The Collector
I’m a big fan of the Hellcat variations of the Dodge Challenger, which was first introduced in 2015 with then-unheard-of 707 horsepower. I ordered mine with the six-speed manual transmission. Yes, I know the automatic is faster, but I wanted the ‘latest version’ of my 1970 Challenger, in its day the most powerful muscle car you could buy. It featured the legendary 426 Hemi engine with 425 horsepower, although it was rumoured to be closer to 500. It also came with a four-speed manual transmission and no power steering.
The build quality back in the 1970s was laughable. The centre console that went around the agricultural pistol-grip shifter was made of plastic and held in place by two screws that ‘fixed’ it to the transmission tunnel. It constantly rattled. Although the hot rod magazines loved it, the sports car types – Road & Track, Car and Driver etc – not so much. That huge cast-iron lump of a motor weighed a ton and gave the car something like a 60:40 weight distribution. The drum brakes in the back didn’t help much, either.
None of this would have been that big a deal except they kept marketing it as a sports car. Back in the day, advertising used what we now call sexism to promote the car: ‘Wanted. Men who can handle a real road machine. Dodge Hemi Challenger.
‘There are special men who develop an almost spiritual attachment to their cars. They want a no-nonsense road machine that grabs the rough, winding stretch of road and holds on. One that stays low and close to the road like a snake. For these men Dodge builds Hemi Challenger – a trim, taut, tough car that hugs every inch of road that it goes over…’
It concluded: ‘Dodge Hemi Challenger. A special kind of road machine for a special breed of men.’
Can you imagine doing this kind of ad today? HR would have all your stuff in a cardboard box out in the parking lot before you could get to even your second ‘special breed of men’ phrase!
All this is leading up to the fact that I just took delivery of the last and most powerful iteration of the Dodge Challenger – the SRT Demon 170. This will be the final ICE-engine muscle car they produce before everything goes electric. It produces 1025 horsepower when running on E85, but approximately 900 on pump gas. I’m astounded that
