Dodge Performance Cars: Through the Years
This deep dive into the history of Dodge performance gets into the classics, the Vipers, modern muscle, and future innovations too.
Dodge: A Legacy of Speed, Power, and Performance
Dodge is a brand synonymous with American muscle and high-performance cars. It’s built that reputation through a rich history that dates back to the early 20th century. Over the years, it has produced some of the most iconic and powerful vehicles on the road.
While Dodge has excelled in various segments of the automotive industry, it’s the performance cars that truly stand out. Today, we’ll take a journey through time, highlighting some of the most notable Dodge performance cars from the past and how the brand plans to continue that legacy into an electrified future.
Setting A Standard
Over the course of a decade, the ten years spanning from 1965 through 1974, the folks at Dodge made a name for themselves in the muscle car class. The brand had just come off of 1964 when it sold the Polara. That two-door street machine was available with a monstrous 426 ci V8 that boasted 365 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque. It was one of the quickest cars of its day and that success led to the rest of Dodge’s huge performance gains in the coming years.
In 1965, the Coronet came online with the same engine. The next year it was available with a HEMI V8 and sold alongside the newly introduced Charger. By 1970, the Charger was an ominous force to be reckoned with and had a gang of stablemates to back it up. That was the same year that the Challenger came online with its own wild versions like the T/A 340 Six Pack. The Dart, the Coronet Super Bee, and the Charger Daytona were all in the fold as well.
Sadly, all good things come to an end, and by 1975 the gas crisis hit hard. It would be just over three decades before more real muscle would arrive.
Navigating A New World
During that time span, most mainstream automakers struggled to build truly engaging high-horsepower cars. That didn’t stop innovation though. Dodge would still work introduce a number of performance vehicles to the market.
The Dodge Aspen R/T was introduced in 1976. This two-door coupe would come standard with the single carburator Chrylser 225 CID slant six, or optional two-barrrel carburator 318 CID or 360 CID engines.
In 1978, Legendary engineer Tom Hoover created the Dodge Lil’Red Express, a V-8 powered Dodge D-100 with iconic chromed exhaust stacks, and Bright Canyon Red exterior. This wild child pickup was dubbed the fastest domestic vechile of 1978 by the automotive press.
In 1984 Dodge teamed up with legend Carroll Shelby to create the Dodge Omni GLH (Goes Like Hell). The Dodge Omni was already the first front-wheel drive subcompact made in America, now it would become the first American hot hatchback.
In Shelby GLH form the Omni went from making just 75 hp to 110 hp. It also benefited from better tires, bigger brakes, and a stiffer suspension. Then, in 1985, the GLH got a turbocharger for a maximum output of 146 hp. Shelby himself was so enamored with the Omni GLH that he went on to sell upgraded versions called the Omni GLHS (Goes Like Hell S’more) with better cooling, bigger injectors, a bigger turbo, and 175 hp.
In the early 1990s, a partnership between Dodge and Mitsubishi also proved fruitful in the quest for more power. The two came together to build the Stealth, a badge-engineered sports car that came with either front or all-wheel drive. The big draw though was that the AWD variant was available with a twin-turbocharged V6.
A year before the Viper arrived, the Stealth made 164 hp and 185 lb-ft of torque in most trims but the twin-turbo version made 300 hp and 307 lb-ft of torque. It was truly a dramatic shift away from the days of highly limited horsepower. It would usher in a new age of speed for Dodge too.
Dodge Viper: Slow Sales of Fast Snakes
One bit of Dodge’s performance history that can get overlooked is the development and sales of the Viper. Introduced into the production lineup for the 1992 model year, the Viper was unlike anything Dodge had ever built before. As a spiritual successor to the Shelby Cobra, the Viper was lightweight, originally a convertible, and leveraged a gigantic engine under the hood for propulsion.
That engine was an 8.0-liter V10 that made 400 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque. To put that into perspective, the base Corvette of the day made just 300 hp and 340 lb-ft of torque. While the most potent version, the ZR1 made 405 hp it also made much less torque, just 385 lb-ft. Buying one would cost someone at least $67,000 though and the Viper came in at just $54,500. It was an immediate hit.
That success wouldn’t be long-lasting though. Dodge introduced a hardtop version, went racing with it, and then went through three additional generations with varying success. Over that time it became clear, the Viper wasn’t going to compete with the Corvette for sales. It was a bit too expensive to build, it was a bit harder to drive, and Dodge couldn’t justify development costs. It bowed out of production after the 2010 model year.
Hope was renewed in 2013 but again didn’t last long. Dodge introduced an all-new generation of the Viper with clear styling cues that harkened back to the original. It was even more powerful, making 640 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque. Despite the extra power and exceptional performance the Viper offered, it struggled to sell. Dodge shut down production, seemingly for good as of this writing, in 2017.
The Modern Muscle Revival
The Omni got its spiritual successor in 2004 for the introduction of the Neon SRT4. While the Neon wasn’t viewed as a performance car at the time, the SRT4 package changed that immediately. Now, the small sedan made 215 hp and 245 lb-ft of torque. Of course, it sent that through the front wheels only so torque steer was a major problem but at least it was engaging and fun. It foreshadowed much better things to come as well.
In 2006, Dodge returned the Charger to production but made a huge shift that not everybody initially loved. The muscle car would come back only as a four-door sedan. It still looked muscular though and just so happened to have a HEMI V8 under the hood. Those attributes helped it to win over a whole new generation of fans. Two years later in 2008, hardcore old-schoolers who may have struggled to accept a four-door muscle car got their wish with the introduction of the Challenger.
The pair of Dodge muscle cars set a new high bar for American automakers as no other rival truly offered a similar pair. Ford never responded with two rear-wheel drive muscle cars that could compete and Chevrolet only attempted a half-hearted move with the Camaro and SS sedan. Dodge continued to refine the Charger and Challenger for nearly a decade. It even added a wagon variant of the Charger called the Magnum. The most potent versions carried the SRT (Street & Racing Technology) moniker and made up to 470 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque. The glory days of muscle had returned with three different boxy body styles and a V8 for everyone.
Hellcat Power: A Generational Game-Changer
In 2015, things changed for the Charger and Challenger thanks to one new engine, the Hellcat. Dodge introduced the Hellcat with no less than 707 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. Again, to put that into perspective, the Corvette at the time made just 455 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. The Ford Mustang made at most 435 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. The Charger and Challenger Hellcats were bold brash bombers that felt like they showed up to what was otherwise a slapfight.
Over the next eight years, Dodge added little bits of power and performance to the Hellcat twins here and there. They even introduced the Dodge Durango Hellcat with the same insane power figures. At its most potent, the Hellcat was available in Redeye guise with 807 hp and 707 lb-ft of torque. Both were capable of going 203 mph when they rolled off of the factory floor. During the last year of production (2023 model year) Dodge introduced a series of Last Call models that paid homage to the history of their performance cars.
Demon Unleashed: The Ultimate Challengers
During the life course of the Challenger, it saw two very special models that harkened back to the Dodge Dart Demon 340 from the 1960s. Dubbed the SRT Demon in 2018, this very limited, very special edition of the Challenger only came with an 840 hp version of the Hellcat engine but was strictly designed for serious hardcore drag racing enthusiasts. To that end, it came with skinny tires on the front end, huge 315-section width drag radials that were barely street-legal at the back. It shaved off over 200 pounds from the normal Hellcat too. It could do the quarter-mile dance in just 9.65 seconds at 140 mph.
Then, as part of that “Last Call” series we mentioned above, the folks at Dodge launched the Demon 170 for 2023. It makes 1,025 hp and can do the quarter mile in 8.91 seconds at 151.17 mph. It’s unquestionably the wildest stock muscle car to ever come out and don’t forget that it arrives with a warranty.
EV Muscle: The Future of Dodge Performance
So where does Dodge go now that electrification is slowly but surely taking over the automotive world? It’s changing too. The Hellcat is evidently dead but all signs point to a long life for speed freaks ahead. Dodge just confirmed last week that the new generation of the Charger and Challenger will use its newly developed Hurricane inline-six engine. In many applications that engine makes over 500 hp so we’re excited to test it.
In addition, it’s already shown off the Daytona EV concept which will come with an all-electric drivetrain and some sort of audible ‘exhaust’. The jury is still out on when exactly it’ll be available but we’re excited to hear whatever Dodge comes up with.
