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This 1994 Dodge Viper RT/10 is so clean that the current owner claims that there is not a newer 94 Viper in the world and he guarantee's that, promising that he will pay for people's gas if they come to see the car and don't agree on the impeccable quality of this 18 year old roadster.

For Friday's Nationwide Series VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200, just three Dodge Challengers qualified for the 43 car field with Sam Hornish Jr (shown above) starting 8^th, Brad Keselowski starting 13^th and Derrick Cope starting 42^nd.  Keselowski and Hornish were towards the front of the field all day long but at the end of the race, the two Toyota Camrys driven by Joey Lagano and Denny Hamlin were able to beat out the pair of Challengers - leaving Keselowski to finish 3^rd while Hornish finished 4^th.  Derrick Cope had the kind of day that you would expect of a driver with his record, finishing in 27^th spot 13, 13 laps down.  Hornish remained in the 4^th spot in season standings with his strong finish.

These were big, roomy utes powered by large V8 engines that could seat at least four adults, offer space for tons of cargo, tow a heavy trailer and storm through the woods in stock form.  While the modern SUV can do just about anything that a 1983 Ramcharger could (plus packing more power, more efficiency and more gadgets), today's full size SUVs have gotten to be so expensive that most average owners shudder at the thought of driving in icy weather for the fear of damaging one of the plastic exterior body panels.

The Ram Truck brand was led in both growth and sales volume by the Ram pickup family.  Ram moved 21,126 trucks in April 2012 compared to just 17,680 in the same month last year - an improvement of 19%.  Pulling down the total sales growth of the Ram brand was the Dakota (which is long out of production) but even as the dealerships continue to sell off new-old stock, the Dakota moved 39 new units. 

If you know a Dodge or Mopar lover who may not be into modifying their vehicle but they want to show off their passion for the Chrysler Group brands, vintage advertising flyers make great décor for a man cave, a game room or a finished garage.  Regardless of what vintage Mopar muscle car is preferred, this posting on RacingJunk.com offers a wide variety of the models that made the Mopar name famous - for just $25 bucks each.

Here are links to just a few of the Dodge cars on Collector Car Nation:
The odds are good that if you are on DodgeForum you have seen and loved the Stephen King automotive thriller Christine.  This 1957 Dodge 2 door hardtop looks like Christine but it packs a major punch thanks to a 60 over 440.

I love the vintage days of drag racing and the 1963 Dodge 330 2-door is still a staple front runner in nostalgia racing classes around the country.  This '63 330 packs a 528 cubic inch Hemi with a gorgeous red and white scheme - inside and out.

The first production model was a 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye, sporting the Redline Red Pearl Coat exterior and Black with Ruby Red interior.  This first production Dart was also optioned with the 1.4L MultiAir turbo engine mated to a 6-speed manual transmission - a combination that is good for 160 horsepower, 184lb-ft of torque, 27 miles per gallon around town and 39 miles per gallon on the open road.

Before we get into the specifics of the 2013 Dodge Dart, I should point out that I have spent a significant amount of time in the 2012 Ford Focus and the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze - two of the bestselling vehicles in the C segment sedan class that the Dart officially enters next month.  Dodge hasn't had a serious contender in this rapidly growing segment since they killed off the Neon in 2005 but friends...I am here to tell you that the new Dodge Dart is the big hit that the Chrysler Group needs in order to take a slice out of the compact sedan segment.

The Dodge Viper did plenty of winning in the American LeMans Series, taking the top spot for the GT Super class in all 6 races in they entered in 1999 and winning 10 of the 12 events entered in the 2000 season.  The Team Oreca Viper GTS-R race cars were the dominant force in the GTS class through those two years with the #91 taking home the majority of the major wins with a variety of different driver combinations at the helm.

First and foremost, the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit and the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois will both completely skip their scheduled two week summer downtime.  Jefferson North builds the Dodge Durango and the Jeep Grand Cherokee while Belvidere currently builds the awesome new Dodge Dart alongside the Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot.  The strong sales of the Durango, Grand Cherokee, Patriot and Compass require these two plants to stay open all summer - bolstered by the start of production of the new Dart.  Also, the Toluca Car Assembly Plant in Mexico will skip their summer downtime.  Toluca produces the Dodge Journey (and the Fiat Freemont) along with the compact Fiat 500.

In the first year on the ALMS tour in 1999, the pair of Vipers fielded by Team Oreca missed the first two events of the season but they made their debut in the GTS class for the third race of the season.  The Team Oreca Viper won their first race of the ALMS season and went on to win all six races throughout the rest of the 1999 season.  A Viper also turned the fastest lap for the GTS class in all six of the wins in 1999.

For comparison, the Chrysler Group showed a profit of $116 million through the first quarter of 2011 so for 2012, the company is rolling along at a pace more than four times better than one year ago.  This net profit was gained thanks to a 25% increase in revenue with $16.4 billion pulled in during January, February and March. 

Since the introduction of the 2013 SRT Viper, Viper GTS and race-ready Viper GTS-R, there have been a variety of informative videos issued about the Viper but this one might just be the coolest thus far.  This video offers a brief look at the history of the legendary Dodge-turned-SRT Viper going all the way back to the original Viper Concept's debut at the 1989 Detroit Auto Show.

The video includes SRT CEO and President Ralph Gilles talking about his first time "meeting" the Dodge Viper followed by a look at how the Viper idea was established.  The video then walks us through the progress from concept to production with a variety of shots of the original Viper concept being tested and the production model being introduced.  We also get a cool look at what drove the design of the original Viper V10 engine.

The Saturday Camping World Truck Series race was the SFP 250 and of the 36 trucks in the qualifying field, just three of them were Ram Truck brand race vehicles.  A pair of Rams occupied the 6^th row in the starting grid with Parker Kilgerman's #29 Reese Towpower Ram on the inside in 11^th place while Brad Keselowski's #119 Ram sponsored by Waste Management/ "Hiring Veterans" / Checkered Flag Foundation starting on the outside of the row in 12^th.

This new 2013 SRT Viper engine video begins with Dick Winkles talking about the specific features that separate the 2013 Viper V10 from the similar engine used in 2010 when the Viper was last available as new.  The new Viper features a new, higher flowing intake manifold that works with a new camshaft profile to make more top end power without hurting low end acceleration.  Items like sodium filled exhaust valves and new forged pistons help to make the new engine lighter and more durable while an enhanced cooling system ensures that the 640hp engine doesn't get too hot during cruising - or track time.

As is the case with every Viper Cup race since the series began in 2010, the first weekend of the 2012 SRT Viper Cup featured a pair of celebrity drivers racing for charity.  For this event, the celebrities were author/experienced racer Burt Levy and former WWF wrestler/well known car collector Bill Goldberg.  These guys, like all of the celebrities that will race in the 2012 SRT Viper Cup will be doing so to benefit the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

In Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts 300, Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish Jr were the only two drivers piloting Dodge Challengers and with starting positions of 12^th and 14^th the teammates were poised for another day of front running.  Things went fairly well for Sam Hornish Jr as he rolled into an 11^th place finish in his #12 Wurth Challenger but for Keselowski, early engine troubles dashed his hopes of winning and he was forced to finish 35^th - 41 laps off of the pace.  Hornish now sits in 4^th place in the Nationwide season standings.

The differences between the Fiat Viaggio and Dodge Dart don't end at the name and build site though, as the Chinese market Fiat wears under fascias that are a bit 'softer' than the uber aggressive Dart along with adding a bit more chrome around the front end to support a more upscale look.  More importantly to Dodge lovers - the Viaggio will not feature the awesome wraparound LED taillight from the Dart. 

Since announcing that the 2013 Dodge Dart would come with a starting price of $15,995 at the car's debut in Detroit, Dodge has been pretty quiet about full pricing or standard features across the trimline range. Well, until now.

The 2013 Dodge Dart will come in SE, SXT, Rallye, Limited and R/T trimlines with the first four arriving this summer and the Road and Track trimline arriving in the third quarter of 2012.  As expected, the Dart SE is the least expensive of the lineup with starting price of $15,995 while the Dart SXT will set you back $17,995.  The sporty Dart Rallye carries an MSRP of $18,995 followed by the Dart Limited at $19,995 and the highline Dodge Dart R/T will cost $22,495 when it arrives this fall.

The goal of the design team was to build a voluptuous, beautiful vehicle and while we likely all agree that they did just that - this video opens with 2013 SRT Viper Chief Designer Mark Trostle explaining how the most eye-grabbing details are as functional as they are aesthetic.  The 2013 Viper was first made as a clay model, which is a fairly normal part of the process but CEO Ralph Gilles asked the team to take that one step further - producing an identical replica of the Viper out of sculpted foam.

While five minutes is nowhere near enough to really give a full overview of the 2012 SRT Viper, Henckel touches on all of the most important areas of design and engineering.  He addresses the fact that the designers did look at their new cousins from Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo while in the early stages but in the long run, the group made sure to capture the real look and spirit of the new American supercar.

Since the new Dodge Dart rally program featuring championship rally driver Travis Pastrana was introduced last week, we didn't know exactly what the new Dart rally car would look like (or sound like) but thanks to the first video of Pastrana and his 600 horsepower all wheel drive Dart rally car in action--we know more about the new SRT Motorsports race program.

The Ram Truck managed to field 4 of the 36 starting position for Saturday's Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series as the pickups made the second stop of the year - the first since Daytona Speedweeks.  The Ram brand was represented by Parker Kilgerman in the #29 Cooper Standard entry, Clay Greenfield in the #168 self-sponsored Ram, Dusty Davis in the #15 truck and Jennifer Jo Cobb in the #8 Driven2Honor.org race Ram.

This means that those rabid Dodge, SRT and Mopar lovers who want to want live as the 2013 SRT Viper meets the world at the New York Auto Show won't have to make the trek to the Big Apple - instead watching the debut from the comfort of their home or office when it is unveiled next Wednesday around 12:00pm EST.

Click here to check out the DriveSRT Facebook page for more information on the 2013 Viper debut.

Second Half in America is a set of four, 1-minute commercials; each of which focuses on one of the four Chrysler Group brands excluding Fiat.  Each of these commercials tells the tale of an American who has overcome some sort of personal adversity ranging from a dad returning home from serving overseas in the armed forces to spend time in his Challenger R/T with his son to a guy named Tommy who used his Ram Heavy Duty to help make ends meet during tough financial times with a voiceover done by Tommy's appreciative wife.  The other two commercials feature a dad showing his pride in his Chrysler 300-driving son and a young girl who is enjoying a ride in the new Jeep Liberty while facing the hardships of moving to a new area.

The 2013 Dodge Dart rally car that will compete with Travis Pastrana behind the wheel will be a far cry from the production version of the compact sedan, packing 600 horsepower and 550lb-ft of torque but like the Dart coming to dealerships around the country - the rally car will be powered by a 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine.  All of that power will be channeled to all four wheels by means of an advanced four wheel drive gearbox developed by Sedav specifically for rally racing. 

It's easy to misunderstand the fascination with mudding and getting "stuck". From an outsiders point of view, it looks silly. Wasteful even. But the truth is-- and any hoon would know this --that fun doesn't need to make sense. At all. Ever. And that's why this truck is great. It's like watching a dinosaur getting stuck in a tar pit.

Saturday's Ford EcoBoost 300 at Bristol was less than kind to its sponsor, with Ford's Ricky Steinhouse finishing in 6^th. Brad Keselowski in his #22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger started 7^th and ran strong all day, finishing 3^rd behind a pair of Chevys driven by Kasey Kahne and Elliot Sadler.  Sam Hornish Jr drove his #12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger to a 13^th place finish (started 23^rd) while the only other Dodge in the field, the #81 car driven by rookie Jason Bowles finished 25^th after starting in the 34^th position.  Hornish Jr. still sits in 6^th place in Nationwide Series season standings (49 points behind leader Elliot Sadler) while Jason Bowles moved up three spots to the 19^th position, sitting 114 points off of the leading pace.  Brad Keselowski is not involved in the championship standings for the Nationwide Series.

The Dodge Durango Special Service models include the same engine lineup as those sold to the public, beginning with the 290 horsepower Pentastar V6 and topping out with the 360 horsepower Hemi V8.  Whether fitted with the V6 or V8 option, the Durango fire and police vehicles will receive a heavy-duty braking package, a high output 220-amp alternator recharging a heavy duty battery, a high volume water pump and an engine oil cooler.  These features help to deal with the odd driving cycles of a police or fire department vehicle with the electrical system improvements help to accommodate the added strain of the interior and exterior electrical gadgetry.

The cause for Sam Hubinette's decision to leave the drifting world where he has done so well is that two of his team's major sponsors "changing interest".  There is no detail beyond that, but we have to wonder if one of those major sponsors is Dodge/Mopar. Over the past few years there has been no name more prominently advertised by The Crazy Swede on and off the track. Due to drifting's lack of popularity in the US, it wouldn't come as a huge shock if the Chrysler Group found their support of the drift program to be non-beneficial to the company.

The new 3.2L Pentastar V6 will join the current 3.6L Pentastar that is offered in almost every product in the Dodge lineup shy of the Dart and the Caliber.  We can expect that the new 3.2L V6 will offer more than the 210 horsepower and 235lb-ft of torque produced by the current (and very old) 3.7L V6 in the Liberty while also offering superior fuel economy to that of the 2012 Liberty.