Dodge/Chrysler News

[theColonel]

The 2020 Dodge Charger Widebody Looks Meaner and Corners Harder

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a2820 ... otos-info/

[theColonel]

Lee Iacocca Dead at 94

https://jalopnik.com/auto-industry-lege ... 0FiLGrqEMI

[Midnight_Rider]

My family owes a great debt to Lee. Had Chrysler not received the loan guarantees, my father (and everyone else at Kokomo Transmission and Kokomo Casting) would have been unemployed. My family would not have been able to keep up with the mortgage on the house we had built in 1971 and might have ended up homeless. The salaried benefits that my father retired with would not be here today to take care of my elderly mother. Considering the fact that FCA is now the largest employer in Howard County (Kokomo is the county seat), Chrysler's possible demise in 1980 would have devastated the community. So, once again, thanks Lee- you have not been forgotten.

[theColonel]

Lee Iacocca could have saved American automakers—again

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos ... ekend_News

[theColonel]

Celebrating 1969 At The 2019 Chrysler Nationals

https://moparconnectionmagazine.com/gal ... nsylvania/

[theColonel]

Dodge confirms 707hp 2020 Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody price

https://www.slashgear.com/dodge-confirm ... v3GsB_RIzo

[MyNeonSaysHi]

$70k. That would make a fun daily. Fun to watch prices plummet on used regular HellCats from like 2015. Really wish they offered the Charger with a manual transmission but didn't due to crashing standards. Like the looks better then the Challenger.

[JeremyJ]

I'd be happy with the $46K Scat Pack wide body. All the good looks and it still runs 12's. That's plenty of speed for me.

[theColonel]

Hellcat-powered Ram TRX is official!

https://www.allpar.com/news/2019/10/hel ... _iaHh2r-n8

[theColonel]

https://www.racepagesdigital.com/pritch ... hip-title/

[occasional demons]

I recall them adding weight to the Challengers, because it is easier to penalize a Mopar, than step up to the plate and compete. NASCAR all over again.

[occasional demons]

Now if only they would actually make it. Maybe without the huge wheels, and a Hellaphant power plant option.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 47908.html

https://news.yahoo.com/mopar-finally-st ... 14565.html

[JeremyJ]

That's one badass truck. My dad briefly had a blue one of that generation. We called it Ol' Blue. It was kind of a beater, but a cool truck nonetheless.

[occasional demons]

It's styled after the 1960's through 1971, IIRC. trucks. My grandfather had a '63 8ft bed. My former brother in law had a nice '70 stepside, that he crashed, due to being a drunk.


Stepside

[MyNeonSaysHi]

https://jalopnik.com/fiat-chrysler-and- ... RaTJ8lsE4k

!!!!

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot Citroën Agree To Merge: Wall Street Journal ^^^

[JeremyJ]

I'm not sure what to think about that. Just more Euro parts in the bin.

[theColonel]

I'm not sure what to think about that. Just more Euro parts in the bin.

More trash cars to the USA marketplace … What does Puegeot make, that anybody here wants ???

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/busin ... 100298002/

[occasional demons]

My '83 Omni had a 1.6 Peugeot engine. It wasn't a powerhouse, but you could rev the wee out of it and it did pretty well for a pushrod engine.

It even had a better top speed than my '84 LZE44 Omni. The '83 would hit 115 mph, while the 2.2 HO only would do 105 mph. It would launch off the line pretty well, but it didn't last past 2nd gear. It was enough to discourage a few F body camaros and Mustangs in light to light racing, that they gave up way too soon, because if they had kept in it, they would have ate that Omni for lunch.

I never had any issues with that engine, it outlived the car, and was transplanted into another Omni with the 5 speed that was attached. I don't recall what MTX that was mated to it, but it was about half the weight of the MTX that was mated to the 2.2. It didn't strain my cousin and myself at all to lift the combination into the bed of a pick up. It made for great handling too, being so much lighter. The Shadow front swaybar was the icing on the cake. I pissed off a few Shelby Charger owners that tried to hang with me on off camber curves. When you have a few hundred pounds less inertia fighting you...

But it doesn't mean I am glad to hear this. Especially if they cut jobs, and renege on pensions.

[Midnight_Rider]

More bad news for what used to be a good company. I'm sad.

[INVUJerry]

My family really liked the 2 eagle Premiers we had that were based off Renault cars. Hopefully it gets some innovation and maybe a nice small hatchback with a dodge moniker.

[Midnight_Rider]

Not built here? No thanks!

[theColonel]

My family really liked the 2 eagle Premiers we had that were based off Renault cars. Hopefully it gets some innovation
and maybe a nice small hatchback with a dodge moniker.

The Renault merger fell apart … this deal is with Peugeot

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a2965 ... 843&src=nl

[INVUJerry]

True, but just saying sometimes a little bit of foreign design and innovation helps the home team design and build something better. The dart was a neat car just not what America wanted at the time.

[theColonel]

True, but just saying sometimes a little bit of foreign design and innovation helps the home team design and build something better.
The dart was a neat car just not what America wanted at the time.

It was underpowered and overpriced

[occasional demons]

True, but just saying sometimes a little bit of foreign design and innovation helps the home team design and build something better.
The dart was a neat car just not what America wanted at the time.

It was underpowered and overpriced

Either way, "just not what America wanted at the time".


"underpowered and overpriced" just about describes any new car for sale. If they make decent power, most can't afford it.

They will never sell a stripped down car that has 500 hp for under $20,000. No one would buy the really profitable stuff. It's why GM never put a real engine in the Opal GT, no one would have bought a Corvette. The Opal only needed 210 hp to blow the doors off the best 'Vette at the time, and out handle it at a fraction of the price.

Thus why the cars/trim levels that make real power, are reserved for the higher end. They have made cars reflect life: Power is only for the higher classes.

[theColonel]

Either way, "just not what America wanted at the time".

"underpowered and overpriced" just about describes any new car for sale. If they make decent power, most can't afford it.

They will never sell a stripped down car that has 500 hp for under $20,000. No one would buy the really profitable stuff.
It's why GM never put a real engine in the Opal GT, no one would have bought a Corvette. The Opal only needed 210 hp to
blow the doors off the best 'Vette at the time, and out handle it at a fraction of the price.

Thus why the cars/trim levels that make real power, are reserved for the higher end. They have made cars reflect life:
Power is only for the higher classes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Road_Runner

[occasional demons]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Road_Runner

Plymouth introduced another bargain-basement muscle car for 1970, the compact Duster 340 which was powered by a 275 hp (205 kW) 340 4-BBL V8 which in the lighter-weight compact A-body could perform as well if not better than a 383 Road Runner. Furthermore, the Duster 340 was priced even lower than the Road Runner and its smaller engine qualified it for much lower insurance rates.

While the 383 was a decent engine, it was no match for the 340 even in cars with similar weight. Pretty sure that 275 HP was under rated. And the 383 had the big block weight, but not the same torque as the 413/440. Just a slight bump from the 361.

My 383 powered '64 Polara convertible could roast the tires, but it was no match for my brother's '71 340 Cuda. The early Polara's were kind of small for a B body car.

[theColonel]

https://www.allpar.com/news/2019/11/mop ... kIXfugPa_M

[occasional demons]

https://www.allpar.com/news/2019/11/mop ... kIXfugPa_M

Oh yeah you forgot to mention the package trays in the trunk that will except additional weight that NHRA will have you add when the Camaro can’t keep up.

That was my first thought....

[theColonel]

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1500-hp ... FF31500B4B