Rear Bumper Filler?

[dave73chally]

I have a 73 challenger, cut my rear brackets and welded to push the bumper in. I have about a 1.5" gap between the top of the bumper and the  bottom of the tail panel. Do I need a metal filler like used on the 70's? I read somewhere that the 73 tail panel flared out at the bottom to reduce the need for this filler. If I shift the bumper up by widening the bracket hole, I'm afraid the valance then won't line up. Is this common?

[burdar]

I'm pretty sure 72's still used that metal filler strip like 70 and 71. Here are a few 72 Challenger pictures.  There is a good sized gap there.  The only thing you might try is to reinstall the factory 73 filler strips.  Those will take up the gap.   You could test fit them and see how they look.  You might want to cut the end pieces and only use the back parts...not the parts that wrap around and clip into the quarters on the sides.