What happens when you take two key players (Dodge, Chevy) out of the North American pony and muscle car equation? You probably end up with a Blue Oval monopoly, which doesn’t fly well for many of us. Both in the real world and across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators.
The current situation is rather grim for Chevrolet Camaro fans and mostly sustainable from the perspective of an EV lifestyle for Mopar enthusiasts. ICE-passionate Ford aficionados, alone, can rejoice at the sight of the 2024 Mustang’s seventh generation – aka S650.
After all, the latter is the lonesome representative of the ICE-powered sector, considering that both Chevy’s Camaro and the Dodge representatives are biting the dust. And they’re doing it sooner rather than later.
We had known for a while that Stellantis had ordained a spectacular change of paradigm for the Charger and Challenger series when they announced the 2023 model year production would be the final one for gasoline models.
Sure, they are going out with a bang – aka the seven ‘Last Call’ special edition variants, chief among them being the 1,025-hp (on E85) Challenger SRT Demon 170 that will try and give the Tesla Model S Plaid some eight-second quarter-mile dragstrip headaches.
After that one is sold out alongside its siblings, the Charger will embark on a Banshee EV journey with nine levels of prowess in a bid to demonstrate the series-production version of the Charger Daytona SRT Concept has what it takes to wipe clean the ICE-powered legacy.
As for the Challenger, it has yet to be determined what will happen to it, especially since Chrysler reportedly has plans for a 300 EV sedan twinned with the two-door Charger EV. As for General Motors fans, they must contend with just one Collector’s Edition of the 2024 Camaro, after which the sixth generation of the pony/muscle car will also be retired to car Valhalla with no immediate successor planned.
That leaves us with the 2024 Mustang EcoBoost and Coyote V8-powered GT and Dark Horse, and possibly even a supercharged V8 Mustang Raptor R dirt variant if the rumor mill is correct in assuming that Ford will compete with the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lambo Huracan Sterrato in the newly minted off-road sports car category.
So, back to Dodge, where does that leave the Mopar fans who want to avoid transferring to the Blue Oval monopoly? Well, if you ask the parallel universes of ‘imagination land,’ then the solution is simple – snatch a vintage unit and give it the restomod treatment.
That’s easier said than done in the real world, but no one said we could not dream about it, right? And suppose your perfect muscle car restomod is a dark and menacing 1969 Dodge Charger. In that case, we have just the cure to sleepless nights thanks to Emmanuel Brito, the virtual artist known as personalizatuauto on social media, who takes us on a fresh journey of CGI discovery to the ’69 Charger max!
Yep, the Dodge we see here is wishful thinking. Still, it could become real one day if folks adhere to the simple principles of painting it black, giving it some lovely dark copper accents, and then asking for support from a string of mighty aftermarket providers – such as Forgeline Motorsports for the wheels, Wilwood for the brakes, and Toyo for the performance tires.