Since the 1960s, the Dodge Charger has been one of the most beloved muscle cars in the market. This car came into the world with a big, bad V8 engine that brought extreme sprint speed and performance. For more than 50 years, the Charger has been part of our lives, and it’s only fitting that we understand a bit more about this fast car that gives the attitude and drive desired. Today, the Charger wears muscle car style while being a sedan that works great for families and for those drivers looking to relive their youth.
It’s All About the Attitude
The 1960s were the heyday of the muscle car era, and that is when we saw more cars with massive V8 engines than in any other decade. These incredible machines didn’t ruin the natural power of these engines. If you wanted more power, you found a bigger engine or tuned some of the parts without adding false power to the block. The Mustang from Ford was one of the first muscle cars, followed by the Pontiac GTO. Seeing some of these success stories pushed Dodge to give us the 1966 Charger, which was a glorious and powerful car using the Coronet chassis.
The 1966 Charger Was an Instant Success
As soon as it hit the market, the Charger was off and running. There were four incredible V8 engines offered, a body with a sporty, sloping fastback roofline, and big tires to push this amazing car across the line. This first-generation model had engines with sizes of 5.2, 5.9, 6.3, and 7.0-liters. The massive 7.0-liter Hemi V8 engine pushed out 425 horsepower, making it one of the most powerful cars in the market at the time.
Dodge Followed the Ford Formula for Success
One way to show off a fast car was to get it into racing circuits. Ford showed the success of motorsport victories that helped boost sales of the Mustang, and the Dodge Charger came to follow that same formula for success. The 1966 Charger headed into NASCAR, and won 14 titles along with the Grand National Championship. This should have translated to success at the dealerships, but the 1967 model year showed slower sales than the first model year, which meant something wasn’t working for Dodge that worked for Ford. This was worrisome and created a bit of a question for Dodge executives.
Short Generations for the Charger
The first generation of the Charger only lasted two years, but the following model didn’t last much longer. The second generation of this Dodge muscle car lasted from 1968 to 1970, and it became an iconic car that we saw in many amazing movies. If you’ve ever seen Bullitt or The Fast and the Furious, you’ve seen this second-generation model of the Charger. The car is the perfect look with a sinister sense of style and a whole lot of attitude to give us a car that shows up as an icon every time we see it on the big screen.
More Power and Fun for the Second Dodge
By the time the second generation of the Charger arrived, it packed a bigger engine under the hood. Using a 7.2-liter V8 engine offered more power than before. Along with the addition of this new and massive engine, the lineup expanded to include a new Charger 500 and Charger Daytona. If you remember the Daytona from some tales of speed, this was the car that hit 200 mph while racing on an oval track. That was a speed record at the time, and this Dodge Charger crushed it.
The Charger Saw the Same Challenges as Other Muscle Cars
The global oil crisis combined with stricter standards in the 1970s ruined the muscle car era. The Dodge Charger of this decade was nothing more than a phoned-in attempt at was once a glorious car. The 1980s weren’t much better for the Charger. If both Lee Iacocca and Carroll Shelby can’t resurrect a car, there’s certainly something wrong with it. In both decades, this car left production but finally seemed to be gone for good after the 1987 Charger disappeared from production.
The Dodge Charger was Reborn
In 2005, the Charger came back to the Dodge lineup to be a sedan to sit next to the Magnum wagon. It wasn’t long before Dodge saw the writing on the wall and began to build the Charger out to a full lineup of models that eventually became the car we see today. The rebirth of this car as a sedan makes it an easy car to drive and love for those who want some real power and a muscle car that reminds them of a bygone era. The variety of powertrains began with the R/T model and moved on to more versions.
The Hellcat Changed Everything for the Charger
When the Hellcat engine was developed, the most power ever put into a sedan arrived in the market. This engine continues to offer incredible power for the Charger today. In 2015, the Hellcat engine arrived as a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 engine that made 707 horsepower. Today, this engine is tuned to reach nearly 800 horsepower in the Hellcat Redeye version of the Charger. It’s easy to see this car as a fantastic power machine that’s ready to perform as soon as you hit the gas.
The Fastest Sedans in the World
You might think the fastest sedans in the world would wear a different name than Dodge, but they don’t. The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and SRT Hellcat Redeye are the fastest and most powerful sedans you can buy. The Hellcat model returns 717 horsepower, while the Redeye version reaches 797 ponies for your drive. If this is too much for you, the Scat Pack model brings you 485 horsepower out of an old-school naturally aspirated engine.
A strong history shows us a muscle car that faces serious challenges and gave us some incredible power and speed right from the start. Is the heritage and history of the Dodge Charger enough for you to want to buy and drive this amazing machine?
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