While the SEMA show is certainly well behind us now, one car that was brought to the show which captured our attention and continues to give us something special to think about is the Dodge Challenger Shakedown Concept that was present. This is a car that brings in the nostalgia and the modernization to be a model that you can easily admire no matter which generation you belong to. Because this car was built a special way to be something more than what you normally expect to find on the road it’s still worth discussing how it was put together.
The Challenger Shakedown started out as a 1971 model that lost every part of the car except the body. It might have been simpler to start with a modern car and put the body over it, but that’s not what Dodge chose to do. The chassis was difficult for the team to execute for this car because the original Challenger was unibody build which meant the body of the car had to be separated from the structure in order to create the right build for the Shakedown. This meant building a special one-off chassis just for this car that was taken to the SEMA show.
Once the custom chassis was made, and it is a chassis the body can be removed from as needed, the suspension has to be solved in order to be lower and handle the brakes of the Hellcat that were added. The engine put under the hood of this beauty was a 6.4-liter 392 HEMI V8 that was connected to a six-speed manual transmission that came out of the Viper. This engine was able to be installed using an engine swap kit form Mopar to make everything mate up perfectly. The shaker cold air intake and custom exhaust were added to allow the Shakedown to make 485 horsepower, more than enough for this vintage looking beauty.
Even though the chassis had been built special for the 1971 body, the body did need to have some changes. the drip rails were shaved off, the door handles were also shaved and the turn signals were removed. These changes give the Shakedown a cleaner look that fit the grill, headlights and taillights from the 2017 Challenger model. This car was painted in matte black to give it a racing vintage look and the “vibrating” stripe pained on the left side gave this car a unique and attractive appearance as well.
This car rode into the show on 20-inch Slingshot rear whiles and 19-inch versions of the same up front. The 392 decal is affixed to the front fender of each of side of the car in bright red. On the inside the Shakedown received two Viper seats, a Viper steering wheel, completely removed rear seats, a Hellcat gear knob, carbon fiber accents and leather on the wheel, door panels, instrument pane and center console. This interior fit perfectly with what the Shakedown brought to the SEMA show this past year.
As you can see, the work was immense to make this version of the blend of old and new in the Challenger Shakedown work well for the SEMA show. This cool looking model of the Challenger is one that you would love to have as a production model for the road. If you want to see more of what this amazing conglomeration came to be check out this impressive video that gives you a great look at the new Challenger. This is a wonderful way for Dodge to use the imagination they have for building powerful cars that look amazing.
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