1973 Dodge Charger from North America - Comments

The air conditioner stopped working sometime prior to 170,000 miles.

The brakes, including the front rotors and calipers, needed to be replaced at 175,000 miles.

A rear axle seal needed replacement after 175,000 miles.

The windshield wipers stopped working at 198,000 miles.

The transmission is slow to engage in reverse and sometimes chatters.

This car had been heavily abused and neglected before I bought it.

However, after some general maintenance it continued to provide good service up to the present time. My average maintenance cost has been 14 cents per mile.

I really like the paint scheme, and the electric blue body and white vinyl top makes this a very pretty car.

The drive train is very rugged, as indicated by the fact that I have driven over 30,000 miles on a transmission that was damaged before I bought the car.

The car is currently my daily-driven vehicle, and has experienced no break-downs.

I wrote the original review of this car. Since that time, I have put another nearly 30,000 miles on it and it has continued to be a great, dependable car. I've taken it on several 1,500-mile vacation trips without incident. Although not a muscle car, the 318 2-barrel has been extremely dependable, has good power, and gets 22 mpg on the highway. I negated some of the previous owners' abuse by adjusting the torsion bars, having the rear leaf springs re-tensioned, replacing the drive shaft, and had the transmission rebuilt (it's a testimonial to the ruggedness of these cars that I drove it with those problems for 18 years). Sagging leaf springs seem to be common on these vehicles. Amazingly, the badly damaged A904 Automatic Transmission continued to function, until recently when the rear seal began leaking badly, which prompted the rebuild. With the miles I've driven, the average maintenance cost remained at 13.9 cents/mile over the last five years. It has now gone to the body/upholstery shop to finish off the restoration, and with the wear-and-tear reset to new, I might just as well keep the car another 18 years.

I have a 1973 Dodge Charger SE and it was my daily driver for six years. I only use it now to drive around town. Really dependable car "bulletproof".

I posted the original review and subsequent update. This will be the last update because I'm retiring the car from daily driver service, and I'm providing it because I see so many of these '73 Chargers appearing on e-bay now, and wanted to round this out if it will help somebody else make a purchase decision.

I've now had this car for exactly 19 years and put over 64,000 miles on it, at a total repair and maintenance cost of $7,000. At least half of that cost would have been unnecessary if I had only wanted to drive it as a "beater". It is back from the body shop and looks like new, so I'm driving it less. In summary, I drove this car back and forth across the U.S., from ocean to ocean and border to border, through Death Valley, on Sierra logging roads, and across the barren expanse of the Prairie. Prior to the mechanical refurbishing in 2000, all of that driving was done with a damaged transmission, bent drive shaft, sagged leaf springs, weak torsion bars, and for a short time frame with no fan shroud so it always ran hot, and at least on two occasions for several miles with no oil pressure when the filter was punctured. In spite of all that, it was a tough car and continued to operate, with no ill effects. Since 2000, I've used Mobil 1 synthetic oil, and taken the car on a 1,500 to 2,000 mile vacation every summer and never had a problem. After the transmission rebuild, the gas mileage improved to over 23 mpg at 55 mph, or about 20 mpg at 60 mph. The handling is okay, but there is significant body roll around curves and corners. Some of these cars apparently came with sway bars, but mine didn't. The front disc brakes are still effective even in this age of anti-lock, and you can get stopped as quickly as you want. Acceleration is okay and will hit 65 by the end of the average "Eastern US" highway on-ramp (which are relatively short) if you floor it. There is no problem cruising at 70-75 mph highway speed, or keeping up with typical Maryland or Virginia interstate traffic. The only times the car came close to stranding me in 19 years was: 1) the alternator bearings seized up on the interstate in Nebraska, but was still drivable and I was able to change out the alternator in a parking lot and was on my way the next morning; 2) the water pump started leaking after just coming off the Chicago tollway, but was drivable to the nearest gas station in Wisconsin even though the cooling system lost pressure and started overheating; 3) the oil filter was punctured when road vibration backed out a bell housing bolt in Nevada, but the car was drivable (slowly) to the next gas station with lifters clattering; 4) the electronic ignition control module quit in West Virginia, and this was the only time that forced me to walk (1/2 mile to the nearest tow truck). Even this was my fault, because I replaced a bad unit with another bad unit, thinking "it will be good enough to get me 5 miles to the parts store" but it wasn't.

In my opinion, these are very durable, rugged, long-lasting, forgiving cars and would be a good choice for someone who wants to drive a a muscle car-era car while fixing it up. They are still drivable despite years of previous neglect or abuse. Their value hasn't taken off yet because they don't have the popularity of the Roadrunners and 'Cudas, so you can still get a decent example for well under $5,000, and probably a beat-up one like mine used to be for around $1,500.

First of all Thank you for such a wonderful reviiw they should all be written like this. You walked us through the real life step by step experience of owning this car with all the ups and downs. I have a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and recently I had a guy offer me a 1973 Dodge Charger for my CV-PI. I have to admit the offer was tempting, but I refused none the less.

It's the original reviewer, back after a couple of years! I'm still driving my Charger, with some general "old car" maintenance and repair items to report.

The car was driven lightly in 2006, and put away for the winter.

In the spring of 2007, when I took it out, a freeze plug popped like a cork on the interstate a couple of miles from home. I didn't realize it was that serious, and once again thanks to the ruggedness of the 318, I drove it the couple of miles back home. I installed one of those rubber expansion plugs. I've heard mixed results with them when used in the block, but this was in an odd sized plug in the timing chain cover --- the size that you can never find a brass plug for. It's been almost 8,000 miles and it's still holding.

I followed the directions in getting the brass plate flush against the outer mating surface of the timing chain cover, and tightened the nut down good. I think many of them fail in the block because they are in only marginally due to the lateral force of the rubber plug against the side of the hole, but where the timing chain cover is thinner, the washer expands the rubber plug and forms a lip behind the timing chain cover, so I'm thinking the rubber plug may actually be stronger than the traditional brass or steel plug, because cooling system pressure would actually make the rubber style be tighter in that case.

That made me realize that the car had been so dependable up until then, that I had neglected to keep up on maintenance. So, I changed all the belts and all the hoses -- every single one. While doing that, I realized that the heater control valve casing was cracked, and coolant was starting to drip. Although I finally found an original on-line, I went with the parts store replacement that looks like an "H" and it actually works better than the original. No plastic to crack, and the original never really shut off the flow of heat to the vents, probably because it was so badly corroded that the valve wouldn't close. In order to mount the new style, I had to bolt a bracket to the fender brace.

I rounded out the year by re-packing the front wheel bearings. It had been about 60,000 miles and 15 years. I also checked the brakes, and even after 50,000 miles there is very little wear on the front pads, with just a little rotor warping. The rear shoes are getting close to needing replacement.

Starting in 2008 it had a lot of trouble starting when it was cold out yet, and I tried driving beginning in March. I finally determined that it was the lead additive I was using that would congeal in the carburetor and make it flood out. I think it might have been clogging the jets, and then gas would overflow the float bowl and drip out onto the manifold. Once I stopped using that additive in the cold, the car started fine. It used to "chug chug chug" and run really rich and want to die until it warmed up and I'd burned out the excess gas, but without the additive, it starts and runs normally when it's cold.

I also had to replace the fuel pump, which was leaking gas into the crank case. I had gotten 20 years out of it, so I guess it did okay. That also required that I change the oil, to clear out the gasoline-contaminated oil.

One crazy thing I had not expected, I had to have the turn signal switch replaced. The front driver's side turn signal would not work, and I found a wiring diagram on-line that helped me trace the problem, but I didn't care to tackle it. For some reason, the wire in the harness had actually been cut --- a phantom of the shade-tree mechanic/hippie biker that I bought it from back in '87, no doubt. Not sure what he was trying to cut, or why...

I also had to have the fuel tank sending unit replaced because the brass float popped out of the clip. I could hear it floating around in the gas tank, and of course the float arm sank to the bottom and caused the gauge to read empty. I guess I didn't consider that the car's fault. It seems like going around a corner and hitting a bump can set up a tsunami of gasoline that can pop the brass float loose. It hasn't happened again.

So, all in all, it has continued to be a good car, but with some of the usual old car maintenance quirks to stay on top of. I'm putting 5,000-6,000 miles per year on it now, driving it to work on nice days, and for weekend trips.

It is really a pleasure to drive on a good, smooth road. The comfort comes mostly from the cushion spring seats, rather than the suspension, though, because hitting a pot hole makes you feel like the whole car is shuddering. However, the floaty ride seems to make bumps feel smoother than in my new SUV -- the "big car" ride.

Although cruising on the highway is okay in terms of power from the 318, probably the real drawback is the steering and suspension, as I suggested previously. It does make me a bit less comfortable now being surrounded by cars on the interstate that all handle much more nimbly and stop much more quickly. I need to slow down more for corners, and leave more following distance.

Despite its age, it still does the job of a "regular" car although it's most fun cruising the US and State highways. I'm still enjoying the car.

Had my 73 for 15 years, still running like a charm.. They really knew how to build cars back then.

I am the original reviewer, checking back in with an approximate 1-year update.

Since my last submission, I've put about 5,500 miles on the car. I parked it for the winter the week before Christmas 2009 when we had our first real snow, so haven't driven it since then.

I was prepared to report an uneventful year of only oil changes and air filter replacement, but in October 2009 I had some major work done to address some of my previous complaints about handling. I had all four ball joints replaced, both upper and lower. That has addressed a great deal of road noise and uneven tire wear, and also cleared up some disc brake chattering or pulsing issues. Apparently the ball joints had gotten loose enough that the wheels were beginning to wobble a bit.

At the same time, I had the torsion bars adjusted to account for the re-tensioned leaf springs, and also had heavy duty gas shocks installed. I also had the steering gearbox replaced to eliminate steering shaft play that was beyond a simple steering knuckle replacement.

At $1,500, all that constituted the most money I've spent on mechanical refurbishment on this car perhaps ever. I would also say that this goes beyond any expected normal wear and tear, and reflects my intention to keep this car going as long as possible.

Despite the cost, it has made a huge difference! The car now drives so tight and straight that I have to relearn how to drive it, as I had come to anticipate which way to pre-emptively counter-steer in response to following ruts in the highway. And even more amazingly, it actually goes around corners without swaying like a storm-tossed barge. And I mean, it actually goes around corners with minimal sway at or slightly above posted speeds.

It's not a "handling car" in the sense of modern cars of course, but it is probably better than it was when new, thanks to the gas shocks and poly-graphite bushings.

Thanks to a rainy Fall, I did not have a chance to take it on a long drive before having to put it away for the winter, but I'm really looking forward to spring so I can enjoy my "new" car on some weekend road trips.

I noticed a mistake in my previous post. I don't know why I was convinced that the rubber expansion plug was in the timing chain cover. Obviously it is not, and I can't explain why I repeated that several times. It's the plug in the front of the block, outboard of the timing chain cover, behind the fuel pump. That rubber plug is still holding 2 1/2 years and 14,000 miles later.

I now have nearly 80,000 miles on my engine overhaul. The engine had about 90,000 miles on it when I replaced main and rod bearings, oil pump, timing chain, distributor, and rebuilt the heads in 1989. At the time, I couldn't afford a whole rebuild, but the cylinders were still within tolerance and within round, as were the ring gaps, so I just went with it. It is not burning oil, but with the pistons, rings, and camshaft at 170,000 miles, I can't help but wonder how long they will last. My last 318 was still running at 260,000 miles, so hopefully it has many years of light duty cruising left in it.

Excellent continued updates and reviews! Wish everyone would be as thorough. No wonder your autos do well, as precise as you write about them, no doubt your maintenance is done as well! Good jobs!

It's the original reviewer, with an addendum to my yearly update from January 2010. I neglected to mention that I also changed the spark plugs as routine maintenance at their 18,000 mile recommended interval. They may not have needed it, because all electrodes showed only a light brown discoloration with no heavy deposits and no black carbon from oil burning. I use Bosch Platinum plugs, but still change them every 18,000 miles because for my amount of driving, that translates into several years between changes.

As for a few other details:

The rear brake shoes have shown virtually no wear in the last 2 1/2 years or 14,000 miles. In July 2009 I measured them as 1/8 inch thick, and this September I measured them more stringently at different places at 3/32 to 5/ 32 inches thick, which isn't much thinner than the brand new ones I bought to install, but apparently don't need yet. They still seem to be over 50% (these are glued, not riveted).

I've had a small gas leak from a tear in the metal of the gas tank for 20 years, which had been successfully sealed with putty years ago. However, when I had my fuel tank sending unit replaced 1-2 years ago, the mechanic must have picked at the putty like a scab, and I had been fighting to get it re-sealed permanently since then. The standard gas tank repair putty just would not work. I sanded the area down to bare metal to rough it up, washed the metal, ensured the area was dry by draining the tank, and the putty would last a few months at best. After multiple applications, I started to look for different products. The only thing that finally worked was a product called "Seal All", which is a free-flowing resin the consistency of airplane glue. Time will tell, of course, but it has been nearly a year and no more drips.

I don't seem to be having a problem with valve recession. When I had the heads rebuilt, I lacked the money and foresight to have hardened seats installed (who knew I'd still have this car over 20 years later, right?). However, I've pretty regularly used the lead substitutes like STP or Bardahl. I've heard some say those products don't do anything, I've heard others say they help somewhat, and I've heard still others say that the key is keeping engine rpm's down to avoid valve burning. All I know is that after nearly 80,000 miles, it does not appear that I have burned my valves running unleaded gasoline despite the lack of hardened valve seats. Whether this is attributable to using the lead substitutes, or the fact that I rarely exceed about 2,200 rpm's I can't say. I also use premium gasoline, and have heard still other comments to the effect that lead substitutes aren't needed with the higher octane gasoline.

I hope some of these comments may be helping somebody, and I'll see you next year!