Sometimes, life is simple: you buy a damaged muscle car at an auction, easily fix some issues, add some personal touches and end up with a sparkling machine. Well, you might be tempted to think this Dodge Charger police car, which received a pickup truck conversion in just two days, is an example of that. However, the Mopar UTE, which is nicknamed Roadblock, is quite the opposite of an easy build.
By now, you might’ve come across modern-day Dodge Chargers converted to pickup trucks. Almost all of these coupe utilities were transformed using a kit built by Rhode Island-based Smyth Performance. And this one is no exception.
However, before reaching the point where it could have (the bulk of) the conversion done is 48 hours, this 2008 Charger Pursuit went through a lot. The car gave its main builder, YouTuber Jared Pink of Wrench Every Day, a hard time, hence its Roadblock moniker.
To summarize the history of the project, Jared started by buying a Dodge Charger police car replica from the not-that-popular Neef For Speed movie of 2014 (kind of like B Is for Build got their Bugatti replica that’s being turned into a mid-engined 1967 Mustang).
The troubled history of the “Roadblock” Charger cop car
However, the vehicle was a V6, had been rebuilt twice and came with a salvage title. It was seriously damaged (think: subframe), and converting it to a V8 required a different engine harness and wiring. Thus, Jared got a hold of an actual ’08 Charger Pursuit. This was in better shape, had a clean title, but was far from perfect, since its 5.7L HEMI was blown.
After considering his options, the builder decided to borrow as many movie car parts for the cop car as possible, while also fixing the engine situation. And the result was Project Roadblock, which then had its rear section smashed by a three knocked out by the weather. As such, Jared decided to make lemonade, calling in some friends to (re)build the machine into an UTE.
Those friends are YouTuber Freddy Hernandez (aka Tavarish), who has experience in terms of turning ruined Chargers into performance monsters while against the clock and professional builder Jack D Thornton (aka Custom cars and collision).
48 hours for a pickup truck conversion
Given the cast of this adventure, the guys decided they could cut up the Charger and install the Smyth pickup truck bits in just two days—according to them, Smyth Performance normally quotes a build time of 6 weeks. In addition, Jared loves the car so much that he wanted to add extra strength to the vehicle after removing some 400 lbs of factory bits, adding some welds and securing the rivets with an air hammer.
The result, which still needs a bit of polishing, can be seen in the video below, which basically brings us a California Highway Patrol-branded Dodge Charger Pursuit pickup truck!
Oh, and as Jared states in the comments section of the vid, the bed floor is removable, granting one access to the battery and the struts bolts. Regardless, this Smyth Charger is a little rough. And we have a feeling things won’t change entirely even after the project is 100% complete, which is something one might expect given the nickname of the Mopar machine.
