1972 Dodge Challenger Rallye 340 review from North America

Lots of things. It was a Premier American Pony Car that was driven hard and required restoration.

This was a project car that my Dad helped me restore. It was Rallye Red with black vinyl interior. The Rallye package had heavy duty suspension with front and rear sway bars, and torsion bars up front. The 4 wheel drum brakes should have be outlawed on a car this powerful.

The 340 engine was a free revving brute with a huge Carter AFB 4 barrel carburetor on top and the internal construction of a racing engine. The big 727 Torqueflite tranny was indestructible and had a slap-stik floor shift that allowed manual control for maximum performance. Air entered the twin scoops in the hood and left via a 2-1/2 dual exhaust system that let everyone know a very strong V8 was under the hood. It throbbed at idle and roared under full power.

It had tremendous power at any speed and could shut down most anything except a big block Corvette.

Handling was better than a Mustang or Camaro of the day. The torsion bars up front added to the neutral cornering ability, and oversteer could be corrected with the throttle.

A 3.55 Posi rear end provided excellent traction under power and still allowed a top end of close to 130 mph.

The interior was great. Rallye intrument cluster with 150 mph speedometer, 8,000 rpm tach and gauges for oil pressure, temp, fuel and alternator. A rallye clock topped it off.

The high back bucket seats were very supportive and comfortable, but were sticky in the summer. Like most its peers, the interior was all vinyl and it had no A/C.

Surviving Challengers in R/T and Rallye trim are worth big money today.

Only 80,000 Challengers were made from 1970-1974, and after '72 not many had performance trim from the factory. The Challenger was a great looking car for its day and lived a short life due to smog and fuel efficiency regulation. Chrysler chose to exit the pony car market with the Challenger's exit in 1974.