b5topper
New Member
Hello everyone, my name is Ethan and I’m from northwest PA. This forum has help me years ago but I never joined. Well recently I found myself in a position finally that I could buy a mopar. I owned a 77 gran fury that I truly miss, and if it had not been for the stress of being newly married and buying my first home, I’d still have my big beautiful c body. My great grandfather and my grandfather and great uncle were very loyal Dodge and Plymouth owners. With many old family photos usually having a mopar of some form in the background. I plan to keep that tradition going with the 72 charger I bought.
I really wanted to find something I could start to enjoy right away with as little rust as possible, I hate heavy modifications on any vehicle, so I was hoping my quite low budget would find me something somewhat unmonkeyed with. I was very open to everything from a 69 charger (haha) to a volare wagon. As I couldn’t afford a grill for something like a second gen charger, and I also live in an area that is an absolute nightmare for car’s longevity, I really thought I would end up with something like a 2 door volare after a road trip down south, and I would have been thrilled with that. But I decided I would know when I saw the right car and was hoping to check two things off on my bucket list, one-get my forever mopar, and two-road trip it home.
One day there it was, in my mind…a dream car, a very complete, very rust free, 1972 charger, a mere 900 miles away in Alabama, for the price, I never imagined I would be able to get my ducks in a row to be able to get it in time, as many probably know, finding a car is not that hard, finding one with a kind and trustworthy person as the owner, at a very very reasonable price, that is the challenge. Well the stars aligned for me and arrangements were made over the phone. After hog tying my dad and cousin we were off to go get my mopar in the middle of February in a Subaru loaded down with tools, what could go wrong?
Well, let me tell you, I chose not to ask myself that at the time and go into it with full ignorant bliss. As it won’t be too big of a surprise to you guys, that 72 charger with its very original power train of 140,000ish miles ate up the 900 miles home like it was NOTHING. One quart of 10w40 was all I would have needed to take with me. I owe it all to the man I bought it from, almost like I told him my hopes a couple years in advance, he had replaced some steering and brake components, put a new 4 barrel edelbrock on the original 318, put a new fuel tank in it, new tires, and checked the ammeter and bulkhead on the car already, buying from someone who knows their mopars and knows how to fix and maintain them, that was priceless.
For anyone still reading, I look forward to learning and improving the car over the years, she is a simple b5 blue 72 “topper” package car, it will not be getting a vinyl top again as they terrify me and I will be driving it daily in spring and summer once salt is off the roads, I look forward to every little improvement I will do to the car, hopefully making some diy threads along the way as I have always appreciated that help being a click away for me when I have needed it. Thank you all for keeping these wonderful cars and the hobby going, in my mind the 60s and 70s mopars were the absolute pinnacle of style, solid well thought out engineering, and simple reliability. It just doesn’t get better.
I really wanted to find something I could start to enjoy right away with as little rust as possible, I hate heavy modifications on any vehicle, so I was hoping my quite low budget would find me something somewhat unmonkeyed with. I was very open to everything from a 69 charger (haha) to a volare wagon. As I couldn’t afford a grill for something like a second gen charger, and I also live in an area that is an absolute nightmare for car’s longevity, I really thought I would end up with something like a 2 door volare after a road trip down south, and I would have been thrilled with that. But I decided I would know when I saw the right car and was hoping to check two things off on my bucket list, one-get my forever mopar, and two-road trip it home.
One day there it was, in my mind…a dream car, a very complete, very rust free, 1972 charger, a mere 900 miles away in Alabama, for the price, I never imagined I would be able to get my ducks in a row to be able to get it in time, as many probably know, finding a car is not that hard, finding one with a kind and trustworthy person as the owner, at a very very reasonable price, that is the challenge. Well the stars aligned for me and arrangements were made over the phone. After hog tying my dad and cousin we were off to go get my mopar in the middle of February in a Subaru loaded down with tools, what could go wrong?
Well, let me tell you, I chose not to ask myself that at the time and go into it with full ignorant bliss. As it won’t be too big of a surprise to you guys, that 72 charger with its very original power train of 140,000ish miles ate up the 900 miles home like it was NOTHING. One quart of 10w40 was all I would have needed to take with me. I owe it all to the man I bought it from, almost like I told him my hopes a couple years in advance, he had replaced some steering and brake components, put a new 4 barrel edelbrock on the original 318, put a new fuel tank in it, new tires, and checked the ammeter and bulkhead on the car already, buying from someone who knows their mopars and knows how to fix and maintain them, that was priceless.
For anyone still reading, I look forward to learning and improving the car over the years, she is a simple b5 blue 72 “topper” package car, it will not be getting a vinyl top again as they terrify me and I will be driving it daily in spring and summer once salt is off the roads, I look forward to every little improvement I will do to the car, hopefully making some diy threads along the way as I have always appreciated that help being a click away for me when I have needed it. Thank you all for keeping these wonderful cars and the hobby going, in my mind the 60s and 70s mopars were the absolute pinnacle of style, solid well thought out engineering, and simple reliability. It just doesn’t get better.
