Real Hood Pins for new Challenger
 

For some time now I have been debating the idea of mounting “actual” (read that as real) hood pins. I have always thought that the original E-bodies (Challengers and Cuda’s) looked so much better with hood pins. And, for me it just seems as if the new Challenger likewise could use hood pins to add to its performance image/looks. However, the major problem with mounting hood pins on the new Challenger has been the location of the radiator support, which is so far back from the front of the hood. Some owners have mounted real hood pins using the radiator support, but this places the hood pins to far back on the hood. Sorry, but in my eyes it just doesn’t look that good. Others have used fake plastic stick-on hood pins…which really look funny when the hood is opened.
Finally, several manufacturers are now offering special pin mounting plates that allow you to place the pins within inches of the leading edge of the hood. While none of the “kits” are cheap, they offer a solution to proper mounting of the hood pins in the correct location. One of the “kits” is being offered by Mopar and is the same pins found on the Mopar ’10 limited edition Challenger. They offer them in Black Chrome finish (P5155755) as found on the Mopar ’10, or with a Bright Chrome finish (P5155774). The cost is listed as $305.00 for the Mopar catalog, but I have found them for as low as $249.00 on the internet. I like the Mopar kit over both the Mr. Norms and Jims Auto kits because the Mopar pins are mounted in front of the “cup holders” whereas both the above kits exit through the cup holders and do not look as clean. Plus, being a Mopar numbered part your dealer will install them for you.
It will be a while before I can mount mine, but I wanted to pass along both the part numbers and some information to anyone thinking about going with “Real” hood pins.
Checkout the following site for pictures of this kit, as well as other Challenger parts: www.challengerpartsshop.com