We can use all the good news available this year and here's something to bring you into the jump-for-joy mood: it's raining Hellephants. And the latest vessel to have received Dodge's supercharged 7.0-liter HEMI, a monster that's officially rated at 1,000 horsepower, is a 1969 Dodge Charger that's already famous for its restomoded nature. Welcome to the Ringbrother's Defector 2.0!
Introduced back in November 2017 (you can check it out in the YouTube clip at the bottom of the story), this remastered Charger swept the car world off its feet for quite a few reasons. For starters, it's a 1969, a model whose prices have skyrocketed due to this being the starting point for the infamous General Lee, the Dukes of Hazzard's four-wheeled star.
In their established style, these Wisconsin-based builders invested 4,700 hours into the machine, even though a non-car person might mistake it for a factory vehicle.
Dubbed Defector, the project used to be motivated by a 6.4-liter HEMI, a crate engine built by Wegner Motorsports, but the gearheads have recently been hard at work replacing the motor with the Hellephant.
And you can see the 950 lb-ft of twist developed by the V8 spinning the Earth backwards in the Instagram clip below. Well, at least until the mandatory burnout demonstration kicks off and all hell breakes loose - make sure to have the volume set to the proper level for this one.
The 7 liters of motor (this is an aluminum block, by the way) we're talking about will set one back $29,995, while the installation kit comes with a price of $2,265. However, rumor has it that only 100 examples of the Hellephant are being built, albeit with this hopefully being subject to change.
There's no reason to be worried about the way in which the car can handle the extra muscle, though. Those steelie-look wheels are HRE 19-inch units, the chassis updates mean this is now a unibody car, while the list of fresh hardware also involves a Detroit Speed subframe. And the six-piston Baer brakes fitted up front should deliver matching stopping power.
Oh, and if the body of the Charger happens to seem a bit different, that's because... it is (think: the wheelbase has gained three inches, while the trunk area is two inches shorter).
P.S.: As Mopar lovers, we have to admit we've hardly seen a sweeter form for the "mandatory" question at the end of an Insta post.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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