Hellcats At The Dream Cruise

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

If all the Hellcat news has whetted your appetite for an in-person meeting, here’s your chance.


Come see the man who pretended to set the cross-country illegal top speed record yo at Woodward and 13 Mile. While you’re at it, you can see both the Hellcat models and over sixty Dodge Vipers. Yeah, it’s only Friday, and personally I wouldn’t go to the Dream Cruise if you threatened my life — but if you want an early look at the 707-horsepower monsters that might go down in history as the apex of the second musclecar era, that’s the spot.

Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • SexCpotatoes SexCpotatoes on Aug 16, 2014

    Personally, I don't like the exhaust note. It sounds like it's idling at 4000 rpms with all the fast popping. If you want a lopey idle, and mean sounding exhaust the old 5.0 mustang H.O. engine with 2.5" exhaust and no mufflers is music to my ears.

  • I chatted with Dodge chief Tim Kuniskis who said there was more like this (Challenger/Charger) to come; chatted with Ralph Gilles, said hi to Richard Rawlings and various other folks. Chrysler/Dodge had great area at Woodward

  • Analoggrotto Junior Soprano lol
  • GrumpyOldMan The "Junior" name was good enough for the German DKW in 1959-1963:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKW_Junior
  • Philip I love seeing these stories regarding concepts that I have vague memories of from collector magazines, books, etc (usually by the esteemed Richard Langworth who I credit for most of my car history knowledge!!!). On a tangent here, I remember reading Lee Iacocca's autobiography in the late 1980s, and being impressed, though on a second reading, my older and self realized why Henry Ford II must have found him irritating. He took credit for and boasted about everything successful being his alone, and sidestepped anything that was unsuccessful. Although a very interesting about some of the history of the US car industry from the 1950s through the 1980s, one needs to remind oneself of the subjective recounting in this book. Iacocca mentioned Henry II's motto "Never complain; never explain" which is basically the M.O. of the Royal Family, so few heard his side of the story. I first began to question Iacocca's rationale when he calls himself "The Father of the Mustang". He even said how so many people have taken credit for the Mustang that he would hate to be seen in public with the mother. To me, much of the Mustang's success needs to be credited to the DESIGNER Joe Oros. If the car did not have that iconic appearance, it wouldn't have become an icon. Of course accounting (making it affordable), marketing (identifying and understanding the car's market) and engineering (building a car from a Falcon base to meet the cost and marketing goals) were also instrumental, as well as Iacocca's leadership....but truth be told, I don't give him much credit at all. If he did it all, it would have looked as dowdy as a 1980s K-car. He simply did not grasp car style and design like a Bill Mitchell or John Delorean at GM. Hell, in the same book he claims credit for the Brougham era four-door Thunderbird with landau bars (ugh) and putting a "Rolls-Royce grille" on the Continental Mark III. Interesting ideas, but made the cars look chintzy, old-fashioned and pretentious. Dean Martin found them cool as "Matt Helm" in the late 1960s, but he was already well into middle age by then. It's hard not to laugh at these cartoon vehicles.
  • Dwford The real crime is not bringing this EV to the US (along with the Jeep Avenger EV)
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Another Hyunkia'sis? 🙈
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