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2013 Ram 1500 Black Express is midnight in the garden of good and evil

Building off of the solid base of its 1500 pickup, Ram has announced a dark horse in its stable, the Ram Black Express, which comes equipped with a bevy of features to distinguish it from the regular Express model. (Just don't call it a black sheep.)
The Black Express sets itself apart visually from other 1500s with black 20-inch aluminum wheels, black bumpers, a black grille and front fascia with fog lamps, black Ram's head badges front and rear but no side badges for a clean, shaved look. The premium bi-function halogen projector headlamps with LED running lights, which aren't even an option on the regular Express, come standard on the Black edition.
The 5.7-liter Hemi V8 is unchanged, making 395 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque. Paired with the standard eight-speed automatic transmission, the truck can tow 6,500 pounds. It's on sale starting this month, and the base Black Express can be had for $26,955, just $1,105 more than the base Express 4X2 regular cab. Feel free to peruse the press release below and check out the image gallery below.

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Featured Gallery 2019 Ram 1500 View 22 Photos Image Credit: Reuters Plants/Manufacturing RAM Truck Mike Manley warren michigan

Top torque-to-weight ratios under $100k, $50k and $25k

Horsepower may steal a lot of headlines, but the always-more-complex torque figure is often a critical one for both the workingman and the motoring playboy. The measure of rotational force represents the twist that can liquefy one's tires or haul one's horse trailer. Good stuff.
It follows then, that as with the horsepower-to-weight list that we assembled for you a few months ago, a list of cars that offer the most pound-feet with the fewest pounds to carry, is an interesting one to break down. Sure, there's a big difference in how the torque is applied from a turbocharged six-cylinder in a Swedish luxury sedan and a massive heavy-duty truck's turbo-diesel. But being the car/stat geeks that we are, we think it's kinda neat that those two vehicles rank near each other where torque and weight intersect.
As with the horsepower list, we've given you figures as pounds per every one pound-foot. Again broken down into broad price categories, we've got a mixed bag of 2014 and 2015 models here, too. Every effort has been made to select the most up-to-date prices and specs, and we've also to omitted some '14 cars that won't be re-upped after the ongoing yearly changeover.