When most of America hears "pony car" today, only one car really
comes to mind, the Ford Mustang, as it is the longest living of
the great Pony Cars. But what most people do not know is that Ford
was not the first company to release the pony car. It was actually
the Chrysler Corporation, with the release of their 1964 Plymouth
Barracuda, which was released a few months prior to the Mustang.
The 'Cuda, as it became known, was very popular, but in 1969 Chrysler
Corporation released to the public the redesigned 'Cuda, for the
1970 model year. It was also at this time when they introduced another
car that would become very popular to the American public, but it
was from Plymouth's sibling company, Dodge. That new car, the Dodge Challenger, was the first pony car from Dodge. While the Challenger
may have seemed like nothing more than a rebadged Plymouth Barracuda,
as the two cars shared Chrysler Corporations new "E-body" platform,
the Challenger was actually a car whose design process began some
5 years before production began.
1964-1969
Recognizing
the popularity of the 1964 Plymouth and 1964.5 Mustang, designers at Dodge began working on a
pony car of their own. The Barracuda received
gradual upgrades year to year, including the addition
of trim lines and performance enhancements, but
Dodge continued to work on their own model, rather
than rebadging one of the early Barracudas, which
were on Chrysler's "A-body" platform.
While exterior styling design was a key point
during the development of the Challenger, being
competitive was one of the bigger concerns, and
by the late 60s, Ford was putting huge displacement
motors in some of the Mustangs. While the 340
cubic inch packed Barracuda S was fast, and handled
well, it was no match for the 428 cubic inch Cobras.
Design team head, Carl Cameron, recognized the
need for a new look for this new car, and the
need for a big engine, and in late 1968 the first
of the Dodge e-body based prototypes were being
made.
The 1969 Dodge Yellow Jacket Concept was the first
look at what would become the Dodge Challenger,
but this car has several major variations from
what would actually be released to the public
as the Challenger. The Yellow Jacket was originally
painted Pearl White, but it was badly scratched
while being transported to a show, and was repainted
a honey-gold color. It featured a removable Targa
style top, with only two seats, and a rear deck
lid section that extended all the way to the back
of the front seats. The taillights were those
of a Dodge Challenger, but they differed from
what actually came on the 1970 Challenger, and
the taillights of the Yellow Jacket did not actually
make it to production until later years. When
the Challenger ended its run, it had the same
multi-piece taillights as the Yellow Jacket. this
Yellow Jacket later received a new front end,
which would never see production, and was renamed
the Dodge Diamante.
1970 was considered by many to be one of the best years of the touted American Muscle Car Era. The horsepower race included several cars from just about every American automaker, and since restrictions were at their lowest, horsepower was at its highest, and advertising campaigns were crucial to help push the car in question to the public in case comparative advantage was not enough. Also, by 1970, most households in the United States had television sets, so this was a key new point in advertising.
It was during this time that Dodge released the awesome new Challenger, and they wanted to capitalize on this new, quickly expanding television advertising world, and prior to the release of their new pony car, they released what became a very popular advertising campaign. Since the Challenger had many options which bolstered its "race ready" look and feel, the ad campaign centered itself around a small town officer, who was always engaged in the close watch for street racing and the illegal driving of race vehicles on public roads. Much to his dismay, the cars that he often pulled over were not the illegally street driven race cars, but instead, the new Dodge Challenger.
The Challenger makes more noise at a national auto show.
When the Dodge Challenger concept debuted in January at the North American International Auto Show, it stole the show with little rebuttal from the Chevrolet's new Camaro Concept. The Challenger dazzled both classic cars lovers and modern car enthusiasts with its modernized vintage lines, and its high performance Hemi engine. It stood basically at the center of the NAIAS floor, on its elevated platform, like a beacon of hope for those Mopar lovers who had been hoping and praying for so long to have a modern pony car from DCX. Its bright orange paint glowed in the many spotlights surrounding the platform, and at no given time during the opening or closing day was there less than a 3-deep crowd around the display.
Fast forward to October of 2006. Among rumors of gigantic Hemi engines and a possible Chrysler Cuda Concept, those same Mopar lovers who were wowed at the NAIAS eagerly waited to see what goodies DCX had in store for the SEMA crowd. The hopes of a 'Cuda release were not answered, but the rumors of a larger engine in a Challenger were verified, just not in a car that will likely see production.
The Dodge Challenger Super Sport Concept built by Mopar, could someday stand among the greatest factory production race cars of the 1960s, and like those factory race models, this new Super Stock Concept is packed with a high horsepower Hemi. The most famous of these factory race cars from the 1960s is the 1968 Dodge Hemi Dart, and its Plymouth cousin, the Barracuda. There were 50 of each of these models made, and it has been shown that in almost "stock" form they were capable of 9 second quarter mile times. While some people found ways to register a few of them, they were specifically made for track use, and supposedly were listed as "not for public highways". The reasoning behind these cars was very simple; to run the NHRA Super Stock class, you had to sell cars to the general public and not just offer the car to factory backed racers. The Super Stock class is just as it sounds, high performance stock vehicles, with a book full of rules helping to determine what exactly is "stock", but when the Hemi Dart came off the assembly line with no heater, no power options, no rear seats, fiberglass body panels, lightweight seats, etc. The full information on this new Dodge Challenger Super Stock is candid at best, but what do know is what we can see. It is equipped with Goodyear drag slicks, wheelie bars, a roll cage, and a T/A style hood scoop to feed the carbureted 392 cubic inch Hemi. This Challenger Super Sport Concept is finished in red, white and blue with a red side stripe similar to the stripe package found on the 1970 Challenger T/A, and with the T/A hood scoop and duckbill style T/A rear spoiler, the Challenger Super Sport presents an interesting theory of possible production. It could just be coincidence, but when the Challenger T/A and Plymouth A Cuda AAR were released to the public, they did so in order to make the 340 powered cars legal for SCCA production classes. Could it be that the features of a vintage production race model were added to hint to the fact that the new Challenger will have the option of factory production race models?
While the Challenger draws the attention, unfortunately the Challenger Super Sport was not at SEMA to introduce a new model. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the 293 cubic inch Hemi, and while there were precursors to the 392 Hemi, it was not until the 392 hit the showrooms (and the race tracks) that a Hemi began making the name famous. Along with this awesome race ready concept, Dodge officially announced the availability of the 392 crate motors to the performance catalog. The 392 is offered in three different forms, with the specifications listed below, as provided by DaimlerChrysler:
Three different versions of the new 392 are available from Mopar:
P5153604 392 HEMI Crate Engine - Carbureted, 540 horsepower and 490 lb.-ft of torque
P5253605 392 HEMI Crate Engine - SEFI, 525 horsepower and 510 lb.-ft. of torque
P5153603 392 HEMI Long Block HEMI Crate Engine
Technical specifications include:
Deep-skirted cast iron block with cross-bolted mains
CNC-ported aluminum twin-plug cylinder heads
Stainless steel 2.100? intake and 1.600? exhaust valves
Ovate wire (beehive competition) valve springs
Viton competition valve stem seals
279°/285° hydraulic roller camshaft with 0.584? intake and 0.552? exhaust lift
Forged pistons (4.055? bore)
10.5:1 compression ratio
Aluminum single plane high rise intake manifold with holley 870 cfm 4-bbl carburetor for carbureted 392 applications (1)
80 mm manual throttle body on fuel-injected engines (3)
Premium tri-metal performance engine bearings
Precision balanced rotating assembly
Distributorless coil-on-plug (COP) ignition system
Now, while this Challenger Super Sport does not seem any more unrealistic as a vehicle for public sale than does the Super Stock Hemi Dart, people should keep in mind the strict emissions laws now, which were not a concern in 1968. Also, the Challenger Super
Sport Concept is equipped with a carbureted engine, and there has not been a non-fuel injected car sold by Dodge in a few decades. So, while there is the outside chance that someday a Super Stock ready Challenger could be offered, the public should not get their hopes too high for the car to be as it appeared at SEMA 2006, unless it is going to be non-street driven. However, this does show that the Challenger, set for a 2008 release, does have an engine bay which will handle the 392 Hemi, and with so many speculations on what engine offerings may be available once the Challenger hits the showrooms, this could be yet another hint at things to come. Either way, the Challenger Super Sport Concept provides a great look at what we could be seeing in the not so distant future, if not from DCX, from high performance minded fabricators looking to turn heads and great times on the drag strip.
It is no secret that the exterior of the new Dodge Challenger was designed around its muscle car ancestor, but the interior also shows clear similarities to the early 70s version, but with a twist of technology and modernization. As you open the door and climb into the car, you do not have the stale look that can often come with copying an older model, but instead, it is a sharp angular take on a retro muscle car feel. The leather, high back seats have a sunken in, ribbed look, just like the seats which came in the 1970 Challenger. These seats wrap around the driver and passenger to provide more comfort and support than do the old model, and provide more grip under spirited driving. The shift console takes cues from the muscle car era as well, but again, with some minor enhancements to improve functionality, without losing its retro aesthetics. As you pull the door shut once you are settled into the drivers seat, the doors also carry a retro look, with the molded arm rests set in the inner door panels, and the door handles are mounted in the underside of that molded armrest. The door panels are trimmed in brushed silver to match the rest of the interior, as opposed to the muscle car era Challenger, which was mostly trimmed in wood grain.
Like the seats and the center console, the dashboard carries strong resemblances of the muscle car era. One of the most popular steering wheel options of the Dodge Muscle car era was the Tuff Wheel. It was a leather wrapped steering wheel with a matching leather horn button. Connecting these leather wrapped portions were three brushed aluminum spokes, at a slightly more than 90 degree angle from the bottom spoke, to each of the side spokes. The modern Tuff Wheel has actually been used before, on both the Dodge Magnum and Dodge Charger, which is fitting seeing as how they are also both reborn Dodge legends. The new Tuff Wheel still carries the thick black grip, with the matching center section, but the center section of the new wheel has been enlarged, and affixed with a chrome Dodge badge. the three brushed aluminum spokes are still present, but the side spokes have been moved down the wheel slightly, forming a 90 degree angle with the bottom spoke, and the three spokes are shorter due to the enlarged center section. Like the vintage Tuff Wheel, the new wheel is connected to the dashboard by means of a ribbed plastic cuff, which also matches the steering wheel color.
One of the popular items of the 70s Challenger was the "slap stick" shift console, and it is that look that the Dodge designers used when designing the center section of this new model. The 70s console had a raised section around the shifter itself, providing a sort of guard around the shifter area, and gradually dropping as it went back, and finally flattening out at the console mounted storage compartment. The new Challenger concept has the same raised section on the passenger side of the console, but whereas the shifter was sunken into the old console, the flat shifter surface is elevated, at a sharp angle to meet the high side of the console. Also, the wood grain finish of the muscle car era has been foregone for a brushed silver finish. this new console protects the allure of the old console, but with the elevated shifter surface, it allows for a more comfortable feel for the driver.
A look through the retro styled steering wheel brings forth another modernized look of the classic Muscle car. Like the 1970 Challenger T/A, the new Challenger concept has a four gauge cluster, with one large gauge on the left side, then three matching, slightly smaller gauges to the right. While the old cluster had the four gauges set in black plastic, sitting down under the over hanging hood of the dash pad, the new Challenger has a silver gauge face area contrasting to the black dash pad, and it is also flush to the bottom of the dash pad, as opposed to being set back a bit. The "dummy lights" which were located in the gaps between the under side of the gauges on the 1970 Challenger, are now located above the gauges. Where the "dummy lights" were placed on the old dash area, there is now black trim, giving the bottom of the gauge cluster a defined seperation from the lower dash area with is also finished in silver. The top of the dash, and the lines of the dash itself strongly resemble the original Challenger. The top dash pad has a downward slope to it except for the area over the gauges, which flares up to allow room for the gauge cluster. The top of the dash slopes downward, as mentioned, and the underside of the dash slopes up and in, and the two sloping portions meet at a flat face, which still holds the Challenger moniker in silver on the black background on the far right side. just above the glove compartment. Where the archaic AM stereo was set in the predominantly black along with the crude heater controls, the center stack of the new Challenger concept is set in brilliant silver, and the antiquated radio and heater controls have been ditched, and in their place, a state of the art audio system and climate control system.
By IBxAnders on February 2, 2009 9:42 AM
|1 Comment
Welcome to my new blog powered by Movable Type. This is the first post on my blog and was created for me automatically when I finished the installation process. But that is ok, because I will soon be creating posts of my own!
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