Chrysler PT Cruiser With Hemi V8, RWD Is the Pint-Sized Hot Rod We Deserved
This Chrysler PT Cruiser will be the butt of no one’s jokes thanks to its Hemi powerplant, rear-wheel-drive conversion, and clean looks.
The Chrysler PT Cruiser was a bit of a shooting star in the automotive world, a retro-styled, compact, five-door hatchback/wagon that came along in a time when everything old was seemingly new again. Chrysler was at the forefront of this movement with vehicles such as this and the Plymouth Prowler, vehicles with cool retro styling, albeit not the greatest powertrains or what one might call exhilarating performance. Regardless, more than one million Chrysler PT Cruisers were ultimately produced before the model’s demise, and today, they’re cheap, plentiful, and, well, the butt of many jokes. However, we’d argue that this particular example – built by the folks at American Gasser in Saginaw, Michigan – is something that any self-respecting Mopar fan would love to have in their garage, as well as the exact car that Chrysler should have built in the first place.
Once you stop laughing, hear us out – this is no ordinary Chrysler PT Cruiser, one powered by some sort of wheezing engine feeding power to the front wheels via a slow-shifting, slush box automatic. Rather, the owners bought it brand new and proceeded to drive it for a nearly two decades before deciding that it was time to do something with it. Thus, they headed to American Gasser, where the car was transformed from a cheerful econobox into something befitting of its Mopar heritage.
That process began underneath the hood, where AG yanked out the original four-banger and replaced it with a a proper 5.7-liter Hemi V8, which clearly took a lot of work to shoehorn in that tiny engine bay. The new powerplant breathes through a custom stainless steel exhaust with Dynomax mufflers, with a Be Cool radiator keeping the temps down, and a Rick’s Hot Rods stainless tank feeding it fuel.
Obviously, stuffing a Hemi in this PT Cruiser and letting it power the front wheels wasn’t in the cards, so American Gasser gave it a proper rear-wheel-drive swap as well, which took a whole heck of a lot of work to pull off. The revamped mechanicals continued with the installation of a Mustang II front suspension from Heidts, a triangulated four-link rear suspension, Viking Performance coilovers, and Wilwood disc brakes at all four corners.
Rather than leave the exterior stock, the owners also decided to give it a bit of a makeover, which in this case means a new body kit, smoked lighting, a set of powder-coated Rocket Racing Wheels Injector wheels, and PPG green paint with gold accents – helping it look unique, yet also not so audacious that someone might suspect that there’s something special going on underneath that humble surface. However, the owners didn’t want to radically change the interior, so it’s bone stock save for the addition of Classic Instruments gauges and a Vintage Air HVAC system.
The result of all that work, well, it speaks for itself – this is easily the coolest Chrysler PT Cruiser we’ve ever seen, though in all fairness, it doesn’t have much competition. After all, this is a vehicle that was once one of the most popular on earth, and yet, it has largely been forgotten and/or turned into joke of sorts by we enthusiasts. However, we imagine that anytime the owner of this one romps on the pedal, that laughter quickly turns to envy.
Photos: American Gasser
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