2014 Dodge Durango Sxt on 2040-cars

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Sunday Drive: Rendering the future at Jeep and Ford

Last week brought us quite a wide variety of automotive news nuggets, and judging by the response of our own readership, the Jeep Wrangler pickup truck led the way. It's not expected to hit the sales floor until April of 2019, which means we've all got an entire year to wait, but that just means we have lots of time to anticipate its arrival. And we do so today with a series of renderings that show what the so-called Scrambler may look like in a few different colors. Another set of renderings depicting a hotly anticipated new vehicle follow just behind. The Baby Bronco – will Ford ante up to the retro-inspired table and call it the Bronco II? – will be one size smaller than the regular-grade Bronco, and we think it'll compete with the Jeep Renegade as a subcompact crossover with some real off-road chops. Moving onto some tuners, both old and new(er), we first present a sweet old Dodge Ram pickup truck tuned by none other than Carroll Shelby himself. The blue and silver striped truck looks so period perfect that it stands out as a star even alongside a quartet of vintage Shelby Mustangs with which it will share space at the Bonhams auction in Greenwich, Conn., this June. And finally we turn our attention to the Hennessey Veliciraptor, an absolute behemoth of a truck. Based on the most excellent Ford Raptor, the Velociraptor ups the crazy quotient with six wheels and 600 hundred horsepower. As always, stay tuned to Autoblog this week for all the latest automotive news. Jeep Wrangler pickup renderings: Latest imaginings of the Scrambler Ford Baby Bronco comes alive in these exclusive renderings Bonhams to auction Carroll Shelby's prototypes and personal cars Hennessey VelociRaptor 6X6 First Drive Review: The incredible hulk

Ralph Gilles responds to Dodge rumors, says brand is 'here to stay'

This is why we love Ralph Gilles. While in Italy hanging out with a group of Viper Club members in Europe, the SRT boss took the time to respond to a question directed at him on Instagram in regards to the future of Dodge.
Recent reports have painted a bleak picture for Dodge, but Gilles defended Chrysler's full-line brand by stating that the rumors are, "all rumors, Dodge is here to stay! It may get more focused going forward but not killed!" The idea of a "more focused" Dodge brand could lend some credibility to reports that the Grand Caravan and Durango are on their way out, which would leave Dodge solely as a car, or car-based, automaker.

Junkyard Gem: 1997 Dodge Ram 2500, Vanlife Edition

During my journeys through the big self-service car graveyards of Colorado's Front Range, I find some interesting art cars and labor-of-love hand-built camping vehicles, plus lots of machines with impressively high final odometer readings. Today's Junkyard Gem is one that combines all three types in one fascinating late-20th-century package. I shot these photos way back in December of 2019, just before the pandemic sent thousands of new adventurers pursuing #vanlife dreams on the roads of North America. This '97 Ram three-quarter-ton van is the third generation of a Chrysler van lineage stretching back to 1970. It began life as a 127" wheelbase cargo version with the Maxi stretched rear. The 2500 Maxi's total length of just over 19 feet made it a good starting point for a camper conversion. MSRP for this hauler was $19,600 when new, or about $36,505 in 2022 frogskins. So much work went into this Ram's interior fittings and exterior paint that I knew I'd be able to find something online about its history. After a few fruitless attempts soon after I shot the photos, I back-burnered my Adventure One Van research project for a while. Then, just last weekend, success! It turns out that this van was customized by Antonio de Irun, a multidisciplinary artist in Boulder, Colorado. He refers to this Dodge as an "Adventure Reform Van" and there's a page documenting its construction on the website of a Florida custom-van company. Most of the nice stuff that was inside got removed before the van entered the junkyard ecosystem, but you can see the general structure of the living and storage layout. Plenty of carpentry and upholstery work went into the Adventure Reform Van aka Adventure One. There's electrical wiring, insulation, everything needed for life on the road. Many, many hours of work must have gone into the intricate paint designs all over the vast expanse of Ram Maxi body. So why didn't this van survive into the era of pandemic vanlife? I think this odometer tells us why: 292,844 total miles, of which I'm assuming 200,000 miles were spent on a powertrain-punishing life of deliveries and trips to job sites. The engine is this 5.9-liter Magnum V8, a modernized version of the good old LA-series 360 equipped with the distinctive "beer barrel" intake manifold and rated at 234 horsepower and 330 pound-feet. The 360 first hit the road in the 1971 model year, with production of 360s and the later Magnum 5.9s continuing well into our current century.