Burnt Challenger Hellcat Completely Rebuilt in Nine Months

By Brett Foote - November 7, 2019

**YouTuber proves haters wrong by rebuilding a Challenger that basically no one would ever even think about rebuilding.**

In case you haven’t been on YouTube in a while, rebuild projects are all the rage these days. It seems like everyone and anyone with a GoPro is buying some sort of salvage vehicle and fixing it up, documenting the entire process in a series of videos. Typically, these projects involve little more than fixing cosmetic damage and doing some bodywork. But in the case of D.I.Y GANG and their 2016 Dodge Challenger Hellcat project, there was just a bit more work to do than that.

The project started roughly nine months ago when channel host Jose came across the fire-ravaged Challenger at a Copart auction. We caught this project from the beginning and openly wondered if it would ever be finished. Not that we’re doubters, mind you, but this Challenger was much, much further gone than your average salvaged car. In fact, it had been burnt to a crisp inside a barn. And to make matters worse, the fire department crushed it while they were working to clear the wreckage.

Basically, the only usable remaining piece of this poor Challenger were some bits of the frame. Jose had to purchase another parts car, cut up pretty much every piece of both, and weld it all back together to form one vehicle. It was major surgery on par with what you’d see from the world’s finest brain surgeons.

The same went for the drivetrain, which was actually salvageable. Jose sent the burned block out to ECS Performance, who reworked it and installed fresh forged components. Over the course of 50+ videos, Jose documented this entire process, along with the installation of a fresh interior. And as you might imagine, the job wasn’t exactly cheap.

Jose revealed in the end that it took a whopping $35,492.16 to rebuild this once-destroyed Challenger Hellcat. Which honestly is a bit cheaper than scoring a nice used example. But doubters will certainly question the safety of driving something like this, a car piecemealed together after its structural integrity was essentially ruined.

But in the end, you can’t deny that this rebuild project is in fact the most impressive one you’ll find on YouTube at the moment. There aren’t many people on this planet that would dare take on such a daunting job, that’s for sure. Call Jose crazy, but there weren’t a lot of folks who thought that he would ever finish this Challenger. And for that alone, he deserves major props.