The 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 launched with a waiting list before most buyers ever sat in one, thanks to a shortened LC platform, a numbered dash plaque, and a 425-horsepower Hemi under the hood. Riding on the same bones as the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger, it kept the long-hood look that made the original Challenger famous. Only 6,400 were built for the U.S. market, and nearly every one sold above sticker.
The  third Generation Dodge Challenger in 2008 is on the LC chassis, a shorter wheelbase version of the LX  platform used on the Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum and the Dodge Charger. Under the hood of the ’08 Challenger SRT8 is the  6.1 L (370 cu in) Hemi V8 engine that is coupled to a  five speed “AutoStick” automatic transmission. The entire production run of 6,400 cars destined for the USA were sold before-hand at prices above the MSRP.
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By the time Dodge’s engineers finished tuning the third-generation Challenger’s suspension, dealers already had a waiting list problem on their hands — buyers were paying more than sticker price for a car nobody outside Chrysler had even driven yet. Every one of the first SRT8 coupes destined for the U.S. carried a numbered dash plaque, a small detail that turned an already limited production run into something closer to a collector’s edition from day one. The car itself borrowed its bones from an unlikely source, and the number stamped on that plaque tells a story about just how tightly Dodge controlled the launch. How many people actually got to own one of these before the rest of the world caught up?
A Shorter, Sportier Version of a Familiar Platform
The 2008 Challenger SRT8 rode on the LC chassis, a version of the LX platform underneath the Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum, and Dodge Charger, shortened to a 116-inch wheelbase that made the two-door coupe about four inches shorter than its Charger sedan sibling. That shrunken footprint let engineers keep the classic long-hood, short-deck proportions that made the original 1970 Challenger instantly recognizable, even while sharing major mechanical components with Chrysler’s full-size sedan lineup.
425 Horsepower and a Waiting List
Power came from SRT’s 6.1-liter Hemi V8, rated at 425 horsepower and paired exclusively with an electronically controlled five-speed automatic transmission featuring a lockup torque converter and Chrysler’s AutoStick manual-shift mode — no manual gearbox was offered that first year. Every one of the 6,400 coupes built for the United States carried its own numbered dash plaque and carbon-fiber-look hood stripes, with a few hundred more variants heading to Canada and Mexico, and nearly all of them sold above MSRP before most buyers had even seen one in person.
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