Post by jeremy on Dec 13, 2018 3:19:30 GMT -5
I've not found much on the third gen Charger, but there's a little bit here and there.
Bill Brownlie, who oversaw the design and execution of the ever-famous second-generation Charger (from 1968 to 1970), handed over the reigns to Diran Yajezian, who saw the future of the midsize musclecar in a different light. Diran would depart from Bill’s vision of the Charger as a road-worthy stock car to more of a practical family hardtop coupe. Diran had the third-generation Charger totally redesigned from the ground up. The ’71 Charger would retain slight design cues from its predecessor, such as the loop front bumper, rakish C-Pillar, and Coke-bottle tapered lines.
Link
I'm not sure how much of Diran Yajezian's design work is in the third gen Charger, but he's the only name I can find attached to it so far. Diran was probably in more of a managerial role, with the actual designers working under him. Speaking of Bill Brownlie, although he's the guy this first article puts the spotlight on, he is actually the man who would have been most responsible for killing the design of the 2nd gen Charger, if he'd had his way -
However, for reasons now unclear, the “double-diamond” design rubbed Brownlie the wrong way. Shortly before leaving for a European trip in mid-1965, he ordered Mitchell and Ruff to destroy the clay model.
Link
Imagine that - a 26 year old young gun named Richard Sias designs the most iconic of muscle cars, and his boss orders the design destroyed. Today, it appears Richard Sias is all but unknown. See how much credit he gets here -
The photo of the five designers on the team ironically lacked the sixth, Richard Sias, who was off work the day the photo was snapped. He was the principal designer.
Link
Rather considerate of the higher-ups, don't you think? If you'd like to know what Richard Sias looks like, here he is in modern times -
Apparently Chrysler treated him so well that Richard Sias, who should be a legend along the lines of Marcello Gandini or Giorgetto Giugiaro, retired from designing cars, and can not even afford a 2nd gen Charger today - Link
Back to Diran Yajezian, he was at least a talented design artist who made legit contributions to the second gen Charger -
You can see how the split grill carried over into the 3rd gen, and even the rear end treatment has similarities.
I have my doubts about this line from the HotRod.com article -
Diran Yajezian, who saw the future of the midsize musclecar in a different light. Diran would depart from Bill’s vision of the Charger as a road-worthy stock car to more of a practical family hardtop coupe.
That line probably reflects more of the thinking of Bob McCurry and Burt Bouwkamp -
The Charger’s look was a clear evolution of the second-generation car, but its role in the Dodge lineup had changed. When the 1971 model was originally conceived in the late sixties, Bob McCurry and Burt Bouwkamp had noted that sales of the regular B-body Coronet had slackened considerably. Since the Charger was essentially a better-looking B-body hardtop, they concluded that many Charger sales probably came at the expense of the Coronet. The simple solution was to drop the slow-selling Coronet coupes and hardtops and apply the Charger name to all two-door Dodge intermediates.
On its face, this seemed like a sensible merchandising decision, but it continued a regrettable Detroit tendency to dilute desirable nameplates in the search for greater volume. Chrysler was hardly alone in that predilection — the Chevrolet Bel Air and Pontiac Bonneville (to name just two examples) had been similarly demoted — but the Charger had been the closest thing Dodge had to a halo car, particularly since the E-body Challenger was shaping up to be an expensive flop.
On its face, this seemed like a sensible merchandising decision, but it continued a regrettable Detroit tendency to dilute desirable nameplates in the search for greater volume. Chrysler was hardly alone in that predilection — the Chevrolet Bel Air and Pontiac Bonneville (to name just two examples) had been similarly demoted — but the Charger had been the closest thing Dodge had to a halo car, particularly since the E-body Challenger was shaping up to be an expensive flop.
Link
Ironically enough, that means the Sixth and Seventh generation Chargers are too real Chargers, since nameplate dilution was established with the third gen car.
Apparently the idea of combining the Charger and Coronet resulted in less sales overall than Charger and Coronet as seperate models, but still Chrysler would follow up with four more generations of not-a-Charger.
Back to the topic of what Diran's vision for the third gen Charger was, Popular Mechanics made a list of the top ten NASCAR stock cars, and while the 2nd gen wing cars came in at #1, the third gen made it in at #10 -
Richard Petty may have earned his legend driving blue Plymouths in the '60s, but the car he drove the longest in competition was actually the 1971 to 1974 Dodge Charger. Starting in 1972 and running through the 1977 racing year, Petty's blue-and-red STP Charger was an indelible part of NASCAR. Not only did he take two of his seven Daytona 500 victories (1973 and 1974) in the third-generation Charger, but also finished second to David Pearson in the 1976 race after a last lap crash had them both spinning at the base of the tri-oval.
If that's not enough, Petty also took three of his seven Winston Cup championships driving the Charger--1972, 1974 and 1975.
The Charger became so important to Petty that NASCAR took the unprecedented step of extending the car's eligibility a year (through the 1977 race season) so as not to lose its greatest star. No fan, after all, wanted to see Petty drive anything except a Chrysler product.
If that's not enough, Petty also took three of his seven Winston Cup championships driving the Charger--1972, 1974 and 1975.
The Charger became so important to Petty that NASCAR took the unprecedented step of extending the car's eligibility a year (through the 1977 race season) so as not to lose its greatest star. No fan, after all, wanted to see Petty drive anything except a Chrysler product.
link
What that says to me is, other than a few radically altered 2nd gen homologation cars, the 3rd gen Charger is the most "road-worthy stock car" of all Chargers, and Diran must have had a say in that. I saw a comment on another forum that said the 3rd gen Charger was aerodynamically superior to the 2nd gen wing cars - I can't back that up with anything, but looking at the shaping of the rear window and deck, big problem areas on the 2nd gen, I can believe it. I suspect they spent a lot of time working on aerodynamics on the 3rd gen car and that's why it is as rounded and smooth as it is.
It's not much but that's all I've found so far.
