Dodge completely reinvented the Charger for 1971 with a wider, shorter ‘fuselage’ body and a split, twin-grille nose that made the outgoing car look like a different species entirely. It’s also the last model year Chrysler ever offered the 426 Hemi in any car, making this the final chapter of the Elephant engine’s factory life. Just 3,118 Charger R/Ts were built that year, and rising insurance rates meant fewer buyers ever got the chance to check that Hemi box before it disappeared for good.
When it comes to allegiance, no other manufacturer enjoys corporate-wide affection like the Chrysler Corporation. Sure, Ford fans may bleed blue, and it’s Chevrolet versus the World, but the Mopar tribe will embrace anything with the Pentastar, from the homeliest Plymouth Cricket to Fuselage Imperials. They’re loud, they’re proud, and, for good measure, they just might be faster than you.
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The Mopar faithful will defend just about anything with a Pentastar on it, but 1971 gave them one specific car that deserved every bit of that loyalty and then some. Dodge completely reinvented the Charger that year with a body style so different from what came before that longtime owners barely recognized their own nameplate. Buried in the option sheet was a detail that made 1971 genuinely historic, not just another model-year refresh — something Mopar buyers would never get the chance to order again after that year. Only a few thousand cars ever combined the new body with the engine that made this year matter.
A Completely New Charger, Split Right Down the Nose
The 1971 Charger marked the debut of the third-generation body, a “fuselage”-style redesign that gave the car a shorter wheelbase and overall length while making the coupe wider front and rear. The twin grilles split the nose down the middle, and hidden headlights were a popular option that only sharpened the look. It was also the year the Charger fully broke away from its Coronet platform-mate and became its own thing on Chrysler’s B-body lineup.
The Last Year for the Elephant Engine
Here’s the detail that makes 1971 matter beyond styling: it was the final model year Chrysler ever offered the 426 Hemi — the “Elephant engine” — in any car it built. R/T production that year totaled just 3,118 units, with 2,504 of those carrying the 440 Magnum four-barrel and only 332 pairing that engine with a 4-speed manual. Rated at 370 horsepower in Magnum form, 385 with the 440 Six Pack’s 490 lb-ft of torque, or 425 with the Hemi, the ’71 R/T had the muscle to match its new look — even as rising insurance costs were already starting to push buyers away from checking the boxes that made these cars special.
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