A Brief History of The Dodge Challenger

A vast number of muscle cars have been produced over recent decades, but among the most popular has been the Dodge Challenger. The Dodge range is owned by Chrysler, a firm who has aspired to create the perfect products.

The Dodge Challenger life kicked off during 1970, with the first generation Challenger. Then from there, Dodge went on to build the second generation Challenger in 1978 and more recently the third generation Challenger in 2008.

How It Began, 1970 to 1974,First Generation

At the start was quite clear what cars would be the biggest competition for the Dodge Challenger. The building of the Challenger was clearly thought to be Dodges response to the likes of the massively popular Ford Mustang and also the Camaro, a pair of cars that made their mark on the muscle car sector during the 1960s, with the Mustang being credited for inventing the muscle car ,or Pony car genre.

Dodge got to work designing the best muscle car they could. Whilst it would be put up against the popular Mustang, it featured a greatly shorter wheelbase. Dodge certainly tried to do things differently, designing a car that was a lot more luxurious, giving drivers much more creature comforts.

Following on from their previous experience building the Charger during 1966, Dodge took for granted that Carl Cameron would be up to the challenge of designing the Challenger. Needless to say, he did an extremely nice job.

The luxuries that Carl Cameron built in to the car, with some great branding worked well for Dodge. By the end of 1974, Dodge had sold around 165000 Dodge Challengers.

Continued Success, 1978 to 1983,2nd Generation

With the massive sales Dodge had with the original Challenger, it was only natural that there had to be further successes to come. This eventually came in 1978 with the second generation Dodge Challenger, adding to its ever growing history.

The second generation Challenger was produced based on the Plymouth Sapporo that was by now growing in popularity. Chrysler tried to distinguish their Challenger as much as they could. As before, Chrysler opted for the sports, classy look.

Another thing to take account of of was the power plant set up. Instead of a big block, they chose to install a 2.6L 4 cylinder engine that although tiny, gave the Challenger a comfortable level of performance.

A New Lease Of Life, 2008 Onwards

It was unlikely that Chrysler would let their Challenger gradually erode its dedicated following. With that in mind 2007 saw them take deposits for the upcoming third generation Challenger. A selection of vehicles were to be built, not the least of which was a SRT8 that had included a hugely powerful 6.1l power plant.

With the third generation the Dodge Challenger keeps going strong, and most likely will continue to do so for a long time.

Jake Dean writes articles on various topics including automotive pieces. Next Concept Cars is the best website for news, reviews and details on the latest concept cars, future cars and the latest on the 2011 Dodge Challenger.