In creating the new Dodge Challenger concept car the designers at Chrysler Group’s West Coast Pacifica Studio knew they had a rich heritage to draw upon. They also knew they had an obligation to ''get it right.'' Tasked with the enviable assignment of developing a hot-looking performance coupe using Chrysler Group’s advanced rear-wheel drive LX platform and its fabled HEMI engine, the designers explored a variety of options, eventually gravitating to ''something'' for the Dodge brand — appropriate given that brand’s bold performance image.
Designers drew up a “short list “of the essential attributes of a muscle car: distinctly American; mega horsepower; pure, minimal, signature lines; aggressive air-grabbing grille; and bold colors and graphics.
The Challenger concept sits on a 116-inch wheelbase, six inches longer than the original. But its width is two inches greater, giving the concept car a squat, tougher, more purposeful persona. The signature side view accent line — designers call it the ''thrust'' line — is higher up on the body, running horizontal through the fender and door and kicking up just forward of the rear wheel. In section the upper and lower body surfaces intersect and fall away along this line, which has just a whisper of the original car’s coved surfacing. The five-spoke chrome wheels — 20-inch, front; 21-inch, rear — are set flush with the bodyside, giving the car the powerful muscular stance of a prizefighter eager to challenge the world. Wheel openings are drawn tightly against the tires, with the rearward edges trailing off. To emphasize the iconic muscularity, the designers added plan view ''hip'' to the rear quarters.
The Challenger concept is a genuine four-passenger car. Compared to the original, the greenhouse is longer, the windshield and backlite faster, and the side glass narrower. All glass is set flush with the body without moldings, another touch the original designers could only wish for. The car is a genuine two-door hardtop — no B-pillar — with the belt line ramping up assertively at the quarter window just forward of the wide C-pillar. Exterior details one might expect, like a racing-type gas cap, hood tie-down pins, louvered backlite and bold bodyside striping, didn’t make the ''cut,'' the designers feeling such assorted bits would detract from the purity of the monochromatic body form. But tucked reassuringly under the rear bumper are the ''gotta have'' twin-rectangle pipes of the dual exhausts.
In contrast to the bright Orange Pearl exterior, the interior is a no-nonsense, ''let’s-get-in-and-go'' black relieved by satin silver accents and narrow orange bands on the seat backs. With its thick, easy-grip rim, circular hub and pierced silver spokes, the leather-wrapped steering wheel evokes the original car’s ''Tuff'' wheel, as does the steering column “ribbing.” The floor console, its center surface tipped toward the driver, is fitted with a proper “pistol grip” shifter shaped just right to master the quick, crisp shifts possible with the six-speed manual ''tranny.'' Inasmuch as the original Challenger was the first car to have injection-molded door trim panels (now common practice), the doors received special attention.
Although the flat-section bucket seats of the original Challenger didn’t offer much support for aggressive driving, the front seats in the Challenger concept car boast hefty bolsters much like those found on Dodge’s famed SRT series cars. The trim covers’ horizontal pleats or ''fales'' provide just a hint of that ''70’s'' look.
Home
Your Cart
Join the Club!
Customer Service
Our Company
search model cars
