Photo: Aksyonov Nikita on Behance
As far as production cars are concerned, the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is the king of the drag strip. Sorry Tesla Model S P100D Ludicrous+, but it just is. And even though you’ll never see the mighty Demon posing as a soft-top convertible or doing police chores, a pixel artist called Aksyonov Nikita rendered the 840-hp in those very attires.
Published on Nikita’s Behance page, the renderings in question are all sorts of wonderful. But in real life, chopping the roof off a Demon is not sensible at all. First of all, adapting a coupe to convertible guise would translate in less structural rigidity, and obviously enough, more weight.
Fret not, though, for in due time, Dodge will launch a drop-top muscle car: the Barracuda. Expected to arrive sometime in 2018 for the 2019 model year with Alfa Romeo “Giorgio” underpinnings, the 21st century ‘Cuda will have large shoes to fill. The rumor mill also suggests that the next-generation Challenger will utilize the Italian automaker’s platform.
Then there’s the Challenger SRT Demon Pursuit, which looks fine as long as you ignore the heavy-duty steel wheels. Thing is, is there any law enforcement agency with enough funding to change the rear tires every Thursday or so? In real-life scenarios, 770 pound-feet of torque is a lot, even for Nitto NT05R street-legal drag radials. It’s rather clear, then, that the all-new Demon isn’t made to catch speed freaks on the highway. For it to be chased by the police well, that’s a different story.
On that note, it’s worth remembering that only 3,300 such vehicles will ever be made for the 2018 model year: 3,000 for the U.S. and 300 for the Canadian market. The scarcity of the Demon, however, won’t stop the aftermarket from having its way with the supreme muscle car. The peeps at Hennessey, for example, are already looking into a 1,500-hp tune.
Fret not, though, for in due time, Dodge will launch a drop-top muscle car: the Barracuda. Expected to arrive sometime in 2018 for the 2019 model year with Alfa Romeo “Giorgio” underpinnings, the 21st century ‘Cuda will have large shoes to fill. The rumor mill also suggests that the next-generation Challenger will utilize the Italian automaker’s platform.
Then there’s the Challenger SRT Demon Pursuit, which looks fine as long as you ignore the heavy-duty steel wheels. Thing is, is there any law enforcement agency with enough funding to change the rear tires every Thursday or so? In real-life scenarios, 770 pound-feet of torque is a lot, even for Nitto NT05R street-legal drag radials. It’s rather clear, then, that the all-new Demon isn’t made to catch speed freaks on the highway. For it to be chased by the police well, that’s a different story.
On that note, it’s worth remembering that only 3,300 such vehicles will ever be made for the 2018 model year: 3,000 for the U.S. and 300 for the Canadian market. The scarcity of the Demon, however, won’t stop the aftermarket from having its way with the supreme muscle car. The peeps at Hennessey, for example, are already looking into a 1,500-hp tune.
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