Driving my son's Hellcat

-
ragtopfury

ragtopfury

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2011
Messages
4,126
Reaction score
4,775
Location
Manchester, MD
2 months ago Jake bought a 2016 Hellcat Challenger. We call it the purple kitten. I drove it the 2 hours home. Played with it just a little. GOBS of power!
Well the stupid PA dealer, where PA does not have a front tag, ran 2 screws into the bumper for their advertising tag. Pics of the car in the sale ad had no holes. Anyway, he's away for wrk this week so I dropped it off at a local body shop to have the bumper corrected. Drove it like his grandmother would and even at that, it is amazing how little go pedal you need to give it to cruise thru town at noon.
Before and after the dealer screwed the bumper. They are actually doing an investigation about who there screwed the tag on and talking about reimbursement of the body shop fees.

Damn this thing is sweet.....

108950.jpeg


106413.jpeg
 
I would make them replace the bumper or refund my money, You can't fix stupid but you can buy a car anywhere.
 
Nice Car! I've driven some modern day performance, and it's really impressive.
 
brian6pac said:
I would make them replace the bumper or refund my money, You can't fix stupid but you can buy a car anywhere.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I told the manager of the main dealership that. Gave him those same pics and he said they will make it right. Jake wasn't going to worry about it. I said that's BS - give me half when they pay up. LOL
 
That’s an absolutely beautiful car! And whoever put screws through that bumper should be slapped! I think it looks stupid putting plates on the front of modern cars, especially modern muscle. Glad Kentucky is smart enough to not require two plates
 
Thanks for sharing
I can relate, even though my sons is a 15 Scat Pac big block it is crazy how fast these cars are.
Oh that color !:thumbsup:

My oldest sons 2015, 1 of 2 in this package

20210219_171453.jpg
 
I know what you’re saying. I bought my Ram in Indiana and the dummies put a front dealership ad plate on it. I was annoyed but, I just put my car club plate in its place.
 
Last edited:
ragtopfury said:
2 months ago Jake bought a 2016 Hellcat Challenger. We call it the purple kitten. I drove it the 2 hours home. Played with it just a little. GOBS of power!
Well the stupid PA dealer, where PA does not have a front tag, ran 2 screws into the bumper for their advertising tag. Pics of the car in the sale ad had no holes. Anyway, he's away for wrk this week so I dropped it off at a local body shop to have the bumper corrected. Drove it like his grandmother would and even at that, it is amazing how little go pedal you need to give it to cruise thru town at noon.
Before and after the dealer screwed the bumper. They are actually doing an investigation about who there screwed the tag on and talking about reimbursement of the body shop fees.

Damn this thing is sweet.....

View attachment 1715714191

View attachment 1715714192
Click to expand...

Gorgeous ride!
When the Big 3 came out with their "throw back" body styles, Chrysler nailed it with the Challenger.
Ford kicked it all off with the 2005 Mustang, styled after the 69/70 Mach 1 cars. And, credit due, they did a hell of a job with those. I would put the 2005-present Mustang body style a close second behind the Challenger.
Chevy completely missed the mark with the Camaro, it's nothing like the Gen 1 cars.
Chrysler needed a 4 door muscle car for all of the family men who felt they couldn't buy the new 2 door Challenger, but the Charger just doesn't have any of the styling components of the 68-74 cars.
So, I would say the new models rank Challenger, Mustang, Camaro, Charger.
Just my opinion.
 
Yes, I am amazed at the Hellcats...the power, the build, and they will get 25-26 MPG at normal highway driving. The problem is actually driving them normal but I have a time or two. We bought our Charger HC in Philly and drove it back to middle TN., when we got home it was showing 25 MPG ave. Sorry to hear about the bumper holes...some people just don't get it. :soapbox:
 
ragtopfury said:
2 months ago Jake bought a 2016 Hellcat Challenger. We call it the purple kitten. I drove it the 2 hours home. Played with it just a little. GOBS of power!

Damn this thing is sweet.....

View attachment 1715714191

View attachment 1715714192
Click to expand...

That’s a nice ride and I bet you had fun behind the wheel! You son has good taste.

I’ve put over 350 miles on a regular Hellcat and 450 miles on a Hellcat Widebody around a couple of tracks and it was tough not wanting to be greedy with my right foot. There was one 90 degree left hand corner that required heaving breaking going into it and a long straight away coming out of it. It was so tempting to get my foot into it too early exiting the corner which resulted in many smoke shows in second gear (it was a manual). Playing with the traction control and suspension settings was interesting, especially in track mode. Right rear tire suffered a failure at the end of one of the days.

922559C3-298C-43E8-9DA4-B95FABC06398.jpeg
B953B241-58A4-45C2-88E7-5512505A7BBA.jpeg
 
My close call!! In 68 I ordered a 69 Charger R/T and since I wasn't living local gave the dealer owner explicit instructions not to put any advertising on it. When I went to pick it up a shop guy was standing at the trunk with a drill in his hand to add the metal dealer name. I think everyone in the building heard me when I yelled at that idiot to not touch my car. I caught him in time!!
 
Washington State requires a front plate. It sucks, but not too bad on my '70 Swinger 340. Mother Mopar made a chrome bumper with it in mind.
 
This thread just shows why there is another thread about declining values in old iron. It's a no brainer. Spend 100K on a resto mod? No thanks. Give me one of these. True engineering with countless hours spend on testing and reliability. It will never be in my cards to own one but it's nice to see them on the road.....

JW
 
Not many new cars are made with the front plate in mind. The new BMW 3/4 series comes to mind.
 
I found a kit on ebay that lets you mount a plate to the lower grill - managed to not have any holes in mine - Not sure what a Hellcat would be like but this one is scary fast also - made me realize how much horsepower would be enough for me on the streets

IMG_3693.jpg
 
dadsbee said:
Front plate just ruins the looks, but we have no choice up here. Wife's '17
View attachment 1715714340
Click to expand...
Yeah, you have a choice. You can leave it off. The law here requires it but after 6 years of ownership, I've never been cited for it despite being stopped for speeding 3 times.
Challenger 3-14 241.JPG


I made it a point to tell the dealer when we ordered it to NOT install the front license plate bracket, PLEASE leave it in the trunk.
They obliged.
 
ragtopfury said:
2 months ago Jake bought a 2016 Hellcat Challenger. We call it the purple kitten. I drove it the 2 hours home. Played with it just a little. GOBS of power!
Well the stupid PA dealer, where PA does not have a front tag, ran 2 screws into the bumper for their advertising tag. Pics of the car in the sale ad had no holes. Anyway, he's away for wrk this week so I dropped it off at a local body shop to have the bumper corrected. Drove it like his grandmother would and even at that, it is amazing how little go pedal you need to give it to cruise thru town at noon.
Before and after the dealer screwed the bumper. They are actually doing an investigation about who there screwed the tag on and talking about reimbursement of the body shop fees.

Damn this thing is sweet.....

View attachment 1715714191

View attachment 1715714192
Click to expand...

Wish I could afford one !
 
Wish I could afford one as well, Bob. I guess he took to heart my story of how I should have bought a Viper before I got married in 94..... A good boy, he is. LOL
As for the front tag, we are supposed to run o e here in MD. Had they installed the bracket in the center, he'd have lived with it. But nooooooo - the dork lot boy used one dimple and made his own hole off center and crooked.
Jake did buy an aftermarket bracket the mounts to the underside of the splitter and holds the tag up in the lower grill area kind of like Bill's . Can't see the mounting and the tag holder portion is removable.
 
billsdartgt said:
I found a kit on ebay that lets you mount a plate to the lower grill - managed to not have any holes in mine -
View attachment 1715714378
Click to expand...
That would have been nice, but is where the adaptive cruise / brake warning sensor is...
2017challengergtsept32020 009.JPG


Kern Dog said:
Yeah, you have a choice. You can leave it off.
Click to expand...
Guess our cops are a little more desperate for laying $300 fines, or I certainly wouldn't have messed up my Bird to comply..
bee&birdjuly182019 006.JPG
 
They are an impressive beast. I work for Chrysler and do some specialized testing on nearly every vehicle we make. A portion of the testing requires many W.O.T. tests. Some of my recent favorite vehicles to test have been the Hellcat (Challengers, Chargers & TRXs), Vipers, and the 6.4L 300s.

I feel your pain with the dealer added holes in the front fascia. My daughter bought a Jeep, here in metro-Detroit, then got a job in Boston. Massachusetts requires a front and rear plates, so she took her Jeep to a Jeep dealer where they "installed" the front plate. When she came back home I removed the front plate and discovered 2 sets of holes in the front fascia. Apparently the bonehead (he who screwed the plate to the car) couldn't find the center of the car. Unfortunately, she doesn't want to drive it back to Boston to have that dealership fix the fascia. Idiots!!
 
billsdartgt said:
I found a kit on ebay that lets you mount a plate to the lower grill - managed to not have any holes in mine - Not sure what a Hellcat would be like but this one is scary fast also - made me realize how much horsepower would be enough for me on the streets

View attachment 1715714378
Click to expand...
I think I've seen you Challenger running around Lynnwood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top