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2025 Jeep Wrangler ReviewThe Cars of SEMA 2024: 1970 Dodge Charger
At SEMA 2024, Blazin Rodz revealed its newest creation: the 1970 Charger named Sangria. This 1500 hp fully rebuilt restomod mixes the best of old and new.
Blazin Rodz Reveals a Hot-Rodded Charger
SEMA is the only place in the world where common folks can see restomods of all stripes in one place, up close and personal. But if you had to prioritize checking out one restomod over any other at the Las Vegas Convention Center in 2024, you’d likely be pointed in the direction of a shop based out of Orange County, California, by the name of Blazin Rodz.
What might look like just another well-put-together 1970 Dodge Charger is anything but ordinary. It’s the discipline of restomodding performed to the highest degree of skill possible. Meet “Sangria,” a demonstration of applying modern design techniques and high technology to much-beloved platforms that make the most out of decades-old metal. Under the skillful watch of Lead Designer Waylon Jeffery and Lead Builder Riccardo Salatino, the same face we know and love has reached its ultimate form.
Fully Rebuilt from the Frame Up
From the moment this ’70 Charger rolled into the Blazin Rodz Shop, it was destined to have all its internals removed down to the bare bodyshell. Gone is whatever six or eight-cylinder engine this Charger left the factory with 54 years ago. It was the process of a full frame-off restomod process with the foundations of a Roadster Shop Fast Track chassis with Brembo carbon ceramic disk brakes and suspension components borrowed from a C7 Corvette platform.
Nothing less would do, considering the engine that powers this rig. It’s not just another Hellcat crate engine. It’s a HEMI-inspired, wholly bespoke Direct Connection 1500 crate engine with 426 cubic inches (7.0-L) like the Mopar gods intended. It’s built by the DSM Precision MFG in Indiana, and the iron engine block should also be pretty familiar. Impressive as it is, we’re not exactly dealing with a Lamborghini engine here., Regardless, the old-school block is at least sturdy enough to handle all the power the complete engine is expected to make.
When paired with a Whipple Gen-V Stage II supercharger with three liters of displacement and a Pure Drivetrain Solutions Steage-2 ZF 8HP eight-speed automatic gearbox, you get a drivetrain capable of 1,500 horsepower; it also happens to be the first of its kind. With a majority of carbon fiber where there was once polished chrome and steel helps keep weight down, it has a secondary effect of looking wicked when shining under stage lights.
20-inch Kompression alloy wheels in the front and 21 inches in the back might be on the larger side for some. But it can’t be argued they don’t match the true-to-form-restomod formula that’s evolved for decades into an art form like no other. Low-profile Pirelli tires look just as properly fitted to this restomod Charger as they would on a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. It all comes together to form an exterior that’s familiar, bold, and exciting all at the same time.
A Modern Interior with Cutting Edge Tech
A large degree of CNC machining, 3D-printing, and computer-aided design software went into every square inch of this Charger‘s exterior, a real signifier of the art of Restomodding being ready to enter the modern age. Add on a stunning dark red paint job, and it’s clear Blazin Rodz’s pet name, “Sangria,” for this stunning creation is apt and then some. Inside, the interior of this restomod is equally as impressive as the exterior. Modern buckets meld with a center infotainment screen, a digitized gauge cluster, and a floor-mounted gear stick to add a splash of 2024 design cues to a classic package everyone knows and loves.
A banging stereo system made up of Morel Hi-Fi speakers, and an amplifier from Tru Technology makes for a far better experience than the tinny radio speakers that came with a classic Mopar product. The seats are trimmed in plush leather and hallmarked by contrast red stitching, while a Vintage Air HVAC unit won’t leave you sweating through your shirt on a hot Nevada day. If the end goal of a restomod is to apply as many modern touches and features to a classic body shell as possible, then Blazin Rodz managed to shove so much tech into one space, it should be a new record.
This Charger Does Not Come Cheap
It’s the pure embodiment of all the advancements in restomod technology over the last 20 years that’s cultivated in a project as ambitious as this one even being possible. As a sign of how special this build is, its position under the Hemmings booth at SEMA, where it will soon be up for auction, is that the restomod people should bid their heads off to buy from the SEMA show floor this year. The asking price for this all-American hunk of steel? That’d be $895,000 before taxes and fees. Or around the cost of a high-end hypercar these days. We know for a fact there are people out there who’d pay far more for a vehicle of this caliber. Still, it’s not exactly a bargain either.
