Through a press-vehicle company, I had the chance to spend a week in a Bright Silver Metallic 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8, the one with the 6.1-liter Hemi V8 and the six-speed manual gearbox. Translation? The thing rocked. I prefer European steel almost always — but after seven days of stoplight challenges (not at my instigation, I swear), The Dukes of Hazzard movie soundtrack spinning in the CD changer (like you wouldn't have done the same thing) and rumbling up and down the quiet, mansion-laden streets of Highland Park in Dallas (alarming the locals and their AKC-registered canines), I emerged a changed man. It is the most automotive fun you can have for $40,000. Thumbs went up, valets went wild and normally jaded socialites went faint. There's something utterly naughty about the Challenger — a gas-guzzling guilty pleasure. It is actually quite architectural to look at (the cheap-ish interior being the only letdown in the design department) and much bigger than expected — it's got presence to go with its cojones. And I maintain that if you stripped off the Dodge badges and glued on "Maserati," everybody would be toasting your impeccable continental taste. Unless you got it in the garish Hemi Orange. Which, secretly, I wished I did. Oh yeah, way naughty.
I loved Dukes of Hazard growing up. I had their lunch box and sleeping bag. You would have thought you would have called, letting me know that you had perhaps one of the coolest cars for a whole week.
ReplyDeleteIf only I'd known about your Dukes of Hazzard thing, I would've.
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