The gang at AutoWeek talked Dodge into letting them video a tour of the Detroit-area warehouse where Dodge keeps the family jewels, from Le Mans-winning Vipers to Power Wagons and even the original Neon concept. But why is the big-wheel Hemi there?
In many ways, this video is as much about rare cars as it's a two-minute study in frustration and better roads never taken. Building the M80 concept small pickup from 2002 would have been a smart move in retrospect — smarter than the Chrysler Crossfire — but DaimlerChrysler dithered itself out of the idea. No one really believed the Dodge Demon roadster would be built, but as we now know, it wasn't even a preview of coming attractions so much as a last cry before Cerberus cratered the company.
The true test of whether Dodge has made a comeback will be when it has to sell off the Hemi-powered Zamboni to put something in this warehouse that deserves to be preserved.