2002 Dodge Intrepid Sxt Sedan 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Dodge Challenger Shakedown: '71 body, new guts

While Jeep has created a number of vintage-bodied custom vehicles with modern components, this year's SEMA show plays host to Dodge's take on the idea. The Shakedown concept began life as a 1971 Challenger and ditched almost everything in it, including the engine and chassis. What's left is a modern car with a retro look. The chassis was a particularly complicated part of the job, since the Challenger was originally a unibody car. However, Dodge chose to separate the Challenger's iconic body from its structural parts, and moved it onto a custom, one-off chassis from which the body can be removed as needed. The chassis also carries lowered suspension, Challenger Hellcat brakes, and a 6.4-liter 392 Hemi V8 connected to a six-speed manual transmission from the Viper. Dodge also installed the engine using the new Hemi engine swap kit from Mopar. With the shaker cold-air intake and custom exhaust, the Shakedown's powerplant makes 485 horsepower. View 13 Photos The body itself received plenty of tweaking as well. Dodge shaved off the drip rails, door handles, and turn signals for a cleaner look, and also fitted the grille, headlights, and taillights from a 2017 Challenger. The whole thing is finished in matte black paint with a "vibrating" stripe offset on the left side. The Shakedown also gets 20-inch Slingshot rear wheels and a pair of custom 19-inch versions for the front. On each fender is a bright red "392" decal that uses the same font as the labels on classic Mopars 360 cubic-inch V8s. Inside, the Shakedown gets the same radical upgrade as the chassis. Two Viper seats accompany a Viper steering wheel, and the rear seats are gone altogether. The Viper gearbox is shifted with a Challenger Hellcat gear knob, and carbon-fiber accents and leather adorn the wheel, door panels, instrument panel and center console. Related Video: Image Credit: FCA, Joel Stocksdale SEMA Show Dodge Coupe Concept Cars Performance

Ralph Gilles responds to Dodge rumors, says brand is 'here to stay'

This is why we love Ralph Gilles. While in Italy hanging out with a group of Viper Club members in Europe, the SRT boss took the time to respond to a question directed at him on Instagram in regards to the future of Dodge.
Recent reports have painted a bleak picture for Dodge, but Gilles defended Chrysler's full-line brand by stating that the rumors are, "all rumors, Dodge is here to stay! It may get more focused going forward but not killed!" The idea of a "more focused" Dodge brand could lend some credibility to reports that the Grand Caravan and Durango are on their way out, which would leave Dodge solely as a car, or car-based, automaker.

Watching a 2010 Dodge Challenger become a Plymouth GTX is a restomod education

We cover a lot of restomods, many of them one-off SEMA show cars and low-volume builds from professional shops that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Autoevolution tells the story of Steve Mirabelli, who creates Mopar restomods as a hobby when home from his day job as a NASCAR Sprint Cup car builder for Hendrick Motorsports. Working on his own, the stuff we've seen from Mirabelli so far deserves to sit at the same table as Kore and Ring Brothers. First he spent four years turning a 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8 into a 1968 Dodge Charger, the cardinal feat being the proportions; many builds leave the modern Charger's thick sides uniting a nosecone and high Daytona wing. Mirabelli didn't let himself off so easy, finding a '68 Charger abandoned in a field to lay over the '06 chassis, then working the proportions — such as adding 11 inches to the wheelbase — so that the 20-inch wheels look like they could have been stock fitment in '68.    His current build is recasting a 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T into a thid-gen Plymouth GTX, May 6 representing two years since the first video documenting the process. These videos are another highlight. For anyone who's ever wanted to see every step in how the professionals turn classic cars into modern monsters, Mirabelli's criminally under-watched YouTube channel is the place to go. There are 43 videos so far on the GTX transformation, with Mirabelli taking time to explain and demonstrate his thought process and methods every step of the way. It's an online course in restomodding, maybe the perfect final binge before returning to our outdoor lives.  Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.