Ultimate Auto Dodge Challenger SRT-8 Widebody is Toned Muscle

on January 7, 2013 at 8:06 pm

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Considering how much ink (and zeroes and ones, for that matter) is devoted to the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, we’re surprised the third member of the 21^st century pony car posse – the Dodge Challenger – is largely ignored. Granted, it’s chubbier than its rivals, it was the last of the three to be introduced back in the golden era of muscle cars (three years after the Camaro and six years after the Mustang) and has spent the least time in its maker’s lineup (having been on hiatus from 1975 to ’77 and again from ’84 to ’07). But even so, it’s a great looking car that’s currently available with the very good Pentastar V6 or one of two Gen 3 Hemi V8s.

Clearly, something more drastic is needed to get larger swaths of the car nut population to start paying more attention to the Challenger, never mind get them chanting “Mopar or no car” in monotone while carving Pentastar logos into their forearms. Ahem. Well, if it’s drastic that you’re after, Ultimate Auto is ready to give you drastic.

The Orlando based tuner has fabricated new bumpers front and rear (the latter with a big notch in the middle to accommodate the single trapezoidal outlet for the Magnaflow exhaust system), new front fenders, rocker panel and door extensions, shaved door handles, wider rear quarter panels, and a new custom hood with a Corvette ZR1-esque Plexiglas window over the engine. Those wider fenders, incidentally, are stuffed with giant 24” Savini Forged wheels wearing mammoth 405 section width Pirelli tires. Cap it off with a menacing gray and black color scheme and you have a musclebound Dodge that definitely won’t be mistaken for stock.

Open one of those hidden electric door handles and you’ll see that the interior is far from stock, too. The seats, door panels, center console and other surfaces are reupholstered in diamond quilted leather. Pop the trunk lid, and you’ll see a hardwood floor and a whole litter of JL Audio amps and speakers. In short, the interior is ritzier and the tunes are bumping…er.

All the aforementioned upgrades are nice, of course, but can you truly get excited about them if they aren’t accompanied by engine upgrades? Neither can we. That’s why Ultimate Auto fitted a Magnacharger supercharger to the 6.1L Hemi V8, in addition to the Magnaflow exhaust system. Ulitmate Auto doesn’t say how much these parts increase engine output over the stock 425hp and 420 lb.-ft of torque, but we’re guessing it’s a sizable increase. And we also guess the 0-60 time, quarter-mile time and top speed are all improved.

What’s not improved, however, is the price. Ultimate Auto won’t say how much the price has gone up, but given how much custom fabrication work was involved, and what all the off-the-shelf parts cost, the increase is no doubt well into the tens of thousands of dollars. But can you put a price on driving a fat-fendered rebuttal to the tuned Camaro and Mustang hordes? No, friend, you cannot.