R/T S.E. SRT/8: Troy...

[Brock Samson]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/03/MTGE6M46TS1.DTL

The Article is out... & a sfgate link:
 
  I guess it came out pretty good,,, 
Don't worry Troy, I'll get ya some newspapers... 





  Dodge Charger: It's a shadow of the '68 classic, but still tough
        Michael Taylor, San Francisco Chronicle Auto Editor

Friday, November 3, 2006

"Muscle," the woman said, as she walked past the silver 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8, its flanks bulging under 20-inch wheel arches, its brawny grille and front bumper the size of a couple of big tool chests. "Muscle car. Steak. Reminds me of steak. A big steak."

That may just be it. This car leaves nothing to the imagination. It's not a frou-frou item from overseas (despite a few engineering wrinkles from parent DaimlerChrysler, they of Mercedes-Benz); it practically disdains the kind of svelte evening arrival that would be welcome to, say, a BMW or a Jaguar -- the opera opening, pulling up to the door of a chic restaurant.

If this thing's going to pull up any place, it'll be at that chophouse on the corner, where it might stuff down a couple of New York strips with a baked potato (don't hold the sour cream), and that's before it lights out for the nearest highway, the place to show what 425 modern horses will do in a nearly 2-ton car that makes no apologies to the more effete and politically correct of us.

Dodge is pretty much known for meat-and-potato cars -- cabs, police cars before Ford grabbed the market (and Dodge is making new inroads there), utility cars, traveling salesman cars. Along the way were a few head-turners (the Viper comes to mind, even if it is kind of over-the-top, and the PT Cruiser), but it's the Charger that stood out. And to really understand the Charger and its mystique, you have to go back to the late 1960s.

Think "Bullitt," the 1968 Steve McQueen cop movie that essentially created the modern movie car chase. The real stars (McQueen, Jacqueline Bissett and Robert Vaughn aside) were a green Mustang driven by McQueen and a triple-black Charger manned by the bad guys during a 10-minute chase scene over the hills of San Francisco. The Charger was a 440 Magnum R/T, the big performance model. Every time the car moved, you heard that distinctive throaty rumble of its almost useless mufflers, as the two gunsels kept a wary eye out for McQueen, whom they wanted to kill.

That Charger, a 1968, became a classic -- Troy Perkins, a 35-year-old software engineer who lives in Cincinnati and owns the dodgecharger.com Web site, has three of them. He says its popularity comes from "the looks of the car, especially in black. It was the first year of the Coke bottle styling. It caught everybody by surprise." That style -- and it does kind of look like a Coke bottle -- lasted through 1970, and then Chrysler changed it and the car became different. And mundane.

Now the car is back -- unfortunately, not as a coupe, let alone a gracefully styled coupe -- and once you get over the smaller available engines and begin to appreciate the tester we had, you can see where some of the engineers clearly went back to 1968 for a few essential details.

The power comes from a 6.1-liter (372 cubic inches) V8 Hemi engine. Hemi -- for hemispherical combustion chamber -- is the gospel word in Chrysler history, and this one has all the grunt that you need to get this five-passenger sedan down the road.

The feel of the car, when you're behind the wheel, is one that is hunkered down -- the body slabs (the sides) are high, and the cabin/greenhouse is unfashionably low. In some ways, it harks back to the chopped roofs of 1960s hot rods. The windshield is far in front of the driver and its bottom is truly at arm's length. The dash decor, like much of the inside, is simple, gray and plasticky -- this car had not an ounce of styling flair that betrayed a curious designer.

The car does go -- Dodge says zero to 60 in about five seconds -- and it has that bouncy ride that wants to say it has a racing heritage. But it really doesn't. This isn't 1968, and, aside from the V8 rumble, pleasing as it is, this isn't a Charger.

Chrysler cheaped it out, the aficionados say, by grabbing the Charger name, stuffing a big Hemi into the front and labeling their sedan with the name that conjures up something quite different.

Sure, it will do the job of a big sedan, but then again they're charging, so to speak, $43,000 for the privilege, and, I'll bet, after a while the whoomph-whoomph giggle of revving that engine will start to pall and then all you'll have is a Dodge sedan that gets horrific gas mileage (14 to 20 mpg).

"There's a big debate with the Charger people," enthusiast Perkins says from Ohio. "There's kind of a big deal about the name because the Charger, to a lot of people, was the performance model, the one that had all the goodies. And it was fast.

"But you look at the new one, it looks like a taxi."

[Ghoste]

An interesting article.  Although I don't think the new version reminds me of steak.

[Brock Samson]

 

[69chargerboy]

I actually like the SRT-8. If it wasn't categorized as a "Charger"....

[RD]

That style -- and it does kind of look like a Coke bottle -- lasted through 1970, and then Chrysler changed it and the car became different. And mundane.

no offense, but KMA!  mundane!!!!  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Mundane: Someone outside some group that is implicit from the context, such as the computer industry or science fiction fandom.  The implication is that those in the group are special and those outside are just ordinary.  http://www.definethat.com/define/7618.htm

Michael Taylor can bite me.

Other than that, great article

[bull]

Good article. I like this line the best, "This isn't 1968, and, aside from the V8 rumble, pleasing as it is, this isn't a Charger."

[daytonalo]

I'm surprised that  someone hasn't made a kit to make the new 4 door into a 2 door , think about it , how cool would that be .

[Charger_Fan]

Good article. I like this line the best, "This isn't 1968, and, aside from the V8 rumble, pleasing as it is, this isn't a Charger."

Well...that one & the last line.

Yours was lookin' good, Strat! Way to represent the 'non taxi' models.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Congrats guys on the press time!

[Zentelis]

I'm surprised that  someone hasn't made a kit to make the new 4 door into a 2 door , think about it , how cool would that be .

weld the rear doors shut..
A kit would require alot of frame management and body panel re-design..and by that point, it probably wouldn't be a kit anymore..
I say this because, if I'm not mistaken, the pillars between the front and rear doors are integral to the frame, it's not something that could easily be sectioned out.
I could be wrong about that, but somehow I doubt it would be easy to make a 2-door kit.

And besides..the front end would still look like a Ram and the rear end would still look like a 300.

[greenpigs]

If it were black the SRT could sit in my garage, but not for what they want for one.

[6pkrunner]

"But you look at the new one, it looks like a taxi."

Insulting the taxis again are we?

[defiance]

Bleh, it was not mundane up through '74!!!

Agreed on the new one, though, of course

[Brock Samson]

i wonder if we'll get more Hits?.. Troy did good eh?.. 

[RD]

i wonder if we'll get more Hits?.. Troy did good eh?.. 

that he did strat, that he did!  GJ Troy

[BrianShaughnessy]

I was sufficiently impressed at my rides in the SRT-8 not to scoff at it.    I'm sure it'd blow the doors off more than it's share of cars on this site.    It's just different from the classic predecessor to be sure. 

Congrats on the article 

[plum500]

I see my car referred to as "mundane", and I empathize with those that like the new beast. It's still not what I would like to see someone try and sell me as a Charger, but then again, I'm sure my opinion on that would still meet its fair share of criticism in the face of 1000 other ideas on what should have been. Though I do think they still could have produced something that was more "acceptible" by fans who generally accept '66 to '74.

Well....again. Mundane? I don't think so. And wasn't '73 the biggest sales year of '66 to '74 at 108K?

[bull]

I'm surprised that  someone hasn't made a kit to make the new 4 door into a 2 door , think about it , how cool would that be .

weld the rear doors shut..
A kit would require alot of frame management and body panel re-design..and by that point, it probably wouldn't be a kit anymore..
I say this because, if I'm not mistaken, the pillars between the front and rear doors are integral to the frame, it's not something that could easily be sectioned out.
I could be wrong about that, but somehow I doubt it would be easy to make a 2-door kit.

And besides..the front end would still look like a Ram and the rear end would still look like a 300.

Exactly. Why blow all that money making a two door out of a car that looks nothing like a Charger to begin with? By the time you're done farting around blowing gobs of money you could have bought a nice 2nd gen that needs nothing.

[Ghoste]

I wouldn't sweat the mundane comment too much.  As I recall, the writer was having trouble finding a suitable 2nd gen to even use for comparsion.  Wasn't that how this whole thing came together?  I doubt that until that moment, the writer had little to no clue what a 68 OR an 06 looked like, much less a 1st or 3rd gen.

[bull]

I was sufficiently impressed at my rides in the SRT-8 not to scoff at it.    I'm sure it'd blow the doors off more than it's share of cars on this site.    It's just different from the classic predecessor to be sure. 

Congrats on the article 

So could just about any performance import and a few minivans. Shoot, probably more than half the cars made today could blow the doors off many classic Chargers but that's never been a point of argument against the '06, except to its apologists.

[BigBlackDodge]

I was sufficiently impressed at my rides in the SRT-8 not to scoff at it.    I'm sure it'd blow the doors off more than it's share of cars on this site.    It's just different from the classic predecessor to be sure. 

Congrats on the article 

So could just about any performance import and a few minivans. Shoot, probably more than half the cars made today could blow the doors off many classic Chargers but that's never been a point of argument against the '06, except to its apologists.

BBD

[Chris G.]

Why blow all that money making a two door out of a car that looks nothing like a Charger to begin with?

Bull, the Charger had at least 5 very different looks throughout it's life. Exactly which year (or gen) qualifies as this "real Charger" you are comparing the new one to? Oh wait, you answered it in your post. My bad. 

By the time you're done farting around blowing gobs of money you could have bought a nice 2nd gen that needs nothing.

ps- That article was ridiculous. Real classy having some guy bring out his SRT-8, only to slam it in the publication, not too mention pretty much any Charger not built between 68-70. Plus, that paper is only about 2 years too late with the write up. Nobody cares anymore, what's done is done. Once again I point to the 80's and remind people they did build an uglier Charger. Oh, 

[Ghoste]

No, this one is uglier.  More worthy drivetrain but uglier.

[Ponch ®]

Yay...we got a plug! I like how they keep talking about the '68...and the car used to represent the classic charger is BS's '69.

Didn't some company build a custom 2 door '06 General for Kenny Wayne Shepherd? I remember reading about it in one of the rags....


Oh, and uncle Troy...with all due respect:

"But you look at the new one, it looks like a taxi."

[bull]

Bull, the Charger had at least 5 very different looks throughout it's life. Exactly which year (or gen) qualifies as this "real Charger" you are comparing the new one to? Oh wait, you answered it in your post. My bad. 

Here's another answer: the good-looking ones.