Mopar Muscle Cars, Dodge Challenger SRT8 425-HP Hemi

It has been four decades since Dodge introduced the Challenger into the Muscle car market. The 1970 Challenger had the original bad-boy Hemi 426 V8 with 425 horsepower and 490 lb-ft of torque. The Hemi Challenger and the 440 Challenger were no lightweights by any means. By 1972 the Hemi option had disappeared and by 1974 Dodge Challengers had disappeared altogether.

Recently Dodge has introduced a new version of the Challenger, reviving the golden years of the Muscle cars and pony-cars with the new Dodge Challenger SRT8, with a 425-horsepower HEMI for its muscle. Given that kind of muscle, Chrysler’s 370cid (6.1 liter) 425HP Hemi V8 puts out 420lb-ft of torque @ 4800 rpm, with a 0-60 time of 4.7 seconds and will clear the ¼ mile in 13.1 seconds. The Challenger should be capable of obtaining its top speed of 173 mph at a redline of 6400 rpm.

Dodge is proud of its accomplishment with this “ROBUSTLY RETRO” version of its ancestor. The SRT8 Challenger will be available on the market by the end of April, four months ahead of Dodge’s anticipated debute of the SRT8 Challenger. This is a great accomplishment for Dodge, to be first, ahead of the competition.

The April issue of Car and Driver has an article preview with a great pictorial of the Dodge SRT8 Challenger. The look of the new Challenger as quoted in the article is; “If the New Challenger isn’t an exact replica of the original, no one who remembers those thrilling cars of yesteryear will fail to recognize it."