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The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon was engineered to lift its front wheels off the line from the factory, with 840 horsepower and a 9.65 second quarter mile. So when a prototype turned up at a racing event with an audible engine knock, the question everyone had been quietly asking finally surfaced. Read on for what detonation actually does to a supercharged engine, and why a prototype failure is not the same as a design flaw.
Pontiac has the strongest claim to inventing the category. Ford has the sales records by an enormous margin. Dodge and Plymouth have what collectors are willing to pay today, which is a completely different ranking. Every camp is quoting a real number and reaching a different answer, because they are all using different measuring sticks. Read on for what each one actually proves, and which one settles it.
A supercharged Hemi wasn’t the surprising part of the Charger SRT Hellcat – the stopwatch numbers were. This four-door family sedan runs 0-60 in roughly 3.6 seconds and tops out near 204 mph, numbers that would embarrass plenty of dedicated two-door muscle cars. Here’s how Dodge built a genuine supercar into a car meant for car seats.
Nearly 2,700 Mopars show up every year at a raceway built along Ohio’s old National Road, making this one of the largest single-brand car shows in the country. What started decades ago as a gathering for classic Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrysler muscle has slowly grown to include modern performance iron too. Here’s a look at what makes the Mopar Nationals worth the drive.
Nearly every car built has air conditioning to keep the people inside comfortable. Dodge found a way to steal that system and point it at the engine instead. The SRT Power Chiller on the Challenger SRT Demon redirected the cabin’s refrigerant to cool the air charge before a run down the strip, a factory-production first that Dodge teased ahead of the 2017 New York Auto Show. Read on to find out how it worked and what it made possible.
A 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda convertible surfaced after roughly thirty-five years in storage, and its VIN tells a story most barn finds cannot back up: it is one of only 17 factory 440-6 Barrel convertibles Plymouth ever built. Viewers immediately started arguing over what a car this rare is actually worth, with estimates ranging from six figures unrestored to well over a million dollars fully restored. Watch to see the car — and the debate — for yourself.
Lou Costabile visits Roanoke Motor Co. in Illinois to see a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird 426 Hemi in Alpine White, pulled straight from dealership owner John Gastman’s personal collection. The car’s 53-pound cast aluminum wing and NASCAR-driven aerodynamics tell only part of the story; according to Gastman, the horn has never even been used. Built to homologate Chrysler’s aero package for racing, fewer than 2,000 street Superbirds exist today. Watch to see why this one has barely been touched since it arrived.
Dodge built the 1968 Dart GTS around a 340 small block, offered a 383 to buyers who wanted more, and flatly refused to put a 440 in the car on its own assembly line. Roughly fifty of them got one anyway, through an outside shop working under Dodge supervision. A clean, documented example is one of the harder cars in the Mopar world to verify. Read on for what to check before you believe the ad copy.