Hot rods spice up a green future

The Dodge Challenger 1320 takes its name from the 1,320 feet that comprise a drag racing quarter-mile race track. To create the 1320, Dodge started with its race-only Mopar Drag Pak Dodge Challenger, but then made it street legal. Power comes from a Mopar 556-horsepower, 426-cubic-inch Hemi crate engine that exhales through an electrically controlled, side-pipes system that bypasses the mufflers on the strip but not the street. A custom Dynatrac rear housing holds Mopar Dana 60 components with a selectable ARB locking differential - again, allowing all-out performance on the straight-line drag strip or turning ability on the street. The 1320 rides on Mopar police wheels, widened in the rear and wrapped with street-legal Mickey Thompson drag radials. Inside are seats from a Dodge Viper and a Hurst shifter, but the rear seat, center console and radio are removed to reduce weight. The color is Acidic Hue, a non-metallic paint, with matte-black graphics.

Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News

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