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Mopar highlights wild SEMA creations, AWD Challenger Concept

Thanks to 15,345 square feet of display area, FCA US' Mopar division certainly has ample space to display its parts and accessories at the SEMA Show. To lure attendees to check out all of those cars and components, the company is now revealing ten tuned vehicles for this year's aftermarket event. This isn't even the brand's whole fleet for the show, but it includes some major highlights for Dodge and Ram fans. A lack of traction traditionally makes rear-wheel-drive muscle cars dismal to drive when the weather gets slippery, but the Dodge Challenger GT AWD Concept (above) solves that age-old problem at SEMA. In addition to powering all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic, it boasts an angry-looking, wide-body kit with aggressively flared wheel arches. The asymmetrical stripe with Header Orange accents also adds some extra panache to the Destroyer Grey and Matte Black color scheme. The coupe can back up the macho look thanks to the Scat Pack 3 Performance Kit that adds 75 horsepower and 44 pound-feet of torque to the 5.7-liter V8. However, before you get too excited about driving one this winter, FCA US spokesperson Ariel Gavilan tells Autoblog: "It is only a concept." Mopar isn't done tuning Dodges for SEMA. The Charger Deep Stage 3 shows what's possible with the company's catalog by packing the Scat Pack 3, strut tower braces, coilover suspension kit, and bigger brakes. Meanwhile, the blacked-out Dart GLH Concept tries to harken back to the style of the famous Omni GLH by fitting a red-accented body kit, including a Mopar Performance aluminum hood. If the standard Ram 1500 Rebel is somehow too subdued, check out the Rebel X (right) in a vibrant shade called Copper. To be ready for anything offroad, it wears some muscular flares to fit 17-inch beadlock wheels and 35-inch Toyo tires. A concept, two-piece front skid plate protects the front. Drivers should also be comfortable no matter where they drive thanks to prototype Katzkin leather seats and a concept air-ride suspension. Chrysler enjoys some mods, as well. The 300 Super S has suave style with Matte Cerulean paint, concept 22-inch wheels, and a grille with little Mopar Ms dotted around it. Performance also sees a boost with a tuned engine, bigger brakes, and coilover kit. The gray 200 S Mopar is similarly stylish with a complete body kit, including a conceptual, dual-vented hood. Fiat and Ram's commercial models aren't left out of the SEMA fun, either.

Junkyard Gem: 1990 Chrysler LeBaron GT Convertible

When Chrysler sprang back to life under Lee Iacocca and his K-Cars, the flagship of the new front-wheel-drive order was the luxurious new 1982 LeBaron convertible, which shoved aside the drab and antiquated Dodge Diplomat-based 1981 LeBaron. The LeBaron sedan got the axe after 1989, with only sporty coupes and devil-may-care ragtops given LeBaron badges after that. Here's an example of the third-generation LeBaron convertible, found in a Colorado wrecking yard a few months ago. There were four trim levels of LeBaron convertible available for the 1990 model year: Highline, Premium, GT and GTC. Today's Junkyard Gem is a second-from-the-top GT, which had an MSRP of $17,799 (about $43,383 in 2023 dollars). The intake manifold may bear the Chrysler name, but this engine is three liters of pure Mitsubishi 6G72 power. With 141 horsepower and 171 pound-feet, this engine was  standard equipment on the GT convertible (if you bought the GTC Coupe, you got a 175-horse 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder). The idea of a Detroit luxury machine with a manual transmission seems strange today… and it was also somewhat strange 33 years ago. The original buyer of this car almost certainly had the money for the optional automatic ($552, or $1,314 today) but preferred the five-on-the-floor manual. With a curb weight of just 2,775 pounds, this car would have been plenty of fun to drive with a three-pedal setup. The resemblance between this car and its far more expensive first cousin, Chrysler's TC by Maserati, was all too obvious to TC shoppers. Yes, that's genuine Corinthian Leather on the seats. Driver's-side airbags were rare on 1990 US-market cars, but Chrysler was ahead of the competition with this safety feature. This car nearly reached 275,000 miles during its life. Who says a convertible doesn't make a good daily commuter? It looks to have been in good condition at the end, though the driver's door latch mechanism needed to be reattached via welding repairs at some point. The retractable headlight covers are open in these photos. Chrysler ditched the hidden headlights for the 1993 LeBarons; production ended after 1995. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. There is no luxury without engineering. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In Canada, Celine Dion pitched this generation of LeBaron convertible.

Junkyard 1983 Dodge Rampage has Franco-American roots

Lee Iacocca and the K-Cars get most of the credit for saving Chrysler after the company's 1979 bailout by the US government, but the success of the Simca-derived Omnirizon platform was a large, if overlooked, component of Chrysler's early-1980s resurgence. The Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon were sold in the United States for the 1978 through 1990 model years, and variants included the 1983-1987 Dodge Charger and the Rampage, this well-worn example of which I spotted in a Denver self-service wrecking yard last week. The early Omnirizons came with a Volkswagen-sourced 1.7-liter engine, but all of the Rampage pickups (and their near-identical Plymouth Scamp siblings) came from the factory with a 2.2-liter K-Car engine making 96 horses. This truck has a 4-speed manual transmission, which would have made it reasonably quick by Malaise Era standards. This one had plenty of body filler and rust, even before the crash that sent it on that final tow-truck ride to this place, so it wouldn't have been worth restoring. Still, we can hope that some of its parts will live on in other L-body trucks. Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 1983 Dodge Rampage in Denver View 16 Photos Chrysler Dodge Automotive History Truck Classics dodge rampage