The Dodge Challenger is the only Detroit product that looks like a true muscle car, as if it’s made in 1970. And you know what people used to do with old Hemi or even Mustangs and Camaros from back then? Yeah, lift them. Because it’s not enough to jump creeks; you’ve got to let people know your rig can also handle swamps.
Now, we’re not talking about lifting muscle cars in the sense of high-riders and donks, using 30-inch gold-plated wheels. No, we’re referring to custom suspension work or simply resting the Detroit steel on top of a truck chassis.
Perhaps inspired by that heritage, artist Oscar Vargas (aka wb.artist20) has created this magnificent TRX Challenger. Why? Well, it’s quite entertaining, and it goes well with last week’s TRX Charger sedan.
The TRX is an off-road truck. Because of the 6.2-liter Hellcat engine under its hood, people naturally see this as an evolution of the V8 sedan and muscle car. But if you see “TRX” as a standalone successful brand, which it is, the next logical step is to have more products.
Ford does that with the Ranger Raptor and Bronco Raptor. But Ram doesn’t sell a Dakota mid-size truck or Ramcharger SUV. So there’s no place to stick the TRX logo. Good thing Oscar thought about the popular Dodge products instead.
Now, there’s a multitude of muscle car variations currently on sale. Some of them try to be sports cars while others are dragsters. But none of them have off-road cred, and we love how the TRX Challenger captures that.
It’s got a completely new front end, designed in the TRX style. It’s our favorite part of the rendering. The Challenger’s features are enlarged, and the bumper gets split down the middle as it would be on a truck. Also, plates are added, and everything is as rough as a lumberjack’s beard.
A TRD-style hood is also installed, with off-road looks and lights in the scoop feeding its Hellcat. Fender flares are nothing new to the Challenger. But whereas the “Widebody” seems designed around racing slicks and Weld wheels, this is more of an “I don’t shave” kind of statement.
Obviously, something like this is as cool as it is ridiculous. Nobody is going off-roading in a Challenger. But I’ve got to give it a high RPM Potential score (real project in the making) of 7/10 simply because of the Fast & Furious universe. In FF7, you’ve got a lifted Charger R/T with just this type of makeover.
