[jh27n0b]

I hope they offer this combo as a factory option.
Bob

[christer]

I hope they offer this combo as a factory option.
Bob

An fbernard-killer Where did you get that pic from?

[dave-r]

There were photos of it on the MMA website the other day but before I could grab the images etc it all vanished.
I think it was posted by an old club member who was no longer a member and should not have been able to post.

I didn't get much time to give it any more than just a quick glance but I think it was the Swedish? guy that built that high tech silver Charger a couple of years ago.

[fbernard]

An fbernard-killer!

Arghhhh!
Want one!
Want one!

I didn't get much time to give it any more than just a quick glance but I think it was the Swedish? guy that built that high tech silver Charger a couple of years ago.

I don't think it would have a 'Sirius' satellite radio sponsor sticker on the windshield anywhere in Europe, this firm only offers service in North America as far as I know. Plus, the front rally plate looks a lot like the Newfoundland Targa rally plate.

So, digging a little, I found this :












Really cool car, and even cooler rally! the landscapes must be a sight in Newfoundland!


Attention to details : notice how they have a video camera setup on the roof of the car, with a Mopar decal in the correct direction for the video on the hood! and the Sirius sponsor decal on the air filter too...

Also notice the totally 'fake' license plate on the rear, which also bears the rally number!!! I can only guess that the car is not titled yet??
(probably, since the car's driver is an official at Chrysler LLC)

[fal308]

thanks for the photos The Targa Newfoundland has been sometning I've always wanted to do. It can be taken as seriously or funny as wanted, there are classes for folks just playing around and for those really serious about their rallying.
I may just make that first photo my new desktop

[fal308]

This also brings up the question, where did they get a green Challenger? Must be a custom paintjob as no greens are listed on the dodge website for the Challenger.

[fal308]

Here's the info on Targa's website http://www.targanewfoundland.com/drivers/cars/2008/104/

[dave-r]

I don't think it would have a 'Sirius' satellite radio sponsor sticker on the windshield anywhere in Europe, this firm only offers service in North America as far as I know.

Must have been a hacker or something posted them. The thread was removed very quickly.

[jh27n0b]

This also brings up the question, where did they get a green Challenger? Must be a custom paintjob as no greens are listed on the dodge website for the Challenger.

I believe that this is the Snake skin Green from the vipers. If you also note something very interesting, it looks to say 392 on the hood scoop.

[jh27n0b]

I also need to add that I downloaded the picture from a site called http://thegarageblog.com/

[Eddie]

It's definitely a trick piece! Dig the front wheel getting some airtime.

[bananaskin]

Awesome

[fbernard]

Dig the front wheel getting some airtime.

a pretty rare sight on a 'muscle car', eh?

Now, if we could only see her standing on the front wheels braking hard, that would be a true track car! (just kidding, the only cars I've ever seen doing that are Hillman Imps).

[dave-r]

My Hillman Imp used to stand on the back wheels when pulling away easily.

But only when I had two of my large freinds sitting in the back seat.

I eventually put a paving slab in the front "trunk" to put enough weight over the front end to steer.

[Jimiboy]

My Hillman Imp used to stand on the back wheels when pulling away easily.

But only when I had two of my large freinds sitting in the back seat.

I eventually put a paving slab in the front "trunk" to put enough weight over the front end to steer.

Sorry for my unknowledge, but tell me guys, what is that "Hillman Imp" you are talking about?


This Chally is really something, Like the look... Seems to handle well in the corners. I don't get it... Is this a factory racing car or what?

[dave-r]

Sorry for my unknowledge, but tell me guys, what is that "Hillman Imp" you are talking about? :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillman_Imp

The Rootes Group were owned by Chrysler. The Imp was a small car with a rear engine. All the weight was at the back so sometimes the steering was rather "light".

Mine had race bucket seats, bolt-on tach, and small race type steering wheel.

Fast?
Don't be stupid.
But it was quite fun to drive.

[Jimiboy]

I bet that would be a sight, You and your friends doing wheelies in that little "mopar-mini" I like the custom painted coupe at the wikipedia link... Do you still got any pic of your car Dave?

[dave-r]

I don't think so. I never thought it was worth remembering.

[Eddie]

Fabian or Dave, I also noticed the 'rake' of the front wheel, is this for increased cornering ability, maybe it's called 'toe-in'? I seem to remember Fabian's Challenger having the same geometry on his front end. All in the pursuit of reduced lap times I assume. BTW, how did your French rallye go? Any pics, stories, ect,,(I love that stuff)!! Wasnt the Hillman the same Company that built the UK(only)Cricket? I wish I had one of those rear drive 4 cyl. mini-cars, way cool!

[dave-r]

Never heard of a "Cricket" Eddie.

[dave-r]

I have had two old style Mini's as well Eddie. Better car than the Imp in many respects. You would like them. They handle like Go-Karts.

Ever see the original film version of "The Itallian Job"?

[fbernard]

Is this a factory racing car or what?

When one guy (who happens to be sit on SRT's board of directors, works for Chrysler in interior design and heads the unofficial Mopar Underground design team : http://www.targanewfoundland.com/drivers/cars/2008/104/ ) gets to race a car that's not available yet (2009 Chally), with an engine that's not available yet (392), in a color that's not on the catalog for this model, I'll wager there are some other modifications too.
This is a marketing tool, and, as such, it must pretty much represent the best handling car Mopar can put out today.

I can barely imagine getting the inner front wheel off the ground on a turn in any production car (the inner back wheel is another matter, prett much all light cars can do that).
It means (among other things) that the front struts are extremely stiff.
It also means that I'm jealous !

[fbernard]

Never heard of a "Cricket" Eddie.

Was a car sold in the US (Plymouth Cricket), but built by Rootes.

[fbernard]

I also noticed the 'rake' of the front wheel, is this for increased cornering ability, maybe it's called 'toe-in'? I seem to remember Fabian's Challenger having the same geometry on his front end. All in the pursuit of reduced lap times I assume.

That's (negative) camber. Absolutely paramount for cornering harder, it also eats the inside of the tire's tread. (which can be somewhat correct with a bit more toe-in, which eats the outside).
It doesn't take much camber to be visible to the naked eye (my car is at 1.5° because I would have needed to remove and lengthen the upper control arm on one side to get the desired 1° on both sides, and I had to setup the alignment on 2 cars in 1/2 a day right before leaving for the rally). But it handled like a dream. I found my FWD Clio Sport dangerous (it felt like radical understeer at first) after I came by. Slight oversteer feels much better on the Challenger.

Now, if we only could add negative camber to the rear...

BTW, how did your French rallye go? Any pics, stories, ect,,(I love that stuff)!!

The rally went really good. We ended up at the 19th position in the overall regularity contest (out of roughly 75 cars at the beginning, 68 at the end). And without any tripmaster (all we had was the car's odometer and a chronometer). Not too bad for a first time.
Adn we had great fun on the little mountain roads and on the tracks. I still have some work on the car (I need a better cooling system, it's OK for everything except city driving, and I need a hydroboost brake booster), but I'm surprised I didn't have any serious problem (just had to shorten the fuel line just after the pump 3 times, ended up moving the pump, it was rubbing on the rear axle on compressions (that is, all the time with the way I was driving). The car drank gas (and oil, I'd say 7 quarts for the whole deal), but even the brake pads show no visible wear.
Oh, the rear shocks are toast. Pretty much the only casualty.


I have a load of pictures, but my personal web site seems to be unavailable (probably didn't use it for too long).
Even the resized, filtered pictures still account for 170Mo.

I need to find a way to put these online.

And I have video, too... although not too great (that was he first time I was using the Digital Hero 3 minicam), it's still pretty cool (only the sound is no good). One video is pretty damaged though, the front-bumper shot of the road after the Charade racetrack flickers badly. That's a shame, it was one of the 2 best mountain road climbing I did.

Here's a couple pics :

[dave-r]

Never heard of a "Cricket" Eddie.

Was a car sold in the US (Plymouth Cricket), but built by Rootes.

Ah!
That looks like the Hillman Avenger! I had one of those too. Got a photo of that somewhere. It was quite fast for just a 1250cc engine. Redline on the tach was at 7500 I think?

[Eddie]

Yep thats it! The Cricket or Avengers, I would love to have one of those! A poor mans Rallye car! Fabian, thanks for posting those pics and the cool story! Dave, I think that engine was a pushrod 4 cyl? Pretty high RPM's from such a cheap and easy car/engine to build? I wish I had one now.

[fal308]

Looking into the Challenger, you can see a cage and a somewhat stripped interior.
Found some more info on the car at http://insidetracknews.blogspot.com/200 ... targa.html
Quite a few more photos and another article http://thegarageblog.com/garage/dodge-c ... foundland/

[dave-r]

Yep thats it! The Cricket or Avengers, I would love to have one of those! A poor mans Rallye car! Fabian, thanks for posting those pics and the cool story! Dave, I think that engine was a pushrod 4 cyl? Pretty high RPM's from such a cheap and easy car/engine to build? I wish I had one now.

You would have loved mine. It only cost me $300 and I painted it with some rattle cans. Only I didn't have quite enough cans to put enough paint on.

It had one or two little problems with it.

It had a big oil leak and needed topping up frequently.
The brakes were poor but the handbrake worked a little if you pulled it up as hard as you possible could.
One front brake caliper was sized up. The other worked but the pads were down to the metal.
There was a terrible vibration from the transmission at any speed below 65mph. So I had to drive all the time over that speed.

But it would run all day at 95mph as long as you stopped now and again to add oil.

One time I visited my brother who lives in a very up-market area. The front grille fell off as I came down his street and I ran over it. He was VERY red in the face at the sight of his "Uncle Buck" type brother rolling up in this heap of rusty shit.
He even made me park around the side of his house out of sight.

Another time I called in on him (driving one of my Minis) but he was out. The guy next door to him called the police because I was obviously not "the right type" to be on that housing estate.

Stuck up git.

[fal308]

I know what you mean, I have a brother in the same situation. I would drive my old beater pickup into his yuppie neighborhood (before pickups were all the rage in the USA) with the same results. It was great as I could piss off quite a few yuppies with my old loud truck daring to be amongst their BMWs and Lexuses (Lexi? )
Besides, any time I can make a yuppie or their ilk uncomfortable, is a good day I say.

[ianandjess]

Yep thats it! The Cricket or Avengers,
that looks like the car they marketed as a chrysler lancer over here different tail lights & trim etc but the body looks the same they did a 2 door also
cheers ian