Network
As of this writing, the doors still aren’t officially open at the 2011 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada. If the Detroit or Frankfurt Auto Shows are the big galas where manufacturers from across the world gather to reveal their latest entries into the marketplace, SEMA is where all the performance aftermarket goes to draw back the curtain to what they’ve been cooking up that year…and what to expect for the next.
This particular '69 Coronet wasn't trying to be anything that it wasn't. Nope, it was it's own thing entirely. A personal favorite of Mopar Performance Parts' Dale Aldo, the F6 Green B-Body sports a lift-off Six-Pack hood hiding a 472ci HEMI. The rear touts Cal-Trac bars while a '05 Rumble Bee stripe adorns the tail.
But what really packs ’em in isn’t all the new doodads, trinkets, and thingamabobs, it’s the cars. The damn cool cars lining each wall, speckled through every inch of flooring and just littered all over the friggin’ place.
Sure, we spotted a bunch of Camaros new and old, Mustangs, imports and trucks, but what was a real treat were all of the cool Mopars.
Sure, sure. You’re hardcore FoMoCo guys or Bowtie nuts may be sick and tired of all the love the rides from Ma’ Mopar have been getting. It’s not that there’s any favoritism, it’s that we like supporting the underdog, and in this day and age, Mopar sure is an underdog.
The two Gen III HEMIs might be deceptively subdued to the untrained eye. Mopar's Dale Aldo explained that for 2011-2012, Mopar has improved on the 7L 426ci Gen III HEMI, ramping up the horsepower to 600 ponies thanks to a newly blueprinted cam and improved cylinder heads. The further HEMI has Mopar's high-riser dual quad intake, a pair of Edelbrock carbs, Mopar's distributor conversion front assembly, and a variation of Mopar's late-model HEMI valvecovers which disguise the coil packs. The red Charger shares quite a few parts with last year's 'Red Line' Charger.
Four of a kind. Optima Batteries is apparently our new favorite battery company, as they are hosting a quartet of history and Hollywood's most famous Chargers, the General Lee, Dom Torreto's '70 Charger (complete with a fake BDS-blower over a 350 Chevy), 'The King' Richard Petty's '72 Charger, and the infamous 'bad guy' '68 Charger R/T from 'Bullitt.'
Titled 'Agent Orange,' this '70 Challenger was built by Team Witt Customs featuring factory Go Mango Orange with a Top Banana tail stripe and is rife with creature comforts and modern amenities like Vintage Air, MSD ignition, custom gauges, and Baer Brakes.
Production numbers are lower, fan count is lower (although not their loyalty), even Mopar’s aftermarket presence is slimmer. That’s why seeing so many “Brand X” machines is good news.
As we said, we hoped the velvet ropes while people were still unpacking boxes, setting up their tables and displays and even hustled under a couple of forklifts to bring you a quick little snippet of raw and unaltered pics of SEMA settings up and some really cool HEMI and Wedge-powered Mopar iron. If you love it, great. If you’re looking for something else, trust me, you’ll have tons more to look at as the week goes on.
Enjoy!
While the nose leaves much to be desired - particularly in the company of its more stylish ancestor, this modern '11 R/T Charger looks quite menacing in satin black with a pair of Viper-esque gloss black stripes. Every inch of this Charger is coated in the stuff, including the back taillights and side markers.
Hopefully you remember the '1320' concept Challenger from a couple years ago. The Citron Yella and matte black Challenger was a predecessor to the current 'Drag Pak' edition Challengers competing in NHRA today, but this one was designed for the street with Mopar's 426ci Gen III HEMI making 540hp at the flywheel. If only this car was real. Seriously, Mopar. Get with it.
We nearly missed this blacked-out '68 as it sat behind Meguiar's 'Car Crazy' rig. Low to the ground on big 18's, the most noticeable feature on this B-Body is the ginormous tower of power reaching out of the hood with twin Pentastar-shaped butterflies.
