Out of the muscle cars ever produced, the Dodge Challenger remains one of the most popular among enthusiasts. The Dodge brand is a department of the auto producing giant Chrysler and Dodges success carries on even decades after the first Dodge autos hit the roads.
The Dodge Challenger has so far come in three generations – those aptly being the first, second and third generations. The original car went on sale way back in 1970 and with the recent 3rd generation version they remain selling well even now.
How It Began, 1970 to 1974,First Generation
It was quite clear what cars would be the biggest competition for the Dodge Challenger. The building of the car was clearly thought to be Dodges answer to the likes of the massively popular Ford Mustang and even the Camaro, a pair of vehicles that made their mark on the muscle car market in the 60s, with the Mustang being credited for creating the muscle cargenre.
There were a number of areas that were quite apparent when consumers started looking at the fine details of the Challenger. For starters it had a long wheelbase and was comparatively luxurious when compared to a lot of the other vehicles. Essentially, it was the street muscle car of the future, and everybody wanted one.
Thanks to previous experience designing the Charger in 1966, Dodge assumed Carl Cameron would step up to the challenge of styling the new Challenger. Clearly, he did a very nice job.
The comforts that Carl Cameron built in to the car, in addition to some excellent branding all worked well for the company. By the end of 1974, Chrysler had sold around 165000 Dodge Challengers.
Continued Success, 1978 to 1983,2nd Generation
Chrysler obviously realized quickly that with the Challenger they had struck gold and with good reason were not about to abandon that. The design was good, the performance was right and they soon had a large following. They left it four years and then developed the 2nd generation Challenger for release in 1978.
The main thing that was noticeable here was that the new Dodge Challenger was more or less the same as the Plymouth Sapporo. That being said, Dodge made sure they produced this vehicle their own way by updating the interior and exterior styling to distinguish it to some degree as more luxurious and ensure that it offered a much sportier style in comparison.
Whilst Performance was something that the first generation Challenger did not go begging, the second generation Challenger did surprise a few people. It was sporting a 2.6L power plant, which seemed fairly tiny. With that said, it had 4 cylinders, so the engine, for its size and weight, was more than adequate and it soon became well respected for being a great race car.
The Second Rebirth, 2008, Third Generation
Clearly modern manufactures attempt to keep with trends, and Chrysler knew that they had something special here with the retro styling taking off, so did not wish to stop back in the 1980s. 2008 therefore saw the release of their third generation vehicle to many highly anticipating followers.
With the 3rd generation the Dodge Challenger still lives on, and most likely will continue to do so for a long time.
Jake Dean writes guides on various topics including automotive pieces. Next Concept Cars is the greatest place for news, reviews and information on the latest concept cars, future cars and the latest on the 2011 Dodge Challenger.
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