When we introduced the Brazen Charger, we had no idea the avalanche of responses we'd get. Daily e-mails and letters come to our mailbox from Mopar enthusiasts all over the nation wanting to pitch in with ideas and concepts. Sure, some ideas are a little out there with calls for a cross-country Cannonball Run grudge match between the finalized Brazen and the SRT-8 Charger, or a return to a classic B-Body with hidden tweaks to lighten the hefty beast, add gobs more horsepower, but remain in close-to-stock trim, basically, try to make a low e.t. sleeper. there's nothing too "sleeper" about a Hemi Mopar, but something that looks like a stock Charger, but runs like a door-slammer would be a car worthy of the Hemi legacy and entertaining for Mopar Muscle fans.
Sure, all the big-title musclecar magazines are great at covering exquisite specialty-built machines handcrafted by some of the most prominent and highly paid automakers in the market, but, unfortunately, most of us can't afford to ship our cars off to Chip Foose or Boyd Coddington. So, we're left to figure out for ourselves how to bend, cut, and shape the parts and pieces we need to make our Mopars something great. It's ingenuity and sweat over money and cents.
Luckily for us, Cameron Shaw of Garden Grove, California, volunteered his fabrication and welding talents and the use of his backyard garage to help install a set of Auto Rust Technician's subframe connectors and torque boxes, along with a Competition Engineering six-point cage in an effort to keep our Charger from cracking at the seams at the first day on the track.
Before we began, the Charger's original 383 powerplant and 727 TorqueFlite transmission had been pulled and sold to a local 19-year-old girl wanting to shoehorn a big-block in her '69 Dart with the intent of blasting her boyfriend's '63 Impala out of the water. Happy to assist, the engine was exchanged for cash. The Charger's interior had also been taken out, as nearly nothing was anywhere near salvageable. The carpet, headliner, and package tray were garbage and were tossed in the trash, along with all the 36-year-old insulation still clinging to the roof. parts of the floor were treated with POR15 rust inhibitor since spots of cancer had begun to appear around the drain holes.
As mentioned before, this cage wasn't meant to totally adhere to NHRA standards; rather we wanted it to be safe, strong, functional, and pleasing to look at. Truly committed race cars will require following the NHRA rulebook step-by-step to pass tech. The crossbar might have to be secured permanently, and the diagonal supports that are included in the Competition Engineering kit might be added at a later date if the Charger's performance allows us to compete in a quicker time bracket.
If you want to see more metal mayhem and fab work we did to our Charger, visit our web site at www.moparmusclemagazine.com.
