The Forgotten Concept: Dodge Super8 Hemi | Daily Drive | Consumer Guide® The Daily Drive
Dodge Super8 Hemi Concept
This is part of a series of articles looking back at the cars on display that we feel deserve a little more attention than they really are. If you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Concept theme, feel free to drop us a line or leave a comment below.
The Forgotten Concept: Dodge Super8 Hemi
Shown first: 2001 Detroit Auto Show
Description: Retro themed full-size sedan
Sales pitch: “Exhibits the culture and nature of American optimism.”
Dodge Super8 Hemi Concept
Details:
First shown at the 2001 Detroit Auto Show, the retro-themed Super8 Hemi heralded the birth of a large rear-wheel drive Dodge family and the return of the Hemi V8 engine. Dodge’s parent company at the time was DaimlerChrysler, and according to Freeman Thomas, DaimlerChrysler’s Vice President of Advanced Product Design Strategy, the design of the Super8 Hemi was influenced by diners and the soda cans of the era. great fifty. The large four-door sedan has a 117-inch wheelbase and is equipped with body “strips” in a nostalgic matte turquoise blue, as well as a low roofline that swoos unreasonably with a wraparound windshield. around late ’50s style. The hinged front doors and hinged rear doors open to reveal a pillarless passenger compartment – a bit of pure car fancy. Inside, the steering wheel and some interior trim pick up on the turquoise blue theme of the body panels.
The Super8 has a 5.7-liter V8 with a hemispherical cylinder head that produces 353 horsepower. The “Hemi” engine is mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission and is capable of propelling the Super8 to 60 mph at a stop in 5.7 seconds. The “passenger priority” cabin features theater-style seating – the rear seats are positioned higher than the front seats – and push-button transmission control.
Although the Super8’s design was heavily criticized by critics, its lineage is evident in the styling of the much-received Chrysler 300 sedan and its scooter counterpart Dodge Magnum (both launched in 2004 as a 2005 model) and Dodge reincarnated the Charger, followed by the 2006 model.
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Dodge Super8 Hemi Concept
CG says:
Super8 is so ugly it makes me angry. What I think annoys me the most is the wasted upside-down column A. The inverted front axle – never really a design element of Dodge, but so effective on cars like the 1959-1960 Chevrolet – only adds to the design confusion here. Likewise, the short aft deck appears to contradict the long roofline and raised roofline.
That said, the Super8 has really stirred interest in DaimlerChrysler’s upcoming large rear-wheel drive cars and Hemi V8 engines. The revival of a legendary engine last produced in 1971, the reborn Hemi V8 – actually a brand new engine called “Hemi” – made its debut in a Dodge Ram pickup truck in 2003. We’ll skip the quirky Hemi brand mitsubishi engine with the development of several Chrysler products in the Eighties.
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Dodge Super8 Hemi Concept
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Concept car showroom
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Super 8 Hemi
Super 8 Hemi
