Dodge Challenger (English)

A partir de hoje, estaremos re-postando alguns artigos, desta vez em inglês, devido ao grande nº de visitas internacionais. 
Starting from today, we're reposting some articles, this time in English, due to the great number of international visits.

Today's car, another success of Dodge, was and still is a strong competitor to the dual Mustang / Camaro. We'll talk today about the Challenger.

History: The Challenger, throughout its history, has had three generations: the 1st (1970-1974) and the 3rd and most current (2008-today) belong to the select group of'' muscle cars''. The 2nd (1978-1983) was not very successful because it is a common ride car, like the 1980s Charger.

1st Generation (1970-1974): The Challenger was born as an answer to the Ford Mustang, which started the wave of'''' pony cars, and the Chevrolet Camaro, and was one of the cars using Chrysler's "E-body", along with the Plymouth Barracuda, a little lower than its competitors. The exterior was designed by Carl Cameron, responsable of Charger's outside. Despite being well received by the public (with 76,935 units produced for the 1970 model), the Challenger was criticized by the press, and the segment of the pony cars began to decline. The production of 1st generation ended in 1974 with more than 165,000 units produced. The engine range was plentiful, ranging from six-cylinder Hemi V8 to Slant 6 in-line. The transmission options were the 3-speed (manual and automatic with TorqueFlite system, exclusive to the Chrysler models) and 4-speed (manual only).

Dodge Challenger R / T 1970 (Source: Wikipedia)

2nd Generation (1978-1983): This phase of the Challenger was nothing less than the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda entry in the United States. The vehicle was also imported by Plymouth, named Sapporo. This generation has sold 12 thousand to 14 thousand units per year. Obviously, the engines were smaller (four-cylinder, rather than the six-cylinder and V8 from the previous model).

Dodge Challenger 1979 (Source: www.cargurus.com)

3rd Generation (2008-today): Presented simultaneously in the Car Halls of Chicago and Philadelphia, the new Challenger rescued the sportiness of the 1st model. Many components of vehicles from Mercedes-Benz have been incorporated, as the W210 E-Class rear suspension, 5-speed W5A580 automatic transmission and ESP (estability control). The engines do not make ugly: 3.6 L V6 Pentastar (same as the current Charger), 3.5 LV6 SOHC and 5.8 L V8 Hemi. Further than Mercedes transmission, it also came the 6-speed Tremec TR-6060 manual transmission (fitted to the Corvette and Camaro).

2013 Dodge Challenger (source: ericpetersautos.com)

Movies: The 1970s model was the centerpiece of Vanishing Point (1971), but appeared in other films such as 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and the comedy The Bucket List (2007) with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The latest model appeared briefly at the end of Fast and Furious 5 (2011).

Series: The Challenger is one of the main vehicles at NCIS (6th season - 2008).

Videogames: With constant appearances in the Need for Speed ​​franchise, the R / T 440 1971 model appeared for the 1st time in Carbon, and continued in ProStreet and Undercover. The R / T 426 Hemi appeared in The Run, The World and current generation still appeared as a concept in Carbon, ProStreet, Undercover, Shift, Shift 2: Unleashed and World. The 1st official appearance as a model for sale (in this case the SRT-8) was in Nitro (exclusive to the Wii and DS platforms), and continued in Hot Pursuit (2010) and The Run. The latest participation was in Most Wanted ( 2012), with the SRT-8 392 model.

Driver:. San Francisco highlighted the R / T model 1970, being the official vehicle of Detective John Tanner.