Dodge Demon, Spy Shots, and American Muscle Were Hot Topics in 2017

Snaps of upcoming Ram pickup trucks, news about the insane Dodge Demon, and American Muscle cars being badass made it one exciting year for all things Dodge.

It was one heck of a busy year for Dodge. It all started with the introduction of the all-wheel-drive Dodge Challenger GT back in January, which set the tone for the American automaker. With the new system, the Challenger GT entered the history books as the first Challenger ever to come with all-wheel drive. But it wouldn’t be the last time Dodge came out with something that was truly astonishing in 2017.

The next heavy hitter was unveiled in April in the form of the Dodge Demon. The 840-horsepower monster that’s capable of completing the quarter mile in just 9.6 seconds stirred some controversy early on. But a production car that can lift its front wheels up during a launch will do that. In June, Dodge confirmed that it had created one of the most complete muscle car families with the Challenger by introducing a SRT Hellcat Widebody model.

While Ram didn’t unveil any new machines or provide any details about its future vehicles, spy shots of the upcoming 2019 Ram 1500 peaked our interest and the interest of fans alike. Ram’s got big plans in store for its full-size pickup truck and the new snaps reveal that the truck will be worth the wait.

Here at Dodge Forum, we love covering anything that’s related to Dodge. Whether it’s a muscle car or a pickup truck trekking through the mud, we enjoy covering every bit of news we hear about the brand. So when we were narrowing down our Top 7 list of incredible things we heard this year, you know it was a difficult choice to narrow it down to just seven things.

Join us as we take a look back at some of the most interesting stories from 2017. And here’s to hoping that 2018 is just as memorable.

#1: Spy Shots Reveal ’19 Ram 1500 Is Going Upstream

The current generation of the Ram 1500, while incredibly powerful and capable, is getting a little old in terms of design. That’s understandable, as the pickup has been around since 2009. In dog years, that would make the current iteration of the pickup 56 years old. Ram knows that its time to update the  1500 and these spy shots give us the best view of what’s to come for the 2019 model year.

#2: 2019 Ram 1500 Touts A Split Tailgate

Pickup trucks are all about handling tough, heavy-duty jobs. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that Ram is trying to come up with new ways to allow owners to complete tasks in an easier way. But boy were we surprised when spy shots of the upcoming 2019 Ram 1500 with a split tailgate appeared. As a patent back from 2014 revealed, FCA was looking into ways to give owners as many as eight configurations for opening and closing the tailgate. We’re not quite sure what we’d do with that many ways of opening and closing a tailgate, but it’d still be a nifty thing to have.

#3: Instagrammer Clearly Loves Her Challenger

Instagram has become a place for millennials to show off what they’re eating and random adventures that they’re currently on. Some, though, use the social media platform to showcase their awesome rides, like Instagram account: “jeslotesto,” a.k.a Jes Lotesto. Her white Dodge Challenger looks badass and she’s obviously in love with the machine. You’ll definitely want to check her Instagram account out and, oh, you’re welcome.

#4: Possible Early Look At The Dodge Demon

Hindsight can be a funny thing. While everyone knows everything they need to know about the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon now, the automaker was keeping a lot of things to itself before the official unveiling of the vehicle. This meant that we, and millions of other Challenger fans, would scrutinize every video or picture we saw that had a faint whiff of Demon to it. Knowing what we do know, it’s kind of amusing to watch videos like this one back and try to spot things that made it to the production-ready version of the vehicle.

#5 A Demon Crate Just For The Dodge Demon

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is one of the craziest production vehicles to ever go on sale. The muscle car is built to do one thing extremely well and that’s absolutely destroy the quarter mile. But a unique vehicle like the Demon needs that little extra touch to make the vehicle a true collector’s item. That, as we found on earlier this year, is exactly what the “Demon Crate” is for.

Brave individuals that were in the right place at the right time and managed to snag a Demon had the option of getting the Demon Crate, which was a bunch of custom parts from Snap-On for the muscle car. The kit included a cordless electric impact gun, a lightweight hydraulic floor jack, a digital tire pressure gauge, a torque wrench, a tool bag, and a fender cover. All of the items were branded with the word “Demon.” The case of tools allowed owners to get the muscle car ready for a day at the track and then have the vehicle ready for the road without having a pit crew on hand.

#6 Dodge Forum Gets Behind the Wheel of a Demon

Patrick Rall, one of the automotive journalists here at Dodge Forum, is a massive Mopar fan. So when the opportunity to drive a vehicle that embodied everything he grew up dreaming of became available, he took it and enjoyed every second of it. And unlike a lot of press trips where automakers tend to allow journalists to drive on predetermined routes, Dodge let Rall go drag racing in the machine in addition to being able to drive it on the street.

We don’t want to ruin the story for you and if you haven’t read the piece yet, we urge you to spend some time doing so. In the end, Rall called the Demon the greatest muscle car of all time. Yeah, the car’s that good and Rall’s description of his time with the vehicle is even better.  

#7 2019 Ram 1500 Rebel Renderings

Thanks to our skilled photographers, we managed to get a lot of pictures of the 2019 Ram 1500. We know the full-size pickup truck is going to become more luxurious and have an exterior design that’s a little more upscale than the current generation’s. What we don’t know, though, is how the exterior changes will affect the 1500 Rebel, the off-roading friendly version of the Ram 1500.

The next-gen Ram 1500 may be going towards something that’s a little more grown up, but the 1500 Rebel is going to stick with its guns, which we think is a good thing. There’s going to be plenty of black trim pieces, massive “Ram” badges at the front and back, an enormous front skid plate, and a large tire and wheel combo. The 1500 Rebel will soldier on as one of the automaker’s most off-roading oriented vehicles and we expect the truck to look the part, too.