16-Year-Old Dodge Challenger Design Is the Best Muscle Car, Artist Argues

Keyboard warriors are always going to criticize anything that's new, anything that's been changed. BMW M4? Bad. Lexus spindle grille? Bad. But maybe in the case of the Ford and Chevy ponies, they're right. YouTube artist TheSketchMonkey tries to make sense of everything in his latest video, which diverges from his usual rendering theme to look at the segment as a whole. Just to make it clear, we're not calling him a keyboard warrior.

In his words, the traditional muscle car was successful because it had a simple, functional design, great presence, and powerful yet affordable performance. The Dodge Challenger is apparently the only one that focuses exclusively on these aspects, and that's why it's successful.

The spotlight is in the first place on the fact that the new Challenger emerged as a study sixteen years ago and hasn't radically altered its looks ever since. (production didn't start until 2008, though). Both the Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang did have 100% retro models back in that era, but have since switched to... something else.

The last few model years have been worst of all, featuring changes for the sake of change. Perhaps it's not surprising that Chevy chose the older Camaro front end for its real performance muscle, the ZL1 1LE. And it's a similar story with the Shelby GT500, arguably a prettier face than your average 'Stang.

Simplicity is always going to be the key to designing a good muscle car. But we can't forget performance either. That's why the Dodge marketing team always goes for those records, such as the "world's fastest sedan." Of course, affordability is relative, and anything over about $40,000 is out of the reach of most young enthusiasts. Maybe we need to stop talking about Android Auto or electric power seats in the case of the ponies.