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Jay Leno's Dodge Challenger raises $585k for USO in Scottsdale

Of all the metal moved in Scottsdale, AZ, this holiday weekend, the one you see here was hardly the most expensive. But it's noteworthy for another reason: despite being a relatively humble, second-hand 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8, raised an impressive $565,625. That's because, first of all, it belonged to Jay Leno, and secondly because the proceeds were going to the USO. Leno donated the modern muscle car from his collection to benefit our men and women in uniform, and was on hand to present the car on stage at the Gooding & Company auction, along with USO president J.D. Crouch II and former Army chief of staff General George W. Casey, Jr. After frenzied and patriotic bidding, the gavel ultimately dropped at $360,000, accompanied by over $200,000 in additional contributions, bringing the total amount donated to the USO to over half a million. Commendable though it was, of course the Challenger didn't garner the highest bids at the auction. A 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider sold for $7.7 million and a 1968 Ferrari 330 GTS fetched $2.4 million. A rare 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series I Coupe Aerodinamico sold for over $4,070,000 – which, according to Sports Car Market, is the most ever paid at auction for a 400 Superamerica. And a 1966 Porsche 906 Carrera 6 also sold for a record $1.98 million. Featured Gallery Gooding Scottsdale 2015 News Source: Gooding & CompanyImage Credit: Jensen Sutta, Mike Maez/Gooding Celebrities Dodge Ferrari Porsche Auctions Classics dodge challenger srt8 gooding ferrari 400 superamerica

Buyer says Dodge dealer gave him wrong Charger, failed to notice for 2 months

Mistakes happen, and they happen all the time. But when that mistake means a customer doesn't get what he or she paid for, something's gotta give. That's what one Dodge Charger buyer claims he is trying to sort out with his local dealership. Two months after taking delivery, the owner (going by the user name Dakrbouncer4689 on Reddit) says he got a call from his local Dodge dealership reporting a little problem. He had ordered and paid for the Charger SXT (pictured above on the dealer lot), but was given a Charger SE instead. The SE being the lower trim level, this presented one set of problems – namely a $2,000 discrepancy in equipment, like a five-speed automatic versus an eight-speed, a 4.3-inch infotainment display instead of 8.4, heated seats, leather steering wheel, premium audio, remote starter and so on. The second set of issues is that the VIN number on the paperwork (including the registration and insurance papers) of course doesn't match that of the car itself. The dealer, having obviously made a rather large mistake, apparently called the owner in to sort out the mess, but according to the customer's account, things didn't go as smoothly. Instead of immediately working to address the problem, the salesman kept the owner waiting, acted like it was no big deal, and offered only to swap the cars with no compensation for the trouble. Fortunately, the manager proved more sympathetic and apologetic, and offered the customer three options: he could swap the cars (re-doing the tinted windows on the SXT that the customer had done on the SE and throwing in leather seats for free), he could keep the SE (with the dealership handling the paperwork, throwing in the leather seats, adjusting the price and refunding an extra $400), or they could cancel everything, return the car and part company. As we go to press, the Charger owner had yet to make (or at least share) his decision. But while the principle of caveat emptor makes us wonder how he managed to take home a different car from the one he paid for, clearly the salesman and the dealership made a pretty large mistake by presenting him with the wrong set of keys and letting him off the lot without double checking it all. News Source: Darkbouncer4689 via Reddit, World Car Fans Dodge Car Buying Car Dealers Economy Cars Sedan

Dodge Durango Shaker concept: A 392 V8 in front of six Viper seats

When done right, a parts-bin special can be a beautiful thing. This Dodge Durango Shaker concept for the 2016 SEMA show is one such vehicle, and it's easily our favorite Mopar debuting in Vegas. The key, of course, is pulling from the right bins. Take a tour and you'll see Charger, Challenger, and Viper pieces grafted onto this slick crossover. The featured special part is the big, 6.4-liter 392 Hemi V8 that's been dropped under the hood; it's sourced from the SRT Challenger and Charger where it makes 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque. With that in place, the fabricators cut a big hole in that hood for the Challenger's awesome optional shaker scoop. It wasn't an easy installation; it required a custom spacer for the intake to make sure everything lined up with the hole properly. View 17 Photos Apparently there were some Viper seats lying around, so six of them were stuck into this Durango. Makes sense. It does lose a bit of people-carrying capability as a result, since only two seats fit in each row, and the seats don't fold for extra cargo room. A Dodge spokesperson attested to the fact that all three rows are usable, if not totally comfortable. But then stock third-row seats aren't always that comfortable anyway. Seriously, though, Viper seats. We don't care how comfortable or usable the result is. Although you might not give it a second thought, even the fuel filler needed some special attention. This piece was also lifted from a Dodge Challenger, and it was taken along with the surrounding sheet metal. Because of the different orientation of the filler cover on the Challenger, the builders decided the easiest way to get it to fit was to chop the fuel filler section out and weld it onto the Durango. The designers also put a little blue Stig on the cover. And those are just the cool parts that were hard to install. This Durango features plenty of other slick details, like the custom bumpers, fender flares, and side skirts. Everything is painted B5 Blue with matte black and carbon accents all around. Up front, the bumper hides a pair of fog lights stolen from a Challenger Hellcat – and yes, they're the ones with intakes in the middle. The grille is also a custom piece, losing the standard crosshair design for better airflow. The fender flares cover up some seriously wide, 305-section tires at all four corners, which are hauled down by Hellcat brakes. The rear bumper bumper contains a stylish center-exit exhaust with dual tips.