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1975-1976 Dodge Charger

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1975  This year Chrysler introduced their new small Chrysler, the Cordoba. Dodge's version of the Cordoba was named the Charger. Unlike the fire breathing Chargers of the muscle car days, this Charger emphasized luxury over performance. It was a very handsome coupe, with great-looking lines, and a formal front-end with a close-mesh grill, round headlights on the outside, and smaller round parking lights right next to them. Only one model was available in 1975, the SE. Emphasizing luxury, you could get a vinyl Landau top (goes halfway across the roof), a Halo vinyl roof (covers the entire roof), louvered opera windows, rear courtesy lights, velour and vinyl front bench seat, wire wheels covers, all with 24-ounce shag carpeting. In at least a small attempt at sportiness, a center console with a floor shifter was optional, as was a "Tuff" steering wheel.

 

Underneath the body, the suspension was torsion bars in front, asymetrical leaf-springs in the rear, with both front and rear sway bars. The brakes were front power disc with rear 10 X 2.5-inch drums. The tires were GR78 X 15 white-walls on 15 X 6.5 inch wheels. Electronic ignition was standard. The 360 cid V-8 was standard in the Charger, with the 318 cid V-8 and 400 cid V-8 engines optional. The only transmission available was the TorqueFlite 3-speed automatic.

 

 

 

             

 

1976  Three new models came to the Charger line-up in 1976. There was the lowest price Charger hardtop, with the Charger Sport the next step up. The standard engine in both models was the 225 cid slant-six with a 3-speed manual transmission, neither of which was available in 1975. Bench seats were standard in the Charger hardtop, with vinyl buckets optional. The front grill on the Charger hardtop was a close mesh black out grill with a bright frame, divided down the middle. The rest of the Chargers received a close mesh grill without the middle divider. The Charger Sport got velour cloth and vinyl bench seats with a center armrest and 24-ounce shag carpeting, with vinyl buckets seats optional. A new option this year was the 60/40 split cloth and vinyl bench seat, available on the Charger Sport. The front disc, rear 10 X 2.5-inch drum brakes were now manual this year, although power brakes were optional. The Charger hardtop and Charger sport also received smaller F78 X 14 tires on 14 X 5-inch wheels. The suspension was the same as last year, torsion bars up front with a sway bar, with leaf springs in the back. However, unlike last year, there was no rear sway bar. Very cool looking Ralleye road wheels were new this year, and was optional on all four Charger models.

The Charger SE was largely a carryover from last year, although the standard engine was now the 318 cid V-8, instead of the 360. The wheels were slightly smaller - 15 X 5.5-inches, but the rear drum brakes were slightly larger - 11 X 2.5-inches. The standard rear sway bar from last year was deleted on the SE.

 

The hot news this year was the introduction of the Charger Daytona. The Daytona was basically an option package on the Charger SE, therefore all of the features on the SE carried over to the Daytona, such as the 318 V-8, vinyl bucket seats, automatic transmission, power brakes with the larger drum brakes. What the Daytona package included was a striking 2-tone paint scheme with body striping. Charger Daytona decals were applied to the doors, front fenders, and trunklid. The Halo and vinyl roofs optional on the other Chargers were not available on the Daytona. Of course, you could still get all the look-fast goodies on the Daytona that were also optional on the other Chargers, such as the "Tuff" sport steering wheel, Ralleye wheels, center console with floor shifter, bucket seats, and heavy duty shocks and suspension.