Ah, SEMA. The best tuner car show in the world for some of the most outrageous and most American car modifications imaginable. In its usual potion mix of awesome and terrible, we get some superb outcomes and this year was no different. Meet the scarily named Hellephant. That’s the name of the engine that powers the equally intimidating 1968 Dodge Super Charger concept.
Mopar is a brand under the FCA that makes parts for FCA vehicles and for SEMA 2018 they’ve built quite an impressive engine kit. To use its full name, the Hellephant 426 Supercharged Mopar Crate HEMI engine, which cranks out a 1,000hp and 1,288Nm of torque. That’s a first for any crate engine kit offered by an OEM ever.
An engine needs a car and so Dodge, another FCA brand, has modified and built a 1968 Dodge Super Charger concept. This build is part celebration of the 50th anniversary of the iconic Dodge Charger, the picture-perfect American muscle car from the 1960s. Using the base of a 1968 Dodge Charger, a host of modern updates were made to turn it into a true performance muscle car with 1,000hp to the wheels via a stock manual 6-speed T-6060 transmission from a Challenger SRT Hellcat.
The pop-up headlamps are replaced with the Hellcat’s headlamps permanently behind the grille that now spans the entire width of the hood. It gives the Dodge Super Charger a wide-body stance with the front and rear fibreglass wheel flares that house the 20×11-inch Devil’s rims from the Hellcat while the rear rims are custom-milled to match the design in a bigger 21×12-inch size. The front wheels have actually been pushed forward two inches to accommodate the widebody kit and reduce the front overhang, extending the car’s wheelbase. It’s closer to the ground too with a 3.5-inch drop in the front and 2.5-inch drop at the rear.
The front and rear bumpers are also made from custom fibreglass while the custom chin splitter is influenced by the Demon and the custom rear spoiler is inspired by the modern Charger R/T. It has four, high-mounted exhaust tips which run through the taillamp housing in the rear-bumper with the LED lights that glow around them. Exhausts in place of tail lights. Yes!
Inside the cabin, the trim is Satin Black with a Dodge Viper steering wheel and the ‘De Grigio’ Grey Metallic body colour is used for the instrument panel inserts. The 1968 Charger seats have been replaced with Viper seats re-wrapped in Alcantara leather. Various other bits have been repurposed from other Dodge vehicles with some Mopar parts and badges as well. A custom-milled aluminium “Hellephant” medallion also appears on various parts inside and outside the Dodge Super Charger concept.
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