An unusual vehicle has managed to find it’s way into Jay Leno’s garage this Christmas. Purposefully built as a troop carrier in its previous life, this 1942 Dodge Carryall has been restored and modified to a level that will make it the envy of the restomod fraternity. It was part of Dodge’s light military vehicle line-up that included weapon carriers, mobile workshops and several other applications.
Built to support the allied efforts in World War II, more than 255,000 such vehicles were produced in the span of about 5 years. It’s not known how many of them are still on the road today, many have probably ended up in salvage yards or live on as parts of other similar vehicles.
In this episode of Jay Leno’s garage, the former Tonight’s Show host gives this custom creation a once over, and speaks with the owner about its history. Like other guests on the show, this particular Dodge has an important story to tell. Since it rolled off the production line, the Carryall has seen it’s fair share of action, and since its been given a life lane, that should continue for the foreseeable future.
Check out the latest video and let us know if the Dodge Carryall deserves to be celebrated for it’s place in history, and as one of the nicest restomoded vintage trucks that currently roam the public roads.
Classic muscle cars are still in high demand in the US. The cool factor, myriad of aftermarket parts and powerful engines, are just some of the reasons why these cars are presently able to exchange hands for huge sums of money.
Jay Leno, the former Tonight Show host, has several of them. But the latest car that rolled into his shop, is something truly extraordinary. Believe it or not, this Dodge Charger was found in Sweden by Johan Eriksson, who painstakingly restored it to ‘beyond brand new’.
It was initially a race car but years of neglect had caused severe deterioration to the bodywork. Thankfully, Eriksson and his small team, managed to restore the car completely with the use of various different parts. Many of the interior’s trim pieces were crafted from aluminium.
Despite what it may look like, this 1968 Dodge Charger RTR is far from stock. In fact, it has more in common with Frankenstein than an original bearing its namesake. The car sits on a Corvette Chassis and is powered by a twin turbo V10 engine from a Viper.
It caused a bit of a stir at SEMA this year, where many stopped and took notice of the excellent level of workmanship that was carried out. The entire restoration process was tastefully done, allowing the car to look almost bone-stock from the outside, but revolutionary on the inside.
Check out the latest Jay Leno’s Garage video and let us know what you think of Eriksson’s creation and whether his efforts deserve more praise.
Dodge has announced a special edition variant of its ever popular Ram 1500 pick-truck as a send off for the 2017 model year vehicle. Called the 2018 Ram 1500 Hydro Blue Sport, the Blue body-coloured vehicle features a black-decaled performance hood, body-colored grille with black billet inserts and black R-A-M letter badges, as well as other upgrades.
Apart from this, the vehicle also receives a body colored front fascia, rear bumper, side mirrors and door handles. The 4×2 model rolls on 22-inch aluminum wheels while the 4×4 one, gets slightly smaller polished 20-inch ones.
On the inside, this particular Ram gets blue colour-matched highlight stitching on the instrument panel, heated steering wheel and door trim. There’s also Blue Sport accents spread throughout including the Ram head logos that are on the headrests. Blue anodized surfaces make up the instrument panel bezels, center console trim and door spears.
“The custom look and high-impact colors have been well received in the marketplace and this new Ram 1500 Hydro Blue Sport will surely stand out on dealers’ lots and in customers’ driveways,” said Mike Manley, Head of Jeep & Ram Brands.
“Enthusiasts demand that their trucks get noticed and our Ram 1500 Sport lineup delivers a durable, powerful alternative with great visual appeal,” he added.
According to the automaker, there will only be 2,000 examples of the Hydo Blue Ram will ever be produced for the US market, which should make it a rare offering. That said, the Hydro Blue pearl paint job is available as an option for customers who purchase a Ram 1500 Sport crew cab with short-bed body styles and the 5.7-liter HEMI® V-8.
The Ram 1500 Hydro Blue Sport will go on sale this month and should be of interest to those looking for a pick-up truck with far more street credibility.
Dodge’s Durango SRT is set to be one of the most powerful 3-row SUV in existence. Based on the standard Durango, this SRT version gets a whole host of upgrades most notable of which is the 6.2-litre (392 cubic-inch) HEMI V8. It produces 475bhp and is able to launched the car from 0-100km/h in just 4.4 seconds, mind-blowing numbers considering what is supposed to be a people carrier.
New exterior tweaks include a widebody design that include aggressive new bumpers, fenders and skirting that give the entire vehicle a sporty appearance. The SRT hood scoop on the bonnet, is fully functional with an air inlet duct flanked by head extractors.
Inside, there’s (in Dodge’s words) Demonic Red Laguna Leahter upholstery a new carbon fibre trim with Durango SRT branding, paddle shifters, as well as heated and ventilated front and heated second-row captain’s chairs with embroidered SRT logos .
As icing on the cake, owners of this vehicle will be given a one full-day session at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, to help them hone their skills of taming this beast of an SUV.
“The new 2018 Dodge Durango SRT is America’s fastest, most powerful and most capable three-row SUV,” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Cars Brands, Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT – FCA North America. “This is what you get, when you take everything great about the Durango and combine it with the performance of the Charger SRT: a 12-second quarter mile, 8,700-pound-toy hauling, three-row muscle car.”
Changes that were made that set it apart from the base vehicle include the following:
New performance-tuned AWD system
Standard TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission specifically calibrated for the Dodge Durango SRT
New Brembo high-performance six-piston (front) and four-piston (rear) calipers and vented rotors
New SRT seven-mode drive system
New Track Mode delivers maximum performance track driving with 160-millisecond shifts and up to 70 percent of engine torque to the rear wheels
Sophisticated Active Damping System opens and closes the Durango SRT’s suspension’s damper valves
Stiffer front springs (3 percent), stiffer rear springs (16 percent) and stiffer rear sway bar (18 percent)
Dodge is offering the vehicle with seven different exterior colours, which include B5 Blue, Billet Clear Coat, Bruiser Grey Clear Coat, DB Black Clear Coat, Granite Clear Coat, Octane Red Pearl Coat and White Knuckle Clear Coat.
Customers of the Dodge Durango SRT can expect to see this vehicle in showrooms by the end of 2017 with prices near to that of the automaker’s high performance muscle cars.
The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is probably the most powerful drag focused muscle car you can buy. It has a monstrous 6.2-litre HEMI V8 that delivers 840bhp and 1044Nm of torque but shares only 38% of its parts with the less powerful Hellcat V8. It has a new crankshaft, pistons, connecting rods and supercharger.
Built at the Saltillo Engine Plant in Mexico, the Demon’s engine cylinder heads are machined on dedicated CNC machines to ensure perfect production. The engine block is deck plate honed to minimise bore distortions. And once completely assembled, the powerplant is dyno tested for 42 minutes under load up to 5,200rpm before it is approved for use.
Here are some facts about the engine:
– Forged alloy steel crankshaft with 90.9-millimeter stroke and revised balancing
– Powder forged connecting rods; upgraded shank and big end; revised ultra-high tensile fasteners
– Flow doubled on piston cooling oil jets
– Revised design valve springs
– 33 percent increase in oiling for valve springs and rocker tips – lubrication and cooling
– Single-groove collects on valve stems for improved stability
– Fuel injector pressure increased 27 percent
– Oil pan and windage tray optimized for high acceleration – tested up to 1.8g
The car is fitted with a TorqueFlite 8HP90 Eight-speed automatic transmission that is able to change gears in just 400 miliseconds. And the Demon’s drivertrain consists of a limited slip differential that that has a 20% thicker prop shaft than the Hellcat’s, made of high strength, low alloy steel tube and high strength steel stub shafts. The strengthened internals are able to cope with the mind blowing acceleration launch forces of up to 1.8 g.
Unlike some muscle cars, the hood scoop on the demon is functional and is the largest of its kind for a production car at 292 square centimeters. It is part of a high flow, low restriction intake system that helps deliver cool air into the supercharger – the air-flow is rated at 33 cubic meters per minute. A another feature worthy of mention is the SRT Power Chiller. It redirects air conditioning refrigerant from cabin to chiller unit, which reduces charge air temperature by -8 degrees Celsius.
During a 1/4 mile drag run, a Demon’s engine sucks in 4.9 cubic meters of air, which is the equivalent to the lung capacity of 816 humans combined. Putting that into perspective, in just 244 meters, the car sucks in as much volume of air as that found in its cabin – that’s a lot.
In order to keep the high performance engine cool, the Demon has a very efficient cooling system that is able to remove as much as 258kW of heat from the engine when running at the limit. That same amount of heat can boil nearly 950 ml of water in just 1.2 seconds.
A remarkable car by any standards, the Dodge SRT Demon is only available to purchase in North America for now. It’s an amazing technological achievement for drag racing, but for anything else, it falls well short of the mark.
Leading up to its big reveal at the upcoming New York International Motorshow, Dodge has released a series of teaser videos of its Challenger on steroids, the Challenger Demon performing a number of heroic feats. The latest of the series, called “Lock and Load” is one that demonstrates/advertises the automaker’s drag focused launch system.
In conventional cars, to get a perfect launch from a standstill, one would have to keep one foot firmly planted on the brake pedal while the other coerces the accelerator pedal to raise the engine rpm to the optimal level for launch. Well, with the Dodge Challenger Demon, most of the process is automated.
Named the TransBrake, this system enables the Demon to accelerate from standstill at the optimum level that both engine and transmission would allow. It is said to “deliver power delivery and higher engine launch torque potential by locking the output shaft of the automatic transmission to keep the vehicle stationary until launch”. Basically, its engineering jargon for preventing the vehicle from moving until the optimum engine speeds are achieved.
The automaker says that, over the conventional method, TransBrake provides improved (30 percent quicker) reactions times and more consistent launches. Once you’ve prepared for the launch, you only need to flick the steering wheel mounted paddle shifter to engage the launch and the Challenger Demon will start accelerating like a rocket.
When it is eventually unveiled next month, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon should still have a 5.7-litre Hemi V8 engine but the state of tune may differ from that of the original and more potent Hellcat. But for the rest of the specifications, we will have to wait until the actual reveal date to know for sure, till then, enjoy these videos:
