When stories began swirling around about the Dodge Challenger Drag Pak model aimed at hard core drag racers, The Garage wondered how long it would be until we see a road racing version to take on the variety of competition Mustangs Ford has on offer. Today Chrysler announced that design guru Ralph Gilles will tackle the 2008 Targa Newfoundland rally in a Snake Skin Green 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8.

With a Drag Pak car being used as a base, could this be the precursor to a competition model that turns as well as it goes?

Regular readers are familiar with tarmac rallies through the writings of Gary Faules who has taken us to La Carrera Panamericana and back. Targa Newfoundland is our Canadian version, which pits competitors from around the world against each other and some of Newfoundland’s most challenging roads. There are classes for classics and modern equipment, along with overall wins and even a navigational class for those who don’t wish to compete in full attack mode.

This will be Gilles’ 3rd visit to The Rock, where he has DNF’d due to leaving the tarmac and a class win last year in the Dodge Caliber SRT4.

Read Chrysler’s full press release after the break
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That was phone call I received on Saturday morning. The photo above is on the cover on the Wheels section of the Toronto Star, accompanying Howard Elmer’s write up on the new Challenger.

That’s me on the right getting a detail shot of the hood.

According to Chrysler’s media only blog, The Firehouse, the dealer network is being hit hard with orders for the much anticipated new Challenger SRT8. Day one for ordering was Monday, when more than 4,300 Mopar fans plunked down their deposits. As of now, that number has risen to over 6,000 deposits.

“This is unprecedented,” said Mark Mallie, Challenger Brand Manager – Dodge Marketing. “Customers were actually coming to us and pushing us, so we thought this was a good time to take pre-sale orders.”
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Bullitt or Vanishing point? Charger or Challenger? For my non existent budget, I’ll go with Kowalski’s choice, but for Top Gear’s Richard Hammond…well, he’s British! In this episode of Top Gear, Hammond spends some quality, non destructive time in a Dodge Charger R/T powered by a 440. Oddly, he says the 440 is the car. Apparently he’s never heard of a Hemi car, but I suppose we need to cut him some slack. The head injury must have affected his judgement.

Thanks to Carscoop for finding this one.
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Car enthusiasts love concept cars. Journalists love concept cars. Chrysler loves to build concept cars! In fact they are dedicated to building the Coolest of Cool concept cars. In reality, every designer and every manufacturer thinks that their concepts are the coolest. Not every concept is a driver though and the Chrysler boys and girls try to make most of them runners. the even get them out on the road for journalists to have a go at. Not long ago, one lucky guy got to take the new Challenger down a drag strip!

It has been 20 years since Chrysler began taking this approach and they are pretty proud of some of those cars. Rightfully so, as a number of the cars on the list went on to production and a full model life. Viper, Prowler, Ram, Neon. These and more have been important to Chrysler fans all over, not to mention the company.

More images and press release after the break
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The moment that someone really grasps the emotion, feeling and even history that happens inside a race car is a thing of beauty. When one can convey that moment with words, it is truly special. That is what the lucky prick of the day, Josh Jaquot has done with his tale of the Challenger SS. The last few paragraphs almost brought me to tears. Yes, I’m a sucker for a good read, but you can almost feel what Josh felt when the beast lit up.
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It looks like Ontario is set to become the muscle car capital of North America. Following The General’s decision to build the next generation Camaro in Oshawa, Chrysler has announced that it’s new machine will be built at it’s Brampton plant. When production begins in the summer of 2008, that will bring the total models built in Brampton to 7. It’s a good time to be an autoworker in Ontario these days.

For someone who spends a good chunk of time reading automotive stuff, I missed the fact that Chrysler is about to lay off 2000 people at Brampton. Perhaps not such a good time to work for Chrysler, even with exciting products coming down the pipe.

Chrysler press release after the break
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North Americans seem to be warming up to wagons again, and it looks like we may start seeing more of the utility friendly vehicles rather than the giant box on wheels mini vans. The beauty of course is that modern wagons can be as fun to drive as their sedan counterparts, while still offering cargo & human space along with reasonable towing capacity.
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With news coming last weekend that DaimlerChrysler has given the new Challenger concept the green light, plant workers all over North America must be drooling at the thought that they may get to build the beast. The blogosphere is alive with the news and so is traditional media. Over at Leftlane News, they have reported that the Brampton, Ontario plant will built the Retro Rocket, but hold on a minute there bucko. They’ve actually misread the Globe and Mail article they are quoting from. The globe reports that the Brampton plant is the leading contendor in the race to win the gig. Their production numbers, along with the fact that the other models on the same platform are built here. As sales on the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300C have dropped, the extra 30-40,000 Challengers would allow the plant to add another shift.

Now, if GM would just announce that Camaro production will come back to Oshawa, all will be right in the muscle car world.

First, Autoblog reported that the Challenger concept had appeared in Orange County and posted links to some pics. On Saturday Morning, the car cruised into the weekly Crystal Cove Auto Show on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach. The folks over at Chrysler really seem gung ho to get the public hyped with public glimpses of this real driver. Thanks to Drew Phillips Photography for these pics.