Dodge heads to SEMA with trio of concepts

By GREG MIGLIORE


A Viper V10 breathes underneath the carbon fiber hood of the Dodge Challenger SRT10 concept.

Dodge SEMA concepts






PHOTO GALLERY

The Chevrolet Camaro is the official car of SEMA this year, but the Dodge Challenger isn't shrinking into the shadows.

Dodge plans to show three tricked-out versions of its modern pony car, and they're all pretty wild in their own way.

The headliner is the Challenger SRT10 concept, which takes the best parts of a Viper and stuffs them into a Challenger chassis. Drooling yet? You should be. The car gets the Viper's 8.4-liter all-aluminum V10 that pumps out 600 hp and 560 lb-ft of torque.

The concept's carbon-fiber hood is capped off by one of the most recognizable Chrysler design cues that is a not-so-subtle hint at its performance--a shaker hood scoop that looks like it was taken from a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda.

The brakes are upgraded, and this pony-car-on-steroids gets Bilstein shocks for handling. It's topped off with a paint job that Dodge calls Tornado Red.

Nearly as cool is the Challenger Blacktop. This car started off as a regular 5.7-liter V8 Challenger R/T, and gets a smoky, mafia-style upgrade. The front gets a pronounced lower brow, and it rides on 22-inch Viper wheels (notice a theme here). A cat-back dual exhaust and cold-air intake help this monster breathe easy.

Handling is helped by a coil-over suspension and strut tower brace. Inside, there's leather seating and a Mopar audio system.

The third car has a competitive streak--the Challenger Targa. It, too, borrows from the Viper parts bin, grabbing the race suspension and brakes from the Viper ACR. The scooped hood teases the 560 hp and 490 lb-ft of torque that lurk beneath it from a 392 Hemi crate motor. It's mated to a Tremec six-speed gearbox, and the car gets Stop-Tech brakes.

The performance pedigree comes from the car's competing at the Targa Newfoundland race earlier this year. It's painted snakeskin green. Dodge calls this car "Samantha," and we'd sure like her number.



This article was last updated on: 10/14/08, 11:17 et

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...10149996/1528/

 

Nice. Very nice indeed.

 

They should make a run of these to ruin the GT500's fun, no doubt.

But, I really don't think they did a good job on this concept car. The hood and intake look terrible. So does the chin spoiler and rear spoiler. They should have taken a stock SRT8, dropped the V10 in it, added those wheels, and painted the car much better than they did.

 

I agree about the appearance not being great but the idea is very nice. They just need to clean it up a little bit which would happen before production anyway. It will steal some attention the way it is, if they just used the SRT8 it would likely get overlooked at a car show.

 

I ******* love it. SHould build a limited number.. Ala a thousand and sell them for 45k

 

I love it too but we all know that it would sell for more than $45k

 

They dropped the Viper V10 into the Ram for 40K. Why not the challenger?

V10 can't cost THAT much more then the 6.1L Hemi

Edit - Did a search..

6.1L Crate Engine - 6200 Dollars

I cannot locate a price for a Viper V10

 

true, I meant it in a different way, MSRP $45k... dealer price $60k because dealerships love to ruin our dreams with that mark up

 

Now THAT is appealing to me. That big bastard of a car needs 600 hp to get moving.

 

******* nasty. I'd be shocked if it was less than 50k...

COME ON GM, GIVE US A DAMN Z28!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If this car makes it to production you would think GM would have to release a Z28 version of the Camaro to compete.

 

if that makes it into production i am BUYING it

 

I just goo'd in my pants. They MUST make that car!!
reshape that shaker scoop a little to make it closer to the older ones, and loose the chin spoiler all together.

 

OT... How much different does the plymouth cuda look compared to the challenger of old?

 

I was wondering how long that would take to come out.

W

 

an srt-8 is over 40k you can add 10-20k more for this car. its still cool and i hope it makes production.

 

As always...Dodge continues to spread performance over their lineup, they dare to take risks catching everyone's attention...GM? With their heads up their ******* asses!!! Theres nothing left of what GM USED to be. They are just not relevant in the automotive world except for the Corvette and the LSX engine series...pathetic and sad.

 

Where does everyone pull 10K-20K from? Do you think an engine and a different suspension costs THAT much? This car could easily go for 46-48K and be a corvette slayer.

Everyone seems to forget the SRT10 ram was only 40K+

 

None of the new cars coming out really grab my attention... but a 600hp V10 under the hood of that thing might do it.

 

I would buy it....