Proving once again that there is no limit to what one can build when you let your imagination take over, a team of Swedes transformed a Dodge Viper into the menacing Saab 9-3 SRT10 MegaPower you see in these pictures.
It all started when a man bought a wrecked Dodge Viper SRT-10 with the intention of rebuilding it. However, it soon became obvious that task was far more difficult than he originally thought due to the extent of the damages and the lack of parts. It didn’t take long to come up with a fresh idea: strip the Viper’s body clean and use the mechanical hardware and parts of the chassis on a Saab 9-3 Sport Combi.
The future, as we imagine it now, may be full of robots doing all kinds of things for us humans, including driving our cars. As some scientists over at Google recently proved, driver-less vehicles may become a reality sooner than we expect, so here's what an automaker that produces cars for drivers has to say about this issue.
In the Chrysler Group’s latest commercial for the 2011 DodgeCharger called “The Future of Driving”, we are presented with a gloomy future, in which robots control all aspects of our lives, from choosing our diet and wardrobe to even walking our pet dogs. The hero of the commercial has nothing to say about all these things, but when a robot invites him to sit on the passenger seat of his own car, things get a little bit out of control...
The 1970s spawned some pretty cool car movies. Gone in 60 Seconds, Two-Lane Blacktop and Vanishing Point were all born in the decade of big collars, flared trousers and microwave dinners. The last of these three movies is considered to be somewhat of a classic. In it, a man named Kowalski (Barry Newman) makes a bet that he can drive a white 1970 Dodge Challenger from the dealership in Colorado to a customer in San Francisco in just 15 hours. The inevitable series of street races and confrontations with The Man ensue.
Now, forty years after the film premiered, New Wilmington Dodge dealer and long-time fan Bob Frederick has unveiled a special edition model to celebrate this genre classic. All of the “Kowalski Edition” cars are based on the 2011 392 Inaugural Edition Challenger SRT8, as white was not available for standard SRT8s.
The Dodge Viper SRT10 American Club Racer (ACR) broke the production car lap record at Miller Motorsports Park, dipping below the 2-minute mark for the first time ever at the 3.048-mile Outer Course configuration. Dodge driver Kuno Wittmer stopped the clock at 1:59.995, beating the previous record held by Jan Magnussen in a Corvette ZR1 by almost four seconds (2:03.86).
Joining the Mopar ’11 Charger special at the New York International Auto Show next week will be the new Dodge Avenger rally car that heralds the first collaboration in the brand’s newly announced relationship with Fiat Group subsidiary and aftermarket parts specialist, Magneti Marelli. The rally-prepped Avenger was built in cooperation with Chrysler’s in-house tuner Mopar, and while fully functional, there’s no word if the car will actually enter any sort of competition.
“This is a purpose-built vehicle with collaborative parts from Magneti Marelli and Mopar,” said Dino Maggioni, CEO of Magneti Marelli Aftermarket. “We selected Magneti Marelli and Mopar parts, adapted them to the Dodge Avenger and made them unique. The result is a fascinating blend of these two iconic brands.”
If we didn’t know better, we’d say that Ford is trying to wipe out the competition with its F-150 pickup truck, or as some may know it, the Ferd F-Teehthousand. The latest victim of the F-150 after the memorable stomping of a Ferrari F-150 is a brand new 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8, which judging by the bodykit, stripes, alloy wheels and badges, is the 392 limited edition with the 470-horsepower V8 Hemi.
The driver of the Dodge’s muscle car was waiting for the light when a Ford F-150 decided to give the Challenger an unnecessary -and quite painful- rear-end makeover. Follow the break to watch the clip.
The latest snow falls across the U.S. have prompted a flurry of commercials from automakers touting the advantages of all-wheel drive models. This one comes from Dodge and shows the new Durango, Charger and Journey, all of which are available with AWD. Nevertheless, we'd say that while power sent to four wheels instead of two does help in certain situations, one should never, ever underestimate the importance of a good set of all season or better yet, winter tires. Read more »
So, we hear -from our comments section- that you want more of the new 2011 Dodge Charger. We have you covered, both picture- and video-wise. By now, you probably know all the basics including the sheetmetal changes, vastly improved interior in terms of styling and materials and the introduction of a new 3.6-liter V6 with 292HP and 260 lb.-ft. of torque, which joins the venerable 5.7-liter HEMI V8 that delivers 370 ponies and a 0-60 mph performance in less than 6 seconds for the R/T version.
We'll just add that the market launch is scheduled for December with prices (including $825 destination) starting from $25,995 for the base 2011 Charger SE with the V6 Pentastar. If you want the HEMI V8 effect, the rear-wheel drive R/T will cost you $30,995, while the AWD version, $33,145. Enjoy the video and our high-resolution image gallery after the jump.
Last night, the Chrysler Group's Mopar division held a special media event at its SEMA Show booth in Las Vegas to show off its new goodies, which include the 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 Inaugural Edition, Charger Redline, Durango and the Rich Evans Mopar-powered Challenger. This video from the presentation provides us our first glimpse of the 2011 Challenger SRT8's interior, which doesn't look any different from the current model sans the newly designed and badged three-spoke sports steering wheel. Follow the jump to watch the video clip. Read more »
Now here's a dream come true: taking an old-school muscle car - in this case, a black 1970 Dodge Challenger - out on the Autobahn and winding it out. This bad-to-the-bone vintage ride appears to have been lightly modified or restored so as to not rattle to pieces, although there's no way of knowing for sure until the owner drops us a line (do it, 66PaleRider).
Whoever the driver is, there's no denying that the long-haired fiend has got a pair; pushing old muscle up to 130+ mph in any instance has been known to get a little shaky. The last time yours truly tried such a feat in the old Stang, I recall a trail of white smoke about a mile long and desperately seeking an off ramp (but man was it fun).
Following on from some revealing reader spy photos and an official, single teaser image of the Pursuit car version of the redesigned 2011 (or 2012MY) Dodge Charger, we now have a walk around video of the facelifted model shot during the Police Fleet Expo.
The differences between the civilian and police versions of the 2011 Dodge Charger are limited to the decals and the necessary police car equipment, so what you see here in terms of sheetmetal changes is what you'll get when the sedan arrives in showrooms later this year.
Dodge came out this weekend -so it's still happening- and got involved with the common folks at a half-marathon in Virginia Beach. Officially, the event is called the "Dodge Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon presented by SunTrust", but really it was just a nice chance to show off the new Durango (fully revealed here) in action as the pace car/truck/crossover. Read more »
Not to be outdone by Ford and its marketing tactics with the 2011 Explorer, the Chrysler Group published a few more teaser shots of the upcoming 2011 Dodge Durango. These new photos come in addition to those released during an earlier announcement today on the launch of a dedicated website on the crossover model which is equipped with three rows of seats. Read more »
If one thing has come out of Fiat's involvement in the Chrysler Group the past year or so, that would be an abundance of limited edition models, the most recent being the "Mopar '10" Dodge Challenger. We've already shared details along with a single teaser sketch, but here's a video that shows the muscle-coupe (or at least parts of the car) in the flesh.
As a reminder, the 'Mopar 10' is based off the Challenger R/T with a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 featuring a series of cosmetic and performance upgrades. Only 500 examples will be built, with all of them coming in a black shade with blue, red or silver strips on the outside and matching accents inside.
It's the end of the line [at least for now] for one of the most recognizable and iconic American sports cars of the past two decades as the last of the current-generation Dodge Vipers "slithered" its way out of the firm's Conner Avenue plant in Detroit.
The final example of the 2010 Dodge Viper is a customized coupe model for D'Ann Rauh (second from right in the picture), who along with her husband Wayne from Arp, Texas, own more than 40 Dodge Vipers. The Texas couple own the largest personal collection of Vipers in the world.
Dodge is determined to let the Viper go out with a bang as the company is planning to introduced several limited edition versions of the sports car before production comes to an end in 2010. The third special Viper SRT10 is the ACR-X, a track ready racer boasting a modified V10 with 640 ponies, suspension and aerodynamic improvements as well as all a bevy of safety equipment. Hit the break to watch the video and don't forget to turn up the volume of your speakers to get a taste of the wonderful sounds of Dodge's new limited run 2010 Viper ACR-X.
The subtly revised 2010 Dodge Viper ACR, which is set to make its world premiere at next month's Los Angeles Auto Show, has set a new lap record at the Laguna Seca with a time of 1:33.915 as recorded by Motech in-vehicle data recorder (1:33.944'' as unofficially recorded by trackside clock) breaking the previous lap record of 1.35.117 set by a Devon GTX this past August. The 2010 Dodge Viper ACR was piloted by SRT vehicle dynamics engineer, Chris Winkler.
"It was definitely exciting but a somewhat uneventful lap overall from behind the steering wheel," said Winkler. "The Dodge Viper ACR has amazing power and handles like a dream, so following my first practice here last month, I came away pretty confident that we'd be able to set a new record."
In the final year of the Viper's production, the hardcore ACR, (first introduced in 2008), receives a series of upgrades including a shorter fifth gear ratio that changes from 0.74 to 0.80 for improved high-speed acceleration and higher straightaway speed, a new short-throw shifter and a redesigned rear wing to further optimize aerodynamics and improve rear yaw downforce.
Dodge says that these improvements result in an increase in top speed of 4 mph, to 184 mph (296 km/h) for the 2010 model.
There are no other changes for the Viper ACR that is powered by an 8.4-liter V10 engine with 600 horsepower and 560 lb.-ft. of torque, for a 0-60 mph (96km/h) acceleration in under 4 seconds, quarter-mile time in the mid 11-second range and 0-100-0 mph in 11 seconds flat.
Ralph Gilles, President and CEO, Dodge Brand and Senior Vice President, Product Design Office, Chrysler Group LLC, said that the company plans to release several special edition models during the last year of the Viper including a Laguna Seca edition to commemorate the record lap. All in all, around 500 Vipers will be produced in 2010.
Dodge's resurrected Challenger coupe proved that it's as safe as it is good-looking by pulling-off perfect 5-star ratings in both frontal and side-impact crash tests for the driver and passenger seating positions in recent U.S. government testing conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It's never a pretty site seeing a new car being smashed -even though in this case it's for the noblest of reasons- but for those of you that don't mind just skip the jump and watch the actual video footage from NHTSA's crash test assesment of the 2009 Dodge Challenger.
Continuing our Challenger SRT8 saga, here’s the second video clip of Dodge’s retro-penned muscle car (see the unveiling at the Chicago Auto Show here). Apart from the exterior and interior beauty shots, this 5-and-a-half minute long promo film includes running footage where we not only get the chance to hear the 425 HP Hemi V8 growl like an angry lion but we also see the Challenger SRT8 smoking its rear tires. Check out the vid right after the jump. -Continued
Don’t tell us that you thought we’d leave all you muscle car fans just with the 40 or so live images (click here) along with the official details and pics (see here) of the new Dodge Challenger SRT8… The video is from Wednesday’s media presentation at the Chicago Motor Show and it includes speeches from Jim Press (VP & Chairman of Chrysler LLC) and Frank Klegan (Dodge Executive VP of product development). We’ll hold back on commenting on the totally unnecessary and tasteless in our opinion, guest star appearance of Paul Sr. and Paul Jr. from American Chopper.
It all started when a man bought a wrecked Dodge Viper SRT-10 with the intention of rebuilding it. However, it soon became obvious that task was far more difficult than he originally thought due to the extent of the damages and the lack of parts. It didn’t take long to come up with a fresh idea: strip the Viper’s body clean and use the mechanical hardware and parts of the chassis on a Saab 9-3 Sport Combi. 
