A 71 R/T is at minimum at 440 car, and the sunroof option makes it quite rare. If that car is salvageable, it should be saved from a fate of being parted out.   

[hotrod98]

The only thing that I remember about the car is that the door had two vertical depressions and that it had a sunroof. As for restoring it, it seems like it was fairly solid, but there wasn't much left. Basically a shell with doors. I'll try to get a pic of the car.

[Mr_fixit]

The fenders fit , and you wouldn't notice any difference... unless you look at the bolt holes that the hood cover, one bolt is different....and..... the area behind the headlight buckets is different and you would notice that when the hood is up...and....the wheel opening is smaller on a 72 that a 73-74, but you wouldn't notice that either unless, you had to put chrome molding around the wheels.  For a driver, no problem.

There's no fender to door gap , besides the usual gap , when you put a 72 fender on a 73/74car..

[hotrod98]

Actually, the plan was to keep the 74 fenders on my 74 car and install the doors from a 71. I thought the car that I'm thinking of buying was a 72 rallye. Turns out it's a 71 r/t car. I haven't seen the car in a couple of years. It's sitting behind a friends house about 30 miles from here. I really like the way those doors look and was thinking of trying to alter them to fit my car. I had always thought that the problem area was with the fender alignment. Turns out the problem is with the alignment of the early doors to the late quarters. His car is a sunroof car, but is missing the front clip, driveline, interior and all of the electrical. In other words, it's a bare shell with rusted out floors, solid r/t doors and a nice power sunroof. After I'm finished building my superbird clone, I was thinking of building a 3rd gen wing car and already have this rust free 74. Looks like I would be better off finding a complete plain 71 or 72 car and using the roof and doors from the donor car.

[1958300]

Whatever you do, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT CUT UP THE 1971 R/T. Even in the condition you describe, it's worth saving. It's one of 40 R/T cars made with the sunroof, and the 1971 R/T is the most valuable 3rd gen charger out there. If you decide not to restore the sunroof car, send me a PM and I will buy it.
thanks, Phillip   

[Nacho-RT74]

[RD]

[PocketThunder]