The current Dodge Charger might not have quite the muscle-car cachet of its illustrious forebears, but you've got to appreciate the efforts Dodge has gone to in order to instil a full-size family saloon (sorry, we should say sedan) with a healthy dose of testosterone.
And the firm's Mopar tuning arm has gone several stages further at Detroit, creating the Dodge Charger Redline.
The Redline is actually an amalgamation of a three-stage kit: stage one is aero tweakery and natty 20-inch wheels (which don't seem overly massive on such a large car), stage two is a cat-back exhaust, a suspension brace and upgraded brake hoses, while stage three is where it really gets interesting.
Because stage three is a 590-horsepower 426cu in (7.0 litres in Euro-speak) Hemi V8 crate engine, the 'Elephant Motor'. For the engine spec obsessed among us, this involves (and we quote Dodge's press release so please forgive any Americanisms) "a stout, balanced lower reciprocating assembly that features a forged-steel crankshaft with six-bolt mains at two, three and four, and cross-bolted four-bolt mains at one and five. H-beam style rods are made from forged steel and coupled to forged 11:1 compression ratio aluminum pistons. Included is a revised windage tray to provide excellent oil dispersion and prevent oil aeration by the crankshaft.
"The Gen III High Output 426 HEMI engine's valvetrain starts with a more aggressive roller camshaft with .639 intake and .628 exhaust lift and cylinder heads that feature the latest designs for exceptional flow characteristics. To help stabilize the valvetrain at high engine rpm, tie bars are available.
"Mopar cast-aluminum valve covers and billet fuel rails are also included in the Dodge Charger Redline's Stage III performance kit."
Sounds brilliant. There's only one problem (well, two) - that super-cool four-poster bonnet (sorry, 'hood') is for demonstration purposes only, and that 590hp engine isn't actually road-legal. Shame.