I think they should ditch the charger idea, and go for more of a pony car... make a cuda... That was one of the biggest legends... cuda, challenger. Those were the pony cars from hell with hemis!

-adam

 

WOW!!!! Dumler officially announces that the Charger will go into production.................again. Now, like before, just wait until a year before it is said to be released and watch them pull the plug on it again. This time it will probably come out, but it will look and be a slightly reskinned 300. With all the hideous turds I've seen from them as far as Charger concepts, excluding the '99 Charget R/T concept car, I would rather that they not even bother. I don't like the 300, which looks like a Bentley. The Crossfire looks great, but still heavily German. The only vehicles that will still look American after their redesigns are the trucks and the Vipers. The RWD cars will be all German, the small cars will be all Japanese/Korean and everything in between will be German as well.[sm=smiley7.gif] The next revisions might as well come with an iron cross badge in place of the Chrysler/Dodge emblem, or have I just blown their big suprize.[sm=smiley36.gif]

 

Again, what, the K-car Charger was great because it was "all-American"? What about the bloated Charger/Cordoba/Magnum beasts? Those things were ridiculous, even for their time (and I say this as a former Magnum SE owner).

They won't go retro, so yeah, it'll probably look like a sedan version of the Durango [:'(] -- but please, other than the Viper, Chrysler wasn't doing that great in the RWD dept for decades. Again, 3,800lbs, HEMI, MDS, and I'll get one.

I'll just get it in black...

- novicius -

P.S. - Should I start referring to the Charger as the new Intrepirango now, or wait for its debut? [&:]

 

Not to nitpick, but the Omni O24, later renamed "Charger" was based on the Omni/Horizon chassis which debuted in '78, not the '81 K car. The K car is considerably wider. The Daytona and Chrysler Laser are loosely based on the K car. The turbo Daytona was about as fast as the fastest Plymouth Barracuda (the "S" high compression 273 V-8) before the mid '67 debut of the 383. I remember driving a sorority girl's 2.2 Rampage in college and it was a pretty ballsy machine. It had the manual transmission and you could boil the tires - of course it was no General Lee either.

I'm old enough to remember the '82 Charger ads which depicted the '69, even with the same wheels used on the Dukes of Hazzard car, pulling up to the '82. Obviously, the later one just didn't have that intimidation factor. Then again, remember the 2.2 was a "hemi" too!

 

Hi every body
I am new to this forum but I get a lot of inside scoop. I have heard from some people at Diamler Chrysler and it looks as if the 6.1L HEMI with 426 horse, might find itself nestled between the fenders of the new Charger. Also if you haven't heard yet Mitsubishi and Chrysler have parted ways which is a good thing.

 

I used to own a Turbo 2.2 1985 Shelby Charger. Took me a while to get used to the body looks at first but later I accepted it as being trendy. It had ***** to the wall. I think this car was the cheapest fastest domestic made car of its time back in the mid to late 80's. Just being stock, it was pulling under 8 sec on 0-60 times and around the low to mid 15's in the quarter. Cannot find a car for $11k that can do that back in those times. The next following 2 years, they made an upgrade to a limited production GLHS Shelby Charger. Mainly they added an intercooler and some small mods to the 2.2 and a heavy duty getrag 5 speed to the charger. This GLHS was nearly untouchable in the quarter from most cars. 0-60 nearly dipping at or below 6 secs was unheard of in the 80's for a low priced sports car. I also bought this car mainly to save money on gas. This Shelby did 22 mpg in town and nearly 30 mpg on the highway. I would love to see a car that can still do that today by having plenty of real performance while sipping gas. And I love to be the underdawg to have a 4 cylinder vehicle whip up on a majority of the V8's back then.

Now I wished I did not get rid of it but when I moved to an apartment, I had no garaged shelter for it and I decided to sell it to a collector that I hope they would continue to take care of that car!

 

Kensai is right. In 1985 (allegedly the bad old days of federal 'meddling') Ford's 4bbl Mustang GT, the 215hp LB9 IROC Camaro and movers like the GLH Shelby cars could run high 14 second ets. Start looking at Brookland books reprints of vintage muscle car magazine tests, and you'll find that the majority of 60's supercars were no faster. 440 Magnum and 428 Torino Cobra dipped well into the 14s, but a GLHS could likely run circles around an SS396 or Fairlane GTA.

One thing to remember about these eighties cars, though we consider them 'smog' cars today, is that they were pretty lightweight. The IROC was the fatso at 3400lbs, while the Mustang was only 3000lbs and the Daytona was even lighter than the Mustang.

By 1986 CAFE rules peaked, and GM had to work hard to make the 17/25mpg rating on the IROC, but they did it. After 20 years we now have about 120hp more, and even can carry 700 extra pounds of vehicle mass in the 300C, but the motor gets the same EPA rating. This is pretty amazing when you consider the sheer physics at work. Makes you wonder what kind of mileage/performance Dodge could get from a 3400lb car with the same engine.

 

A Dodge Charger is now confirmed to be in the works. Many expect it to be shown in January 2006, with production starting in summer 2006; however, others have warned that a shortage of engineering talent (see why) may delay the Charger, especially if any problems crop up with the 300 and Magnum, or if the rumored SUV version takes priority.

This short-wheelbase (we'd guess the same wheelbase as the Airflight) reportedly has suicide doors in back á la RX-8/Ion, so it looks like a coupe but has the ease of entry of a sedan. One person suggested that this setup is a red herring; and that there would be a Dodge Charger coupe which is closely related to a short-wheelbase Dodge LX sedan which has not yet been named. Either way, a convertible version is almost certain.

One engine option is said to be a 6.1 liter Hemi - which is known to exist, and which has been photographed in the engine bay of an LX car. The performance would comparable to the base Corvette - including handling. That would be quite an achievement.

Other rumored engine options that we do not necessarily find likely are the Mercedes E-Class diesel and a Hemi V-10. Yet more possibilities are a new Hemi that is not the 6.1 or 5.7, a supercharged Hemi (5.7 or 6.1 most likely), and the Mercedes six-speed automatic (which is similar to the five-speed already assembled by Chrysler). Most likely, the base engine will be the 3.5 liter V6, with an optional 5.7 Hemi V8 and an SRT-8 version with the 6.1 V8.

Looks are, well, in the eye of the beholder. Expect minor visual cues around the front fenders to be the only sop to tradition. This will not be a work of art like the original, but it will look like a modern Dodge. The window line is expected to be perfectly straight, as with other LX cars; a scoop effect similar to the original Dodge Charger is expected to be built into the sheet metal. The nose and tail are rumored to be unique to the Charger, with only a few cues to the original. It's worth noting that they could replicate the nose, but not without sacrificing aerodynamics.

Production is reportedly set to begin on April 14, 2005 (tentative date).

 

Wednesday, (6/3/04) Chrysler executives said they plan to revive the famous Dodge Charger fastback as a sedan....Chrysler is introducing nine new vehicles this year and has promised 16 more new cars and trucks by the end of 2006.

Michael Bruynesteyn of Prudential Equity Group in New York described the Charger.......The Charger has the same interior and underbody as the Dodge Magnum wagon, “but the exterior sheet metal is completely different,” he said.

Mike Wall, an analyst with CSM Worldwide in Grand Rapids, said the new Charger, due on the market as early as next spring, should be a good addition to the Dodge lineup, which phased out the full-size Intrepid passenger sedan last year.

 

If this is true, then why is the SRT-4's turbocharger a Mitsubishi unit and the upcoming 2006 Neon using the Mitsubishi Lancers frame? Besides, Dumler owns Chrysler and both own large parts of Mitsubishi. I have heard that Dumler got rid of some of their Mitsubishi stock.