We have witnessed our loyal customers have so much intense passion and reverence for the incredibly powerful Challenger through the years here at Landmark Dodge of Morrow! Its reputation for legendary performance dates back to the 1960s, which was a turbulent yet very defining decade. The 1969 Challenger R/T offered a massive 7.0-liter V8 that could crank out an astonishing 425 horsepower while nailing down speeds up to 147 mph.
Years later in 2015, the best and brightest of our engineers set out to create a Challenger version with so much muscle that it would exist in asphalt-assaulting memories forever! It was then that the very first SRT Hellcat made an appearance, generating 707 horsepower with its monstrous 6.2-liter V8. The iconic roaring-cat logo existed as the design touch that added the salacious secret sauce for a startlingly quick finished package. Some earlier sketches during the design process portrayed the cat directly facing you, while another’s back was arched and ready to pounce.
A good deal of inspiration was drawn from the WW2-era Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter, which was employed in the Pacific against Japan. These fierce and incredibly tough fighters would often return to the carrier riddled with bullet holes, but still possess a good deal of might and muster to return at full force the next day. This reference evoked a sense of overall sturdiness and resilience to Dodge’s latest road-pounding creation. Once we had caught the bug of world-class high-performance, it was very difficult to just back off and stop sculpting such track-dominating greatness.
In 2019, the Hellcat Redeye saw the horsepower factor jump up another hefty notch, with a final output of 797 horsepower. The magnificent 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI in the Redeye is similar to what’s under the hood of the Dodge Demon, with just an ever-so-slight tune-down job. The block is built from very durable high-cast iron, finished off with a very cool red paint dip to identify it as a Redeye. This phenomenal powertrain also stands out with deck plate honing, which ultimately refines piston and cylinder output.
The determined and quite excited Slash Gear review crew took the 2019 Challenger for a spirited drive, and illustriously “wrote home” about how awesome its 797 horsepower is. At that time, Dodge was faithfully claiming that the powertrain was something akin to having “a double shot of espresso dropped into it”, while also offering segment-leading handling capabilities. Line Lock, Launch Reserve, and Launch Control were three ingenious tools that aided with record-crushing straight-line capability along with the model’s newfound emergence as a cornering champion.
Here the crew immensely enjoyed the revved-up shenanigans of Sport Mode, which was a delightful concoction of smoke and thrilling theatrics. During typical asphalt cruises, the ride was not at all too harsh, and you could unwrap everything gleefully in a hurry to enjoy the most ridiculous power player out there at the time. As the end of Challenger production became quite imminent, many diehard fans were mourning its loss. Fortunately, there is still a bit of hope for anyone wanting to enjoy the thrills of modern muscle performance with a crate engine. Mopar’s recent launch of a Hellcat Redeye Crate Engine still dutifully delivers up to 807 horsepower, and 717 lb-ft of torque.
Outright legends such as this are an iconic part of our history here at Landmark: we hope to see you here this spring for a test drive!
