Forget spending hours in your garage welding a rusty old bodyshell to build your dream muscle car: Dodge will now sell you a full carbon shell for a 1970 Charger, and the Plymouth Barracuda and Road Runner are next in line for the composite treatment.
The fully licensed bodyshells come from Finale Speed, are engineered to OEM body specifications, and are available through Dodge’s newly expanded Direct Connection performance parts program. And Dodge fans wanting to add some carbon goodies to their modern-era muscle cars can get their hands on a rear spoiler, front splitter, rocker panels, and rear diffuser for the current Challenger thanks to a collaboration between Dodge and SpeedKore.
Meanwhile, Challenger owners whose driving skills are somewhat less impressive than their cars’ performance, will be donutting clumsily in parking lots across the country in celebration that Dodge will now sell them a replacement steel body shell for just $7,995, yet another addition to the Direct Connection portfolio. The body-in-white bare Challenger shell is available in a standard e-coat ready for paint, or optionally finished in a choice of exterior colors, and aimed at racers looking to build up a competition car.
And more serious racers might also want to consider the Drag Pak rolling chassis that’s designed as a building block for a full-on National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) straightliner. The rolling chassis features an NHRA-certified TIG-welded roll cage, four-link rear suspension, adjustable Bilstein coilover shocks, Strange Engineering 9-inch rear axle, Strange Pro Series II brakes, and Weld beadlock lightweight wheels wrapped with Mickey Thompson rubber.
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The Drag Pak rolling chassis will set you back $89,999, but the expense definitely doesn’t end there. Dodge leaves the engine bay empty so customers can decide on their own spec of engine and transmission, and if you’re planning to bag a few trophies you’re going to need to budget serious money for a serious powertrain.
Dodge can also supply plenty of powertrain hardware for your other projects, including a plug-and-play TorqueFlite 8HP70 transmission for use with crate engines, 2.7- and 3.0-liter supercharger kits, and American Racing Headers 304 stainless steel pipes for the Dodge Charger, Challenger and Durango. We’ll find out more about the availability and pricing of the latest Direct Connection products at the 2022 SEMA Show in Las Vegas in November.