We're so used to restomods these days that are so pristine, picture-perfect, and comprehensively fully restored that driving them is the equivalent of crashing a 250 GTO through the front glass of a Ferrari museum. It's not often something gets built that's deliberately just a bit rough around the edges. Such is the case with this gorgeous 1970 Dodge Charger.
Not to say this particular 1970 Charger is in any way botched or poorly put together. But it's hardly the flashiest vehicle it could have been, which speaks volumes about the character of the person who built this restomod in our minds. The man in question is Ragnar Solem, and if you couldn't guess by the name, he's not from Detroit or Southern California. Instead, he hails from Rissa in Northern Norway, a full eight-hour drive from Oslo. In the driveway of his quaint family home, Ragnar took the rolling chassis of a '70 Charger and turned it into something even more special.
It took the man three whole years between 2005 and 2008 to tighten every bolt, polish all the chrome, and make this 54-year-old Charger look menacing. Gone is whatever straight-six or V8 that was under the hood of this Charger from the factory. For all we know, the car could've been a rolling chassis by the time Ragnar got to it. But what matters right now is the engine in this Charger today, and that's where things get interesting. Sitting surprisingly comfortably under this Charger's hood is an 8.3-liter V10 out of a mid-2000s Dodge Ram SRT-10 pickup.
Better known as the engine out of the second-generation Dodge Viper, if there were any engine bay large enough to accommodate this motor, it's one that could've taken 440 big blocks with room to spare. Rest assured, this Viper V10 is far from stock. It's rocking a NOVI-series HD supercharger from Paxton Automotive. A boatload of custom metalwork and piping connecting the new forced induction to this V10 truck engine makes for some serious eye candy.
In its stock form, the Ram SRT-10's beating heart jetted 500 horsepower. In its current supercharged form? We'd be shocked if this Charger made anything less than 650 to the tires. There's even a chance it makes even more than that. A tried-and-true Tremec T56 six-speed manual transmission is ubiquitous in the restomod scene and helps ensure this Charger is good for more than a couple of eighth and quarter-mile drag passes/
Once again, Ragnar's work goes above and beyond a budget-friendly DIY improv job. But there's something to be said about someone who can appreciate the look of some nicely polished steel wheels instead of mirror-shiny alloys. These rims' jet-black, downright durable look, coupled with the car's multi-link lowered suspension with drilled and slotted brake rotors and a Dana 60 rear end, make for a restomod that's hardcore-looking inside and out.
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