the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

Originally posted by paranormal78
reply to post by nh_ee

 

Good stuff nh_ee. My big bro got to drive the 4th generation 2011 challenger. he said he didn't like the way it handled very much. and it is the brother of the Plymouth Barracuda. Also I know a dude in my town who owns a 1970 challenger R/T in lime green. Beautiful car if i say so my self.

Yep, unfortunately Plymouth went the way of the Dodo Bird and Pontiac and Oldsmobile for that matter.

The 'Cuda and the Challenger were essentially the same car. More badge engineering and very similar to the Camaro and Firebird of old.....or the Mustang and the Cougar.

Yes, from a handling perspective the new Challenger is outhandled hands down by the new Camaro and the Mustang.

I do think that the Challenger looks the best out of the three though and wouldn't be as common as the Mustang or the Camaros.

I could fix the handling...another benefit of the use of modern unibody chassis today .....and of being a car guy.

In the Car & Driver review of the three the Challenger's stability control kicked in at .78 G which is pretty poor but also indicating that it has sway bars the thickness of coat hangers and it has shock absorbers with Jello inside of them....primarily for ride comfort.


The roads in America suck and the Engineers do try to balance ride and handling and since most people aren't racing their new cars, but are generally purchased by middle aged males.. the engineers go for softer suspension set ups to preserve the ride and to keep her bitchin' to a minimum when out on date night with the misses !




But handling can be very easily corrected and the ride preserved by adding thicker sway bars front and rear which is very easy to do with basic tools.

A good place to start would be the Chrysler options catalog and use the same sway bars used in the Police Package equipped Dodge Chargers, which I am pretty sure share the same suspension components.

I'll price one again...to see what it would set me back..

reply to post by nh_ee
Yea if i were to go with a new Plymouth/Dodge muscle car I would go with the new Dodge Challenger SRT8. I would for sure get it in orange red with the carbon black hood stripes, tweak the handling with the tips you suggested, and keep everything else. The 2011 challenger SRT8 engine looks almost as good as it did 40 years ago. But mostly I like the power it has and its classic muscle car good looks. Its a real mans car for 2011.

Originally posted by paranormal78
reply to post by nh_ee

 

Yea if i were to go with a new Plymouth/Dodge muscle car I would go with the new Dodge Challenger SRT8. I would for sure get it in orange red with the carbon black hood stripes, tweak the handling with the tips you suggested, and keep everything else. The 2011 challenger SRT8 engine looks almost as good as it did 40 years ago. But mostly I like the power it has and its classic muscle car good looks. Its a real mans car for 2011.

I agree, the 2011 Challenger has best captured a mixture of the old styling of the original Cuda/Challenger with the new modern nuances similar to the way in which Chip Foose customizes classic muscle cars by shaving the door handles and trimming the bumpers and such.
This is what they did to the new Challenger making it look very clean whilst preserving the classic lines and profile of the original.

IN contrast to the new Camaro which I like but ....they went a little too modern and the Camaro looks too Batmobile-like. A little too overt in my book vs the lines of the 69 Camaro in which it was modeled after.

I just priced the 2011 Challenger on the Dodge website...for $hits and grins.
Now understand I wanted to keep it to a bare minimum since I customize my cars anyway...I priced one with the basic essentials, namely the Hemi and a 6 Speed.

Black paint, cloth seats 18" wheels delivered MSRP came to $30,720. which really isn't bad for a starting point.
Considering I always negotiate 10% off Sticker by hook or crook.....It brings the price down to $28K right off the bat which really isn't bad considering what new cars cost these days AND you're getting a HEMI and a 6 Speed which would translate to alot of fun in my book.

In Black it would look something like this ....this is a funny advertisement...

Dodge Challenger SRT8 @ the Track

Here's a quick road test on the forementioned SRT8....note the slalom...my sway bar fix and some Bilstein Gas Monotube Shocks would fix that body roll and that dipping nose while braking.

But 66 mph through the slalom isn't bad at all...not exactly Porsche territory but considering there's an 800 lb motor in the nose....not bad at all.

With my suspension mods it would corner considerably better...
More like a 3 Series BMW !

Now for some HEMI Music !







And here's the test of the regular Challenger R/T which will save you a bunch of money nearly 10 grand over the SRT/8 with nearly the same performance....but looks like it really needs the swaybars in that slalom test .....yikes !!




What people forget about the cars of old...is that they were fast but the handling and Brakes Sucked !
These new muscle cars are doing 13 Second Quarter miles and can get 24 mpg Highway AND can also stop !!

60-0 in 119 feet !

2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 - First Test

Wow it appears as if they fixed the handling shortcomings of the previous SRT8 w/ Bilstein Shocks as I'd mentioned I would recommend doing to mine.

As well as bumped up the displacement to 392 Cubic Inches as the HEMI's of yesteryear that did so well on the drag strips wining many titles.

This is another vid to watch in 720P HD if ya can.
Awesome !

Thanks to MT for an awesome vid !!






That's the cool thing about American vehicles....and that is the availability of parts.

You can get the part numbers for all of these hop up parts used on the SRT8 for example and order them direct from MOPAR and bolt them onto your own ride for fairly cheap....

I'd go with the basic HEMI RT and then bolt on the factory shocks and sway bars from the SRT8 392, with a cold air intake and less weight than the 392 engine would make a very nice ride.

Cheaper than buying a new Corvette ... And just as much fun !

reply to post by nh_ee
That's awesome!!! Glad they made more upgrades for it. Speaking of awesome what do you think of this challenger?
Looks like they took American patriotism to the next level on the paint job!

reply to post by paranormal78


I think that it looks excellent for a Drag Racer....they should call it the 4th of July Edition !



Not too big on the Red, White and Blue.

I have to keep it simple....

This being due to my lead foot so my cars need to not attract alot of attention because my custom exhaust and cold air intake certainly will !!!

That was the nice thing about living in Germany. You could get out on the Autobahn on Sunday morning (no trucks allowed on Sundays) and you could just go as fast as your car would go....

In the states, you have to be stealthy about your speed or end up pay the Man ~! And then the Insurance Man !


That's the good thing about motorcycles....no front plate to bounce the radar/lidar off of !

reply to post by nh_ee
Sounds like an adventrous place. And I love motorcycles. Its the only other thing i like to work on other than a car. I plan on getting my M1 license next year. Then I might get a Victory or a Harley motorcycle. For now I'll half to stick with my moped