For three decades after Mopar dumped the Challenger and the Barracuda, Ford and GM continued to churn out Mustangs, Firebirds, and Camaros for whoever wanted them in a huge variety of price ranges with option packages for everyone from bank tellers to drag racers. The totally predictable result has been a steady drumbeat among working budget Moparites, demanding a pony car for the masses. Mother Mopar heard us loud and clear and finally gave us. . .the Charger.
Sure it was rear wheel drive and it had the Hemi, but what was with the extra doors? And why call yet another vehicle "Charger"? Hasn't this name suffered enough through the years? Truly, is there anything that Mopar won't call a Charger? We all tried to understand and eventually quite a few of us bought the new Dodge with a Hemi that wasn't a truck but it still wasn't what you would call a muscle car, never mind a pony car. It took me a while to figure out what the Charger was, then it hit me, it's a cop car, a bad-ass old school highway patrol interceptor, a heavy piece of driving iron for professional use only. They should have just cut to the chase and called it a Fury or a Monaco. "What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?" I want a used one in five years!
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The new one, however, blew my mind. And I'm not the only one. Virtually every caraholic that I've spoken with admired the retro styling and improved interior space. Mopar people started actually buying Fords! Treason!! Was this the reason that mother finally decided to come up with the new/old Dodge Challenger? Was this the reason that GM decided to bring back the Camaro? Maybe, but regardless, Ford did not come up with the latest Mustang concept recently. With much respect to the designers and engineers who made the car a reality, this Mustang is following a recipe written in 1964 by Lee Iacocca. He wrote it after listening to people about what they wanted in a car and a legend was born. Ford may have screwed up a few things over the years, but this was not one of them.
I'm very excited about the new Challenger. It's better late than never. We sit around the shop and fantasize about which one to order and what to do with it. My current fantasy is to order one with the least options and the smallest motor possible then, after driving it for a while, when the NHRA recognizes it, convert it to a Super Stock GT drag car with an old school 426 Hemi. All you rich guys reading this please feel free to steal my idea! Until then, I'll just have to do what we Mopar people have been doing for the past thirty years -- build them myself. For the price of a typical Viper, or even a used '06 Charger, you could have a nice car with a 426 Hemi in it! Get busy now, summer's right around the corner!
Along with flogging all manner of Mopars down the 1320 and on the roads of his top secret island hideaway, Chris Barnes is also the originator of Wagons of Steel Magazine. Check it out at: www.wagonsofsteel.com