Demon 170 Meets Angle Grinder to Become a Convertible
Owner of Droptop Customs, a shop that builds convertible Dodge Challengers, decides to cut the roof off of his SRT Demon 170 and it hurts to watch.
Everyone wants something that they can’t have. Every once in a while, though, someone offers something up that you may not have ever considered that folks might want. For example, a convertible Dodge Challenger. While it’s certainly not to everyone’s taste, it is something that folks want. So much so, that Jeff Moran and his company Droptop Customs have made an entire industry out of chopping the roofs off of Challengers and replacing them with convertible tops. Moran is not only seemingly making a living from it, he’s living comfortably enough to justify the purchase of a Demon 170 and, well, you see where this is going.
In a video recently posted on YouTube by RacerX, we get an in-depth look at the process of converting a Dodge Challenger into a convertible and why Moran has chosen to give his Demon 170 the drop-top treatment.
Why Do This to a Demon 170?
Certainly, there’s no shortage of folks curious about why they do this at all. However, there’s a good chance even more folks will call into question the choice to do it to a Demon 170.
“This is what it’s about. Being unique. It’s a 170, it’s the baddest car ever made, and now, I’m going to have the baddest convertible ever made,” says Moran.
The thought of digging into a brand new car, especially one that costs $100,000, with an angle grinder and junking the roof is pretty frightening. However, Droptop Customs does much more than that. We’ll get into that a bit later, but we bring it up for the sake of mentioning the additional modifications necessary for the Demon 170 in particular. As the host points out, the Demon 170 is designed to run eight-second quarter miles and withstand doing a wheelie for 30 feet. Chassis flex could be a serious issue.
“I’m very confident the car is going to hold up. I am going to be adding some weight, I have to, it comes down to the roof…will it be a little heavier? It will. But you know what, it’ll be a convertible,” says Moran.
He continues to say they expect it to weigh about 200 pounds more than a standard Demon 170. To truly put their build to the test, though, he says that he has every intention of drag racing the car once it’s in convertible format.
It’s a Lot More Work Than Just Cutting the Roof Off
Sure, just about anyone could take an angle grinder to the roof of a car and have a “convertible” version. However, Droptop customs does things prim and proper. Each one of their convertible conversions has under-side chassis reinforcement. Most OEM convertible vehicles have this too, since the loss of rigidity from the roof can lead to some serious chassis flex issues. As one might expect, Moran says the Demon 170 will be getting some extra attention when it comes to reinforcing the chassis.
The vehicles also have fully electric powered tops and provisions to keep rain from entering the chassis. Without a doubt, countless hours of research and development went into ensuring these convertible conversions reach high-quality standards. It’s not quite like those sunroof kits people were dumping in car roofs in the ’80s and ’90s that led to bad days in an automatic car wash. Effectively, they want these cars to feel like they came from the factory this way.
For a more in-depth look at how these convertible conversions are done, check out the video below!
