Sometimes, automotive mashups work and it’s amazing to see how the styling cues of one vehicle gracefully meet the design lines of another, be it in real life or via a rendering. This isn’t the case with the Dodge Challenger “Helltima” CGI parked on our screens and yet we can’t seem to be able to take our eyes off this muscle freak.
A possible explanation for the magnetic effect this Hellcat-gone-Altima has on us could be that we tend to forgive so many flaws of a vehicle when this is as powerful as the 717+ hp Mopar machine in question.
Besides, the Challenger, with its factory Widebody form, takes up most of the real estate, so, at times, it feels almost like our brain is completely ignoring the face of the Japanese sedan.
Then again, talking about the Land of the Rising sun when describing the current L34-generation Altima that lent its fascia to this Dodge isn’t all that accurate. That’s because this mid-size, FWD-based (AWD is optional) model is produced and sold in North America, being absent from the Japanese lineup of the carmaker, whose sedan side consists solely of vehicles riding on RWD-based architectures.
We can discuss Bizarro Dodge brothers, as a Charger Helltima is also involved
Now, as odd as this might sound, the Helltima has a bit of a tradition, or whatever you’d call the fact that carfrontswaps, the digital label behind the work, had previously given a similar treatment to a Dodge Charger Hellcat. No, not a V6 built into a Hellcat by YouTuber Tavarish, but a factory example of the muscle sedan. Nevertheless, the four-door, which you can see below, was given a face transplant involving the ex-gen L33 Nissan Altima.
In the end, people sometimes wish to take the unbeaten path and come up with contraptions that have purists searching for the “unlike” button—on this occasion, it might be more than just purists who wish to find that button.
Of course, as mentioned in the intro, there are also examples of such marriages that bring us into a daydreaming mood. And, if we were to seek out one that involves Dodge and Nissan, it would have to be this NASCAR V8-animated Hakosuka GT-R. Built by Japanese drifter Daigo Saito, who also competes in the U.S., the machine features a Dodge NASCAR motor churning out up to 800 horsepower, which can literally run circles around Ferraris and Aston Martins.
Update [February 22, 2022]: The Helltima virtual builds, whose number continues to grow, are based on a real-life Nissan Altima pretending to be a Hellcat, all with a meme culture twist.
