2011 Dodge Charger R/t Hemi Awd!! on 2040-cars

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Dodge hoping Fast & Furious appearance gives Dart a sales jolt [w/video]

According to Automotive News, Chrysler is hoping Fast & Furious 6 will be kind to the Dodge Dart. While the compact sedan doesn't actually show up in the film, Dodge has partnered up with the movie franchise for a new ad featuring the Dart.
Chrysler hasn't exactly seen the high sales numbers it was originally hoping for with the new sedan, thanks in part to a couple of missteps. For starters, most early-production vehicles were only offered with a manual transmission. Analysts believe Chrysler squandered around 95 percent of potential Dart sales because automatic transmission options weren't immediately available.
Right now, the Dodge Dart rakes 19th among compact cars, pulling down 31,064 sales through April. Last month was the company's strongest, with 8,099 units moving off of dealer lots. Unfortunately, the model has also been handicapped by its older sister, the Avenger. With Chrysler throwing heavy incentives at the aging sedan, many consumers have taken advantage of a better deal with the slightly larger, more powerful Avenger.

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Dodge Shadow America

A quarter-century ago, most Americans looking for a cheap transportation appliance went for cars like the miserably-stripped-down-but-bulletproof Toyota Tercel or the feature-laden-but-reliability-challenged Hyundai Excel. Chrysler, having just discontinued the elderly "Omnirizon" platform, took the Dodge Shadow and its Plymouth sibling, the Sundance and offered a car that was bigger, more powerful, and better-equipped than just about anything else for the price: the America! These cars depreciated hard and nearly all were crushed a decade ago, so sightings are extremely rare today. Here's one that I found in a Northern California self-service yard. This one still had windshield paperwork indicating that it was an insurance-company auction car (probably totaled in a fender-bender that caused $200 worth of damage) and that it was a runner at the time it got junked. Such is the fate of 24-year-old economy cars in rough shape. The Shadow was a member of the many-branched K-Car family tree, and the Shadow America came with the same 2.2-liter straight-4 engine that powered millions of Caravans, Daytonas, New Yorkers, and Lasers. You got more torque than the competition, plus a driver's-side airbag instead of the maddening automatic seat belts found in other low-priced cars of 1992. Of course, the paint tended to peel off within a few years and the build quality of the Shadow was hit-or-miss, but these cars were way nicer to drive than, say, a Tercel EZ or Subaru Justy. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The perfect cars for an imperfect world! Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 1992 Dodge Shadow America View 17 Photos Auto News Dodge Automotive History

Hellephant 1,000-horsepower Mopar crate engine priced, is available to order

The folks at Fiat Chrysler's Mopar division unveiled its meanest road-going V8 ever at last year's SEMA show. It makes 1,000 horsepower, and it's called the Hellephant in honor of the second-generation Charger's 426 "Elephant" V8, and because it has a honking big supercharger on top like the modern Hellcat. What we didn't know was the price, but now order books are open, and it's priced at $29,995. That's about $10,000 more than the currently available Hellcat engine, which makes 707 horsepower. You'll also probably want to buy the available kit that comes with all the computers, wiring, sensors and throttle to run it, and that's an extra $2,265. Putting things further into perspective, you can actually buy an entire new Dodge Challenger SXT V6 for $29,340. You'll also still need to add other accessories if you want things like air conditioning, which Mopar is also happy to sell you. What we're saying is, this is a lot of money just for an engine. But on the other hand, this is a roughly plug-and-play engine with Bugatti Veyron power for the price of a V6 Challenger, so that's pretty awesome. And you can put it into anything you have the skills or money to put it in. Plus, it should be able to make more power with higher-octane fuel. We can't wait to see the swaps and builds.