2014 Srt Viper Srt Gunmetal Sidewinder Wheels "new" on 2040-cars

Auto blog

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

Values snowball for legendary Tucker Sno-Cats, latest toys of the super rich

Here's a fun-sounding vehicle perfect for the cold and snow that's currently gripping much of North America. Tucker — no, not that Tucker — just marked its 75th anniversary making the Sno-Cat, its orange-painted, four-tread snow vehicles that have inspired backcountry skiers, collectors — and increasingly, the super rich. Bloomberg in a recent story writes that demand for the Medford, Ore.-based company's products is soaring on demand from the wealthy, who need a way to get to their backcountry mountain retreats. They're also in demand from collectors and gearheads who also love snow, like two anonymous collectors who are believed to have amassed more than 200 vintage Sno-Cats. The value of vintage models has reportedly tripled in the past five years to well over $100,000 for a fully restored rig. Tucker Sno-Cat Corp. claims to be the world's oldest surviving snow vehicle manufacturer, launched by E.M. Tucker in 1942 out of a desire to design a vehicle for traveling over the kind of deep, soft snow found in the Rogue River Valley of his childhood. It was four Tucker Sno-Cat machines that helped English explorer Vivian Fuchs and his 12-man party make the first 2,158-mile overland crossing of Antarctica in 1957-58. While many of the company's competitors either shuttered or adapted to serving ski resorts with wider, heavier treads, Tucker has stuck to its formula of making lightweight vehicles to travel over deep snow. Many Tuckers use Chrysler's flat six-cylinder engine, or its Dodge Hemi V8 for larger Sno-Cats, mounted rear or centrally, with basic, no-frills aluminum cabins. Sno-Cats all have four articulating tracks that are independently sprung, powered and pivoted at the drive axle. Track options come in three different types: conventional steel grouser belt track, rubber-coated aluminum grouser belt track, and one-piece all-rubber track. Steering is hydraulically controlled by pivoting the front and rear axles for smooth movement over undulating terrain with minimal disturbance of the ground cover. The company today makes 75 to 100 Sno-Cats a year for customers including the U.S. military, oil-drilling crews in cold places like Alaska and North Dakota, and utilities. But demand is so high that it's launched a profitable service reselling and refurbishing old machines. E.M. Tucker's grandson, Jeff McNeil, now head of this division, scours Google Earth for abandoned Sno-Cats rusting in backyards that he might be able to acquire and fix up.

Jeep Wrangler 4xe's hybrid powertrain: Could it be headed to other FCA products?

On its own, the 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid is a big deal for the brand and the model line. It's the most powerful and most efficient Wrangler by significant margins, and it doesn't give up the off-road capability that makes the Wrangler so special. But another great thing about this hybrid powertrain is its potential to be transplanted into other FCA vehicles. Just to recap, the layout of the Wrangler's hybrid powertrain, front to back, is as follows: engine, clutch, electric motor, clutch, transmission. The engine is the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that's a standalone engine for the Wrangler. The transmission and electric motor are sort of one unit, with the motor and clutch replacing the torque converter of the transmission. And the transmission itself is the ubiquitous eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox. Its transmission code name is 8HP75PH. The ZF eight-speed is available in every FCA product with a longitudinally-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, with variations in the amount of power and torque it can handle. Not only that, but the Ram 1500 and 2500 and the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator all have powertrains that utilize the non-hybrid version of the 8HP75 transmission specifically. Even the gear ratios for that transmission as well as the 8HP70 used in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 are nearly identical to those in the 8HP75PH. And a Fiat-Chrysler representative confirmed that the transmission portion of the hybrid drivetrain is basically carry-over from the regular 8HP75. So a transplant could be a relatively simple process. As for which of these models would be the most likely to receive the hybrid powertrain first, the Jeep Gladiator and Ram 1500 would seem like good bets, since they likely have the most similar transmissions, and the Gladiator in particular because of its closely-related underpinnings to the Wrangler. Both are also highly profitable trucks that sell well and could justify the development costs of adapting another powertrain. And in the case of the Ram, there's the impending F-150 hybrid to think about. Although Ram isn't going after a fully electric model, a PHEV could be a nice middle ground. A potential limiting factor would be whether the hybrid powertrain would be sufficiently robust to handle heavy payload and towing demands, particularly over longer periods.