"Quiet good taste" was the Challenger’s billing for 1973, but there was little progress toward that end. The only visual change was the addition of large solid-rubber pads to the `72 front bumper to meet this year’s government-ordered 5-mph impact standard. The Rallye was down-graded to option status, but retained most of its previous features. Interiors boasted new thin shell bucket seats, and upholstery was now more firer-esistant, again per Washington edict. Tighter emissions standards continued to wreak havoc on both compression and horsepower. They proved too much for the veteran slant six, which was dropped as the base engine in favor of the 318, in hindsight a curious move on the eve of the Middle East oil crisis. The four-barrel 340 with dual exhausts returned as the lone option. Now rated at 240 bhp (SAE net), it could propel a Challenger with Torqueflite over the quarter-mile in 16.3 seconds at 85 mph, fair going for the day. Color choices numbered 16, but Top Banana was the only High-Impact hue left. Sales managed to improve this year despite the general gloom and doom, topping 32,000 units. Still, that was pretty thin volume – too thin, really, to be profitable. And though ponycars seemed to be rebounding a bit as they returned to the "sporty/personal" concept, their sales prospects seemed anything but bright.

Reluctant to spend any more money on it than absolutely necessary, Dodge did little to the Challenger for 1974. Rear bumpers were strengthened to withstand 5-mph shunts as the government said they must, and the Rallye package was revised with a black-painted grille and "strobe" stripes eminating from the fake front fender vents. Substituting for the 340 as the "performance" option was a new 360-cid V-8 rated at 245 bhp net. The `74 was on the market only a few months before Dodge suddenly pulled the plug on the Challenger, and only 16,437 units made it to the end of the assembly line. The Challenger was not so much a weak entry in the ponycar field as a late one. It appeared just as demand for such cars was starting to evaporate, which clearly diluted whatever impact it might have had. Of course, Dodge couldn’t have predicted this market switch when it planned the Challenger back in 1967. And that’s a pity, because the car certainly seemed like a good idea at the time: lots of engines, plenty of performance and dress-up options, smooth styling on a wheelbase long enough to make it look fast standing still. The SE was quite plush for its $3500 asking price, and truly hairy performance was as close as the option book. Yet the Challenger didn’t present much of a challenge to its rivals, either on the showroom floor or on the tracks. And Dodge compounded the problem by apparently giving up on both performance and luxury, carrying the Challenger almost as an afterthought for 1972-74.