1978 Dodge Lil Red Express Pickup on 2040-cars

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We're pretty sure the Challenger SRT Demon won't have 1,121 horsepower, but what if?

Dodge's slow rollout of the upcoming Demon continues, and with it comes endless speculation about what it all means. Every video, every image, and every press release contains some clue that points towards the Demon's final specs. We don't think any of it is random or arbitrary. This week cryptic image, a small plate with a name and two numbers, shows us a little more than last week's license plate. Unfortunately, Dodge will neither confirm or deny anything, meaning we have no way of knowing which rabbit hole to go down. Don't expect to see official horsepower, a quarter-mile time, or an MSRP until the New York Auto Show. The plate is attached to the crate of goodies that comes along with every Dodge Demon. This particular one is labeled with three things: Tom Coddington, serial number 0757, and VIN 001121. The name is simple enough. According to Hot Rod, Coddington was one of the original Ramchargers, a group of engineers in the early 1960s that helped Dodge get involved in drag racing. He was a fuel system specialist, motor consultant, and a rotating garage manager. All of that could be clues. While a name is easy enough to Google, the two numbers can't be broken down so easily. The crazier theory is that the car makes 1,121 horsepower and will do the quarter-mile in 7.57 seconds. Frankly, those numbers are about as likely as the Demon actually being powered by a Rolls-Royce turbofan engine from a Boeing 757 or packing a carburetor with 1,121 CFM. The Demon is going to be street legal, and the costs associated with making a 1,121-hp car meet emissions standards alone are assuredly astronomical. As our friends from Road & Track pointed out, the more likely theory is that 757 is actually the horsepower rating. This seems totally plausible, but it means we still don't know what 1,121 means. Surely it's not a drag strip time, as the standard Hellcat will do 1/4 mile in 11.2 seconds. Like before, if you have any ideas, post them in the comments. Until April, we'll keep trying to solve Dodge's demonic puzzle. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: Road & Track, Hot RodImage Credit: FCA New York Auto Show Dodge Coupe Performance dodge demon dodge hellcat

2020 Dodge Challenger 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition puts on a Smoke Show

To celebrate the semicentennial of the Dodge Challenger this year, last November the muscle car brand announced a Challenger 50th Anniversary Edition. Available in seven of Dodge's high impact colors, Dodge said production would be limited to 1,960 cars, being 70 examples in each of the seven colors. Keeping the good thing going, the brand has just announced another 50th anniversary special, this one a Commemorative Edition with no cap on build numbers. The Commemorative Edition can be ordered on three 2020 Challenger trims, the R/T, R/T Scat Pack, and R/T Scat Pack Widebody, omitting the rear-wheel drive V6 GT model that can be configured as a 50th Anniversary Edition.    The Commemorative car is nearly identical to the Anniversary car. Outside, that means a Satin Black, hand-painted hood and black-wrapped roof and decklid, the Hellcat's air intake headlights, Satin Black fuel filler cap, Gold School-colored wheels, Gunmetal-colored brake calipers on trims that come with red Brembo brakes, and tons of badging all over from the illuminated "50" logos in the headlamps to the Satin Black Dodge logo in the taillamps. The interior gets sepia stitching on the heated and cooled performance seats, more sepia thread on for the Alcantara door bolsters, white gauges with yellow accents, berber floor mats, real carbon fiber trim pieces, and a bunch more badging. Paying homage to its elder, on startup a 1970 Challenger appears in the gauge cluster animation. Dodge says dealers will begin taking orders for the new celebrant this month, with deliveries to commence in the fall. The optional package adds $4,995 to the price of a 2020 Challenger R/T, $5,495 to the price of the R/T Scat Pack, and $5,495 to the cost of the R/T Scat Pack Widebody before the $6,000 cost of the widebody package itself. Whereas the 50th Anniversary car came in any of Dodge's eye-candy colors — F8 Green, Frostbite, Go Mango, Hellraisin, Sinamon Stick, TorRed, or the all-new Gold Rush — the Commemorative Edition is limited to the tamer end of the color palette, available in Granite, Indigo Blue, Octane Red, Pitch Black, Triple Nickel, White Knuckle, and the new Smoke Show hue. That latter color replaces Destroyer Gray, and can be ordered on the Charger as well. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Ford, Stellantis workers join those at GM in ratifying contract that ended UAW strikes

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified new contracts with Ford and Stellantis, that along with a similar deal with General Motors will raise pay across the industry, force automakers to absorb higher costs and help reshape the auto business as it shifts away from gasoline-fueled vehicles. Workers at Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Dodge and Ram vehicles, voted 68.8% in favor of the deal. Their approval brought to a close a contentious labor dispute that included name-calling and a series of punishing strikes that imposed high costs on the companies and led to significant gains in pay and benefits for UAW workers. The deal at Stellantis passed by a roughly 10,000 vote margin, with ballot counts ending Saturday afternoon. Workers at Ford voted 69.3% in favor of the pact, which passed with nearly a 15,000-vote margin in balloting that ended early Saturday. Earlier this week, GM workers narrowly approved a similar contract. The agreements, which run through April 2028, will end contentious talks that began last summer and led to six-week-long strikes at all three automakers. Shawn Fain, the pugnacious new UAW leader, had branded the companies enemies of the UAW who were led by overpaid CEOs, declaring the days of union cooperation with the automakers were over. After summerlong negotiations failed to produce a deal, Fain kicked off strikes on Sept. 15 at one assembly plant at each company. The union later extended the strike to parts warehouses and other factories to try to intensify pressure on the automakers until tentative agreements were reached late in October. The new contract agreements were widely seen as a victory for the UAW. The companies agreed to dramatically raise pay for top-scale assembly plant workers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into 33% wage gains. Top assembly plant workers are to receive immediate 11% raises and will earn roughly $42 an hour when the contracts expire in April of 2028. Under the agreements, the automakers also ended many of the multiple tiers of wages they had used to pay different workers. They also agreed in principle to bring new electric-vehicle battery plants into the national union contract. This provision will give the UAW an opportunity to unionize the EV battery plants plants, which will represent a rising share of industry jobs in the years ahead.