Elana Scherr: Dodge Challenger Memories

From the November 2022 issue of Vehicle and Driver.

I received the t-shirt long before I received the car. I couldn’t even drive at the time, so its muscle car graphics made no sense to me, except a clean alternative to whatever I was wearing before I spilled it. something from a slumber party. I don’t know why Kelly Crowe has an oversized t-shirt emblazoned with a blue 1974 Dodge Challenger Rallye, “Very Rare!” written underneath it in a late ’70s font, but she’s older and cooler, and ready to part with it. When I returned it, Kelly told me to keep it. “It suits you,” she said.

I don’t know how much of a car Kelly possessed, but a few years later I bought a 1972 Challenger. Perhaps all the time in the shirt subtly influenced the finding. With my sword, I turned away from the Road Runners and Chevelles my car friends liked, filtered out the pickups the art school kids drove, and directed me toward the Dodge E-body.

At the time, Challengers were, as the shirt said, pretty rare. Dodge created the E-body in just 5 years, and its successor in the late ’70s was so different in spirit and form that most people forgot it ever existed. The first-generation Challenger had a lovely design, a full long hood and a curved rear end. It’s a Camaro in more stylish trousers, an E-style Jag in a trucker’s hat. If Dodge hadn’t gotten into the five-year slow-cart game, the Challenger could have sold in the same numbers as Mustangs and Firebirds. Even in these later days, with the grille featuring a frowning face — and, in my car’s case, significant body damage, uneven black primer, mismatched wheels and an interior raw metal — the Challenger was still a turn-and-burn car. I won my first (and only) race money on that car, a check for $200 from the Los Angeles County Circuit, which was probably just enough to cover the installation costs. a nitrogen cheat shot we used to win.

Right after my win at the drag strip, I sold the ’72 and swapped out the running gear for a 1970 — more collectible, more respectable. It has luxuries like door panels. During my restoration of that car, Dodge released the third generation Challenger. At first, I hated it for ruining my parts searches on eBay. “No, I don’t need to lower the spring for the 2009. I need the leaf spring for the 1970!” Suddenly my very rare car was everywhere. New riders are talking about the Challenger.

I like the look of the new, Oreo-style crammed too much, but it feels heavy, not fast enough, not rough enough. Sure, the SRT8 ran the second 13-quarter mile, but so did the lightly tuned 40-year-old R/T. It wasn’t until the introduction of Hellcat variants that the modern Challenger really impressed me. That annoying honeycomb whine, the fat rear tire ready to liquefy like butter in the microwave, the Manic Panic color combination—this is the first new Challenger to offer a thrill-like feel. Classic template but faster. Some of my favorite jobs over the past decade involve testing, tripping on the road, and racing in Dodge’s hellish services.

All of this comes to mind now, as Dodge rolls out a series of special edition cars to mark the end of the LX-based Challenger and possibly the end of Challenger cars altogether. gas powered. Future challengers, if any, will most likely be in the electromechanical camp. As Hank Williams Jr. talking, even noisy friends quiet down. Some Dodge fans are annoyed. It’s hard to say goodbye to an old friend, especially one who has been a reliable partygoer for 15 years. I think it will be fine. After all, the Challenger survived the second generation, and an EV version couldn’t be worse. However, I sympathize with third-generation owners when their eBay parts searches bring up “Challenger 2025 battery pack”. Meanwhile, I still have the 1970 — and the t-shirt.