Visual Evolution of Dodge Challenger Over Past Several Decades
Dodge’s beloved muscle car technically started way back in the 1950s; process of evolution made it into the icon it is today.
The 1960s and 1970s are synonymous with American muscle cars. Ford’s Mustang, Chevrolet’s Camaro and Dodge‘s Challenger burned up the roads and drag strips back then. It’s hard to separate those high-performance machines from the era. But believe it or not, the Challenger started back in the 1950s…technically.
A website called TheThings.com put together a photo history of the Challenger. It’s an attention-getter right from the start. Way back in the late 1950s, Dodge added a model to its Coronet lineup. Its name? The Silver Challenger Club Sedan. With its abundance of chrome trim and prominent tailfins, it was definitely a product of its time (but it did have quad headlights).
It took Dodge another decade to introduce the power-hungry automotive enthusiast world to the official first Challenger. The 1970 model was a few years late to the Mustang/Camaro war, but it certainly made one hell of an entrance – one that no one forgot.
The Challenger wasn’t just meant to be a street machine. Dodge wanted to race it in the Sports Car Club of America’s Trans American Sedan Championship, but it didn’t forget about street racers. It couldn’t. Dodge had to produce a homologation version of its race car for public roads. It created the appropriately named Challenger T/A, which combined the 340 Six Pack (a 340-cubic-inch V8 with three two-barrel carburetors) with bold graphics and flared exhaust outlets.
It’s too bad the late 1970s/early 1980s street version of the Challenger was not nearly as distinctive. In fact, it was essentially a badge-engineered, four-banger Mitsubishi Galant Lambda.
Thankfully, when Dodge brought the Challenger back as a 2008 model, it looked like a Mopar and had the power you’d expect from one. The high-performance SRT-8 model had a massive 6.1-liter HEMI V8, which pumped out 425 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque.
The Challenger only grew more powerful since then. In the early 2010s, Dodge jammed a giant 6.4-liter HEMI under the Challenger’s hood. As cool as the 392 was, it didn’t get nearly as many headlines as the supercharged 6.2-liter “Hellcat” V8 that followed it. At the time, 707 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque in a car that had a starting price of less than $70,000 was mind-blowing.
But Dodge found a way to top itself in 2018. It released the Demon, a street-legal, drag-focused ultra Challenger with an array of go-fast features and peak output of 840 horsepower and 770 lb-ft (on 100+ high-octane gas). Flat out at the strip, it could pop a wheelie and blast through the quarter mile in 9.65 seconds at 140 mph.
That lead to an even more potent Challenger SRT Hellcat called the Redeye. It combined some of the Demon’s drag racing hardware with a more powerful version of the supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat HEMI tuned to crank out 797 horsepower and 707 lb-ft of grunt.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Challenger. Dodge is commemorating it with a 50th Anniversary Edition model. In addition to special badges, it has a Satin Black hood, roof, and trunk lid; special 20-inch wheels; carbon fiber interior trim; and other features – but no tailfins.
Photos: TheThings.com
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