The King’s Dodge Charger
Behold one of the many Mopars cars used by Richard Petty to win SEVEN NASCAR Cup Championships. This one’s a 1972 Dodge Charger that the King used to score nine wins, 28 Top Fives, 32 Top Tens and three Poles. And yeah, it’s got a Hemi - the old school, second generation 426 inch Hemi with valve covers as big as the serving dishes at the local all-you-can-eat Barbeque. The King won the fifth of his seven champ titles with this here Charger and when they first restored it in 2006, they sent it on over to Disneyland Paris to show those French folk what real American racing was all about.
Check out the details on this livin’ piece of history. No, that’s not an early version of the Car Of Tomorrow’s front-end splitter, that’s what they used for a front air dam in the early ‘70s. Also note how the whole front end has a ‘Barn Door’ flat approach to the oncoming air. It’s especially noteworthy as only a few years before this baby hit the tracks, they were using Superbirds and Daytonas with knife-edge, wedge shaped noses. There’s very little slope to this front end unlike what we see now.
And dig the size of that rear spoiler! Note the bumper farings to smooth the air hitting the bumper ends that stick out like they did back then. Yes, smart observers note the shackles for the leaf springs in the rear. Back then, cars had to run what they built them with and that included torsion bars up front, too. Inside, you‘ll see a lack of all the extra seat panels used today as well as a few less roll cage bars.
We thank the King for having the boys at Level Cross restore this Charger and showing us all how it was done back then. We especially want to thank the King for posing with his ride just for his loyal subjects at MoparMax. Long Live the King!