The year 2008 might seem like a long time ago, but it wasn’t. Just look at the Dodge Challenger, which, unlike yourself, hasn’t aged a day. But how can the used Dodge Challengers compete with the newer ones, given that they’ve kept the same cosmetics but come with more power, more features and a warranty?
Novelty. That’s how.
Novelty, in this Autotrader-listed 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 First Edition’s case, seems to be dressing up like it robbed the local Halloween store from the outside. If the demonic red headlights on this thing pulled up to your house and revved on Oct. 31, it might just send your kids (or cats) running.
The car, which came with an original 425 horsepower to the modern lineup’s high end of a rated 840 HP, really is something, and it gets stranger the more you look at it. It goes to painful lengths to remove most of the original branding, but makes sure to trace the outline of the Ram logo up front and highlights that it’s an SRT performance version. Its wheels are more Hot Wheels than real life, and only the back half got the wide-body treatment.
The interior meets expectations—diamond stitching on all of the seats, quilted doors, a custom sound system, and just about every random, excessive appearance feature you could imagine. It’s so absurd that it would be almost cool, aside from the questionable exterior choices.
But in the age when the current Dodge Challenger (2008-) may never die, the older ones have to find ways to make themselves stand out in the crowd. This is certainly one way to do that.