1975 Dodge Charger SE from North America - Comments
2nd Jul 2025, 19:53
This is the original reviewer providing an update. It's been a little over four years since the last update and during that time I have continued to drive the '75 Charger SE around the neighborhood to build up confidence and just enjoy driving it. In October 2024 I was brave enough to take it on a 200 mile round trip involving state and US highways, as well as about 40 miles of interstate so I could let the car run at highway speeds and see how it held up. It held up just fine, ran great and had no problems.
I have continued with catch-up maintenance by having the shock absorbers replaced and also had the front and rear u-joints replaced. There had been a vibration at right around 45 mph, which I knew was an indicator of a bad u-joint. I'm currently having a windshield wiper issue. The bushing in the connecting arm to the passenger side either dry rotted away or was eaten by mice, but at least the driver's side still works. I will have to address the passenger side, which means removing the arms from the inspection holes to press in the new bushings. Not a job I look forward to. I also recharged the AC with the R-135 by installing a new fitting and the AC really works great. But as far as running and driving, my confidence in this car is high. Of course with a car of this age and miles, you really find out where you stand once you get out on the highway on a long trip. That's when you discover the alternator bearings are going bad or the water pump bushing is leaking. Neither would be unreasonable on this original engine at this point.
A short anecdote: this car is stored at a vacation home about a thousand miles from where I live. I had driven my Cadillac DTS there and halfway into the trip it started having problems so that it was limping by the time I got there. It turned out to be a coil pack, which was replaced and then ran fine again. However, during those few days before I knew that when the DTS seemed in question, I was eyeing the Charger SE and saying looks like you're up, buddy! This is what we've been preparing for!
2nd Jul 2025, 19:53
This is the original reviewer providing an update. It's been a little over four years since the last update and during that time I have continued to drive the '75 Charger SE around the neighborhood to build up confidence and just enjoy driving it. In October 2024 I was brave enough to take it on a 200 mile round trip involving state and US highways, as well as about 40 miles of interstate so I could let the car run at highway speeds and see how it held up. It held up just fine, ran great and had no problems.
I have continued with catch-up maintenance by having the shock absorbers replaced and also had the front and rear u-joints replaced. There had been a vibration at right around 45 mph, which I knew was an indicator of a bad u-joint. I'm currently having a windshield wiper issue. The bushing in the connecting arm to the passenger side either dry rotted away or was eaten by mice, but at least the driver's side still works. I will have to address the passenger side, which means removing the arms from the inspection holes to press in the new bushings. Not a job I look forward to. I also recharged the AC with the R-135 by installing a new fitting and the AC really works great. But as far as running and driving, my confidence in this car is high. Of course with a car of this age and miles, you really find out where you stand once you get out on the highway on a long trip. That's when you discover the alternator bearings are going bad or the water pump bushing is leaking. Neither would be unreasonable on this original engine at this point.
A short anecdote: this car is stored at a vacation home about a thousand miles from where I live. I had driven my Cadillac DTS there and halfway into the trip it started having problems so that it was limping by the time I got there. It turned out to be a coil pack, which was replaced and then ran fine again. However, during those few days before I knew that when the DTS seemed in question, I was eyeing the Charger SE and saying looks like you're up, buddy! This is what we've been preparing for!