RE: Daytona 50th the most powerful Charger ever

RE: Daytona 50th the most powerful Charger ever

Wednesday 14th August 2019

Daytona 50th the most powerful Charger ever

How better to celebrate a NASCAR icon than with a 717hp limited edition? Top marks, Dodge



Remember the Dodge Charger Daytona? Perhaps a niche one for European tastes, but a massive deal in the history of American sports cars. Fifty years ago Dodge homologated a special Charger for NASCAR use (see the pic below), with an enormous rear spoiler for stability and a chiselled front end replacing the standard car's bluff snout and improving aero. It became a muscle car icon, partly thanks to just 501 being made (the minimum amount required for homologation) and partly because of how crazy it looked. But mostly because the race car was the first to set a NASCAR 200mph lap record. One that stood for 17 years...

To mark the anniversary, Dodge has made this, the Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody 50th Anniversary Edition. Catchy. Broadly the car is as that name would suggest, with a few minor tweaks. So in true anniversary edition limited run fashion, it comes with special stickers - in this case a 'Daytona' decklid motif, like an old Charger - a bespoke colour option (B5 Blue seen here is offered alongside Pitch Black, Triple Nickel and White Knuckle), unique details inside, wheels in a colour not offered elsewhere and a limited production run - 501, just like the original.


The Widebody bit is easier to explain, this Charger using exactly the same broader shell as introduced on Dodge's four-door muscle car earlier this year. The Hellcat part of the name is more interesting than it's ever been, the 50th Anniversary Edition receiving an ECU tickle to 717hp (torque stays at 650lb ft). Bear in mind, too, that that is US horsepower, so just about 730hp in metric money. Or more than a Ferrari F8 Tributo...

Beyond that this special edition is the Charger Hellcat we've come to know and admire fondly from across the Atlantic; the official line from Dodge is that this car is both "recognising the brand's performance heritage and staying true to our roots by offering high-performance, collectible vehicles that continue to defy the trends and deliver attainable performance that can't be found anywhere else." Sounds about right; do you know of any other 700hp saloon cars?

Orders for the Charger Anniversary Edition will open later this year, with deliveries beginning early in 2020. The car is going to give those customers "another way to display legendary Dodge performance attitude" - certainly it's not going to be mistaken for anything else, even in America. Prices aren't confirmed just yet, though expect a healthy premium over the $65k a Hellcat currently costs in the States. For eager NASCARists in the UK, there is a Charger for sale here, albeit with just the 707hp - £60,000 and it's yours...


Search for a Dodge here






Author
Discussion

ZX10R NIN

Original Poster:

27,459 posts

124 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
quotequote all
They needed to make it a bit more out there, also I'm not a fan of the wide body Charger.

emperorburger

1,484 posts

65 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
quotequote all
Decals, embroidered seats and a remap. The perfect way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of an iconic car.

gruffgriff

1,575 posts

242 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
quotequote all
Yes, poor show. A simple daft wing would have cost just a few bucks.....was never happy Charger appeared on a 4-door sedan anyway. Hrrmmmph. Mumble mumble. Millenials in charge...

steviegunn

1,415 posts

183 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
quotequote all
HPP did a much better job in 2009 on the Challenger.


unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
quotequote all
steviegunn said:
HPP did a much better job in 2009 on the Challenger.

+1


myhandle

1,178 posts

173 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
quotequote all
unsprung said:
+1
+ more

myhandle

1,178 posts

173 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
quotequote all
unsprung said:
+1
It’s also strange that it is in the Plymouth Superbird colours of blue and white, albeit different shades, rather than the reddish tones of the Dodge Charger Daytona . I fear manufacturers have an increasingly selective memory when pillaging their back catalogue. I was born over a decade after the Charger Daytona and Roadrunner Superbird were racing and I know the difference; the young generation know about the Superbird too as it was in GranTurismo and also in the Disney / Pixar movie Cars. The new Taycan has a “Turbo” model. The next Alfa 8C will apparently have six cylinders . Manufacturers, please come up with some new names rather than lying about what a car is. Modern classics continue their appeal to me, to put it mildly.

hammo19

4,871 posts

195 months

Thursday 15th August 2019
quotequote all
Good to celebrate Dodge but needs a very big silly rear wing along with the decals of course

Jon_S_Rally

3,365 posts

87 months

Thursday 15th August 2019
quotequote all
It would have been nice if it had some more wild styling to echo the original but, regardless, it's still ridiculous and I love it.

aeropilot

34,176 posts

226 months

Thursday 15th August 2019
quotequote all
unsprung said:
steviegunn said:
HPP did a much better job in 2009 on the Challenger.

+1
Much more like it.

The original was one of the most memorable, and way out homolgation specials ever, especially with a Hemi under the hood, but this 50th Anniversary sticker job is just a pointless and frankly insulting effort.


EyeHeartSpellin

664 posts

82 months

Thursday 15th August 2019
quotequote all
Where is a wing!!! Massive fail.

mfp4073

1,931 posts

173 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
quotequote all
The problem you have is that the people who are in management positions and make decisions weren't around in the muscle car days and they don't really have a clue or care about the cars they make today.
They probably have their hair up in a bun and don't wear socks with their expensive suits.
...obviously there's nothing wrong with that style....unless you do a remake of Dirty Harry of course...

irocfan

40,152 posts

189 months

Saturday 7th September 2019
quotequote all
so much want! TBH the Charger is probably my favourite saloon car and my desire for a Chally is, likewise, off the scale. I will agree thought that it really doesn't look wild enough