Back in the 1970s, a couple of car manufacturers had some wild colors that adorned some of their best performance cars. One company was Mopar, and back then you could find cars with bright colors like Limelight and B5 Blue as well as interesting colors like Moulin Rouge and Plum Crazy. To most regular people, these colors would be chartreuse, blue, pink, and purple, and they wouldn’t be on a car. But to purists and enthusiasts, these fancy colors only add to the appeal of a musclecar, and Chase Souders of Las Vegas, Nevada, almost didn’t buy his “purple” 2007 Dodge Charger until he realized how significant Plum Crazy is with Mopar.

It’s not purple – it’s Plum Crazy, and you have to be to drive a Hemi-powered grape!

Souders began his quest for a fast musclecar when he decided that his lifted RAM pickup wasn’t providing the thrill ride he was missing when it came to speed. He said, “I was putting money into it, as in performance parts, when I realized a truck on 35-inch mud tires isn’t going to go any faster.” He knew he wanted another Dodge, and came across this Charger that was for sale at a local dealer.

At first, Souders wasn’t sure he wanted the purple steed, but the special plaque on the dash and the history lesson he learned about this wild color made him a changed man. He said, “I was a little hesitant buying a purple car, but then I learned the history of Plum Crazy in Dodge’s history and became proud to drive it!” And that, as they say, is all she wrote. Souders was a believer in all things Mopar, and his 176 of 300 Plum Crazy Charger was going to be his go-to vehicle when his need for speed came calling.

The customization is subtle, but enough to be different.

Souders drives this car, and he drives it hard. He feels that’s why it was built the way it was, and especially why it has the Hemi. While it does show some signs of being driven quite a bit, it’s still his pride and joy and it shows a few signs of custom work to personalize it some.

He drove the car from his home town in Las Vegas to a small car show at Moss Brothers CJDR in San Bernardino, California, to proudly showed his Plum Crazy beauty to the crowd. The outside of the car is basically stock, with the exception of tinted windows, painted wheels and Oracle halo rings installed by BrightTails, while the inside has a few minor modifications, such as painting some of the trim with the correct color-code Plum Crazy paint. The changes are subtle, but enough to give the Charger a slight personal touch.

Under the hood, he’s kept it basically stock, with the exception of a Stage 2 AFE intake kit and a DiabloSport tune, and these small changes are just a little different from when he bought the car just over a year ago. But his plans to make some upgrades are on his to-do list, and that includes making the car faster. He knows that he’ll never really be finished with it (are any of us ever done?) because there’s so much he wants to do.

We asked Souders about his involvement with cars, and he tells us he was one of the first in his family to take an interest in cars. He learned a lot about cars from reading online, and hanging with friends who taught him things as they worked on their own cars. He has taken his love for the automobile and decided to share with the rest of the Mopar community, and with the help of a few friends he started a club.

The Sin City Mopars began when Souders and his friends started hanging out and watching drag racing together. They decided it would be cool to form a club and hang out more often, and though it was a rough start he said it eventually exploded and they now have 70+ members. The club is for Mopar owners, which includes anything from Chrysler, Jeep, or Dodge… and of course Plymouth if there are some old schoolers in the areas.

More than just having an expanding club, Souders said they now have stickers, shirts, hats, lanyards, and all sorts of swag for the club, and they partnered with what he said is the #1 Dodge dealer in the country, Towbin Dodge. Souders shows the car whenever he can do so, and he says Towbin has treated him and his club like royalty.

They have put on a few shows and raised money for charity, the most fun was when they did “Laps for Charity”. The idea was that they’d go to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and people would pay a donation fee to drive on the racetrack. Speeds would get up to 100+ mph, and as you can imagine the show was a success, raising almost $1,000 for children’s charities. They’ve also done a Toys for Tots cruise, and attended shows to support the Wounded Warriors Foundation.

Now just over a year old, Sin City Mopars is planning more charity events to give back to the community. Souders is grateful for the connections he’s made, and to network with other enthusiasts who all share a love for the automobile. We thinks it’s great that someone can be motivated by a simple thing like purchasing a car, and in less than a year has figured out a formula for keeping the spirit alive and giving back to the community.

Almost anyone can get together with car junkies, but it takes some serious dedication to make it official – and even more so to take that passion and encourage others to give back and support others. Enjoy the gallery below of Chase Souders Plum Crazy Charger, and don’t forget to check out the Sin City Mopars on Facebook if you’re in the Vegas area.