$200K Dodge Charger Hits 170 MPH With Hellephant Power: Wicked Wednesday Presented by the All-New Nitto Recon Grappler™ A/T
Wicked 1968 Dodge Charger was a legendary muscle car. Adding Hellephant power elevates the legend to a whole new level.
If your favorite muscle car is a 1968 Dodge Charger, then rest assured that you are not alone. With classic muscle car styling and the option of a 426 Hemi putting out 425 horsepower the 1968 Charger is desired by many. David is the owner of the Charger you see here and like many this is his favorite muscle car of all-time. But as much as he loved the car, he wanted more power. He wanted Hellephant power. There are crate engines, and there are crate engines, and then there are Hellephant crate engines. This near mythical 1,000 horsepower engine was the inspiration behind this entire build.
This week’s “Wicked Wednesday” presented by Nitto is all about this 1968 Dodge Charger with Hellephant power. The car was profiled recently in a video posted on the Barcroft Cars YouTube channel. In the video we learn how the car came to be and what makes it so special. We will give you a hint. There are about 1,000 reasons why this car is special.
Mythical Mopar
This car is all about the engine. In fact, the engine was secured even before the car itself. The Hellephant crate engine needs no introduction, but we will give you a brief one anyway. It is a 426 cubic-inch supercharged Hemi engine. It puts out 1,000 horsepower and 950 pound-feet of torque. As impressive as that is, that alone is not what raises the Hellephant to mythical proportions. It is the power combined with the scarcity of the engine. The Hellephant has never been put into a production vehicle. And the crate engine costs about $30,000. But even if you have the desire and the money to get one, it is still not easy. It took David thirty phone calls to the Mopar Performance hotline before they finally called him back and offered him an engine. Once he bagged the Hellephant, the search was on for the right car.
1968 Charger
Once the engine was secured David decided it would be perfect if he could marry it to his favorite muscle car of all-time. The 1968 Dodge Charger. “It’s a very mean aggressive car. Just the stance, it looks pissed off.” Says David of the Charger. He got the car just so he could drop the Hellephant in it. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The car would now have more than enough power to back up its menacing look.
The Build
David did a lot of the work himself along with the help of local garage owner, Jimmie Anderson. Despite doing as much work himself as possible it is still not cheap to build a car like this. The build set David back about $200,000. That might seem like an outrageous amount of money but name a new car you can buy today for that sum that has at least 1,000 horsepower. You could get a Tesla Model S Plaid, but a Tesla is about as far from the Hemi experience as you could possibly get. And after a two-year build process and some clever Hellephant logo placement, nothing else out there looks like this Charger. Everything is blacked out, there is no chrome left on the car. The drip rail is gone, and the back glass is flush mounted. The bumpers have been frenched in. This is a beautiful car.
The Inside
David wanted to keep the car looking original on the inside, but with a modern touch. The leather on the seats was sourced from Italy. That may not be friendly to the bottom line but there is no arguing that the seats look stunning. The rest of the inside is adorned with some Hellephant logos, but other than that, you are sitting in a 1968 Dodge Charger.
In Summary
“Everything about this car is perfect in my opinion. I wouldn’t change a dang thing.” Says David. We can’t disagree. Checkout the video below to see this car come together and to hear it out on the open road.
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