Skip to content
Jon Summers

Jon Summers

A Motoring Almanac

  • Home
  • Bio
    • My Fleet
  • Motorsport History
    • Academia
  • Podcast
  • YouTube
  • Road Tested
  • Travel
  • Toggle search form

July 4 and a Hemi Charger

Posted on September 7, 2018 By Jon Summers No Comments on July 4 and a Hemi Charger

10pm, July 4th, at the harborside, in Portland, Maine.

The Boy and I are parked up in a dark car park, he fast asleep, me awaiting the arrival of a Lobster roll. Lights off, engine off, surfing my phone.

Three African American gents come around the corner, clearly a little the worse for wear, very much enjoying the 4th. Each loudly wears the stars and stripes, and they have a little rap going among themselves.

As they pass the Charger, one pauses, making eye contact with me:

“That car’s f**king sick dog”

Before moving on into the night.

In case you needed any reminding of just how viscerally, unapolagetically, wonderfully American a 2017 white Hemi Charger is.

I had jotted down some other adjectives and thoughts to help me write this review, listed below. All are accurate, but nothing capture the zeitgeist of the car like that guy’s reaction.

– Wide seats – too big for me

– Burnout evidence – melted rubber all over rear inner fenders

– Rattles – sounds like part of the exhaust?

– Fun / Gutteral / Torquey

– Somehow both a higher tech yet a cruder version of my E55 AMG (Charger/300/Challenger are based off this ancient Daimler-Benz platform)

– “Chrysler’s design team can do the most with the least”

– Ralph Gillies, Fiat/Chrysler Design Chief. Met him twice. The second time he remembered my name. That shouldn’t influence my attitude to the product, but it does

– If a live axle Mustang is steak and eggs for breakfast, this is a Philly cheese steak for lunch.

It’s easy to be cynical about the age of the basic design, the shoddy build quality, the almost deliberate crudeness. But that misses the point. This beast has all the practicality of the traditional big ‘mrrican seedan, with high tech inside and a slick, contemporary exterior while delivering a muscle car driving experience. A bit silly, but oh so intoxicating.

Road Tested Tags:Dodge, Dodge Charger, Hemi Charger, Ralph Gilles

Post navigation

Previous Post: Archives – 2013 BMW 320d
Next Post: Archives: 2013 Chrysler 300

Related Posts

New Cars Thumbnail: How Goes the Electrification Revolution? Road Tested
Archives: 2016 Cadillac CT6 – the DTS Lives!!! Road Tested
New Cars For 2022 Road Tested
Reading: Ferrari: The Early Berlinettas & Competition Coupes, by Dean Bachelor Road Tested
From the Archives: Bangernomics, or the Arrival of the 1996 Honda Civic My Fleet
Archives: 2012 Golf GTi + Performance Chip = Brain Damage Road Tested

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Newsletter Sign-Up


Recent Posts

  • EP40: Go Out and Enjoy The Open Road While You Still Can
  • Summer Listening: Revisit the Motoring Historian & other MPN podcasts!
  • Crossover Episode: Pete Lyons’ Life Story
  • EP39: The Software Defined Car: The Death of Freedom
  • EP38: Best of the Bay Part 5 – ‘25 Toyota Camry, Range Rover, “decontented” Lucid Air – “That thing is SICK!”

Sponsored By

SAH
IMRRC

Support the IMRRC

Categories

  • Academia
  • Motorsport History
  • My Fleet
  • Podcast
  • Road Tested
  • Travel

RSS More MPN Podcast Episodes!

  • Life at Speed: Hurley Haywood (Pitstop Mini-sode) July 3, 2025 International Motor Racing Research Center
  • Evening With A Legend: Hurley Haywood July 1, 2025 ACO USA
  • Screen to Speed No.50: Phoebe Nongrum June 30, 2025 INIT eSports
  • Drive Thru News #58 - The Le Mans 3-peat! June 24, 2025 Gran Touring Motorsports
  • Understanding the stakes involved in Ferrari Concours Judging June 20, 2025 The Ferrari Marketplace
  • The Legend of the Ford GT40 (Preston Lerner) June 17, 2025 International Motor Racing Research Center
  • From Showroom to Le Mans: The Ferrari Journey June 13, 2025 The Ferrari Marketplace
  • Evening With A Legend: Jordan Taylor June 10, 2025 ACO USA
  • NHRA's newest phenom: Jordan DaCosta June 3, 2025 Gran Touring Motorsports
  • Ferrari's Finest: A Journey Through Special Editions May 30, 2025 The Ferrari Marketplace

Recent Comments

  • Martin Sanborne 7 on Flawed Icons of Americana: 2013 Chevrolet Corvette
  • Designing Emotion, Formula 1 & Ferrari - Exotic Car Marketplace on EP16: Designing Emotion, Formula 1 & Ferrari
  • The NB Center for American Automotive Heritage – Allentown, USA - Automuseums on Driving a 1933 Marmon V16
  • Corey on Copart: I Wasted My Time And Money, So You Don’t Have To
  • Jon Summers on Imola Part 2: Summers on Spanish TV ?

Copyright © 2008-Present, Jon Summers.

Powered by PressBook Grid Dark theme