2001 Dodge Ram 2500 Base Standard Cab Pickup 2-door 5.9l 2wd on 2040-cars

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No wing, no Hemi. This Dodge Charger Daytona is two-tone and tufted

In between the Dodge Charger Daytona's 1969 debut as a wild, winged NASCAR warrior and the current 2020 Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition with its monster 717-hp Hemi V8, the nameplate had some ... less-glorious years. The nameplate first resurfaced in 1975, when the Charger moved into the "personal luxury" space as a riff on the Chrysler Cordoba. This 1975 Charger Daytona might not be the model's heyday, but damn if this clean machine, surfaced by Barnfinds.com, isn't striking in its own Me Decade kind of way. And this low-miles example is on offer right now on eBay motors. Outside, this dynamic Dodge sports two-tone silver and blue paint, alloy wheels with white-letter tires, and a power sunroof. Inside, we find high-backed split-bench seats with button-tufted vinyl (no "rich Corinthian leather" here). Raising the miles-long hood reveals a 400-cubic-inch, 4-bbl V8, which for 1975 packed 190 horsepower. A far cry from today's 717 horses, perhaps, but still an upgrade over the Charger's standard 360-cubic-inch V8. It may not be the car that pops immediately to mind when someone says, "Charger Daytona," but with less than 12,000 miles showing, this mid-Seventies example is a time warp to a lesser-known era for the marque.   Featured Gallery 1975 Dodge Charger Daytona Dodge Coupe Classics

Dodge Viper ACR reportedly green lit [w/video]

The Dodge Viper might be getting a little more venomous in the near future thanks to a return of the performance-honed ACR trim. According to an anonymous source leaking the info to Allpar, the version would go into production in July as a 2016 model year vehicle. FCA US showed a concept for a future ACR (pictured above) at the 2014 SEMA Show that sported carbon fiber parts for the front splitter and dive planes, plus a picnic-table-sized rear wing. The body also received ducts at the rear to shoot cool air to the differential. A set of 15.4-inch carbon-ceramic brake rotors also brought things to a halt in a hurry. The company promised all the aero pieces were sculpted in the wind tunnel to give the coupe even more downforce. To shed weight, engineers chucked the radio, speakers, carpet and sound deadening out of the interior, and they replaced many bits with even more carbon fiber. All of the tweaks are necessary because the ACR moniker carries serious cachet for the Viper at the track, especially at the Nurburgring. One reportedly did a 7:22 lap around the 'Ring in 2008, and another improved that further to 7:12 in 2011. Autoblog reached out to FCA US for comment about the possibility for the hotter Viper, but the company wasn't willing to comment about any possible, future projects. Related Video:

China-FCA merger could be a win-win for everyone but politicians

NEW YORK — Fiat Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne has said the car industry needs to come together, cut costs and stop incinerating capital. So far, his words have mostly fallen on deaf ears among competitors in Europe and North America. But it appears Marchionne has finally found a receptive audience — in China. FCA shares soared Monday after trade publication Automotive News reported the $18 billion Italian-American conglomerate controlled by the Agnelli family rebuffed a takeover from an unidentified carmaker from the Chinese mainland. As ugly as the politics of such a combination may appear at first blush, a transaction could stack up industrially, and perhaps even financially. A Sino-U.S.-European merger would create the first truly global auto group. That could push consolidation to the next level elsewhere. Moreover, China is the world's top market for the SUVs that Jeep effectively invented, so it might benefit FCA financially. A combo would certainly help upgrade the domestic manufacturer; Chinese carmakers have gotten better at making cars, but struggle to build global brands, and they need to develop export markets. Though frivolous overseas shopping excursions by Chinese enterprises are being reined in by Beijing, acquisitions that support the modernization and transformation of strategic industries still receive support, and the government considers the automotive industry to be strategic. A purchase of FCA by Guangzhou Automobile, Great Wall or Dongfeng Motors would probably get the same stamp of approval ChemChina was given for its $43 billion takeover of Syngenta. What's standing in the way? Apart from price (Automotive News said FCA's board deemed the offer insufficient) there's the not-insignificant matter of politics. Even as FCA shares soared, President Donald Trump interrupted his vacation to instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to look into whether to investigate China's trade policies on intellectual property. Seeing storied Detroit brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and Dodge handed off to a Chinese company would provoke howls among Trump's economic-nationalist supporters. It might not play well in Italy, either, to see Alfa Romeo and Maserati answering to Wuhan instead of Turin — though Automotive News said they might be spun off separately. Yet, as Morgan Stanley observes, "cars don't ship across oceans easily," and political considerations increasingly demand local manufacture of valuable products.