The Hellcat era officially ends!

[moparedtn]

People forget the 80s when Mopar didn't even offer a V8 powered rear wheel drive car. I bought a new 87 IROC Z28 5.7 Camaro back then. Even through all the corporate takeovers Chrysler stayed true to it's performance heritage. The Hemicuda was King Kong in 1970 and the Demon 170 is King Kong today!

I tried the '85 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo back then; very fun but fragile as a daisy.
Had to leave the fold and got my '89 5.0, which turned out to be the best built car I've ever owned
(sacrilege!) - and I thought the whole time I owned it "Mopar SHOULD have been building these!"

 

[moparsaver]

Didn't make the cut,was a slug in stock trim,and gone in 82

You said “didn’t even offer a V8 rwd”

 

[moparedtn]

I thought 5 0 was what was on the Mustangs I used to beat with the 350 IROC!

The first two years I owned my '89 5.0 LX, I raced SCCA in SSGT (showroom division) and ate those
IROCs for lunch pretty often on the track. Won the division both years....
In fact, the black accent rubber trim that went all the way around the Mustang had worn through to
the yellow primer on both front corners of my car from me "rubbing" those floppy ol' Camaros out
of my way in races, Dale-style.

 

[chargervert]

You said “didn’t even offer a V8 rwd”

Snagged on a technicality! When the Muscle cars were making a comeback,in 1985 to 1990,Chrysler did not offer a two door high performance V8 powered rear wheel drive car. Until the Viper came out in 1992,they had nothing!

 

[moparedtn]

What our naysayer friend is omitting from the discussion is the fact that the foreign overlords of Dodge
continued for several years to produce the RWD cars even after the "2016 crucifixion".
Why? Simple, it's always about demand and $$$ - and I guarantee some bean-counting estimation,
of course - that told them if they invested in buying the company, they'd get so much of a return by
continuing the lines of Chargers and Challengers.

To be even further honest about it, they did continue to make minor improvements to both over time, too;
it gave them more time to work on the engineering of the electric stuff to come as well.
It was only when demand slipped below some pre-determined level that they decided to finally pull the plug.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Snagged on a technicality! When the Muscle cars were making a comeback,in 1985 to 1990,Chrysler did not offer a two door high performance V8 powered rear wheel drive car. Until the Viper came out in 1992,they had nothing!

It might have been in the 90’s but, DC had a front subframe to put a V8 in all those K car variants. I never saw one in a car. But I can imagine it would be like building a Pro Stock. Not for the guy with the $300 Craftsman tool set.

 

[chargervert]

The first two years I owned my '89 5.0 LX, I raced SCCA in SSGT (showroom division) and ate those
IROCs for lunch pretty often on the track. Won the division both years....
In fact, the black accent rubber trim that went all the way around the Mustang had worn through to
the yellow primer on both front corners of my car from me "rubbing" those floppy ol' Camaros out
of my way in races, Dale-style.

Never saw a stock Mustang I couldn't put away. I ordered the car with every performance option,and no A/C,no T tops,No power seats or windows.

 

[moparedtn]

Never saw a stock Mustang I couldn't put away. I ordered the car with every performance option,and no A/C,no T tops,No power seats or windows.

On the straights, they could pull me some....but in the corners, the lighter Mustang chewed on 'em.
The fox body was also so much stiffer and rigid compared to the floppy from new Chevies, too...made
it easy to go into corners with abandon against them.
Heck, I'd use those "bowtie road blocks" as a means of slowing down in corners sometimes late in
races, when the stock brakes would be a fadin'.

They'd be wheelin' those things, sawing away at the wheel trying to get them around the corner,
the whole time looking nervously in their mirrors for a red Mustang to come calling.
It was hilarious...
I still say the 5.0 Mustang is the car Mopar should have been building in those times; it was light, quick and
tough as hell.

 

[chargervert]

On the straights, they could pull me some....but in the corners, the lighter Mustang chewed on 'em.
The fox body was also so much stiffer and rigid compared to the floppy from now Chevies, too...made
it easy to go into corners with abandon against them.
Heck, I'd use those "bowtie road blocks" as a means of slowing down in corners sometimes late in
races, when the stock brakes would be a fadin'.

They'd be wheelin' those things, sawing away at the wheel trying to get them around the corner,
the whole time looking nervously in their mirrors for a red Mustang to come calling.
It was hilarious...
I still say the 5.0 Mustang is the car Mopar should have been building in those times; it was light, quick and
tough as hell.

Mine was 400 pounds lighter without all that crap. They made me put down extra money when I ordered the car because they thought no one would want it without A/C and all the power options if I changed my mind about buying the car.

 

[68BabyBlue]

What our naysayer friend is omitting from the discussion is the fact that the foreign overlords of Dodge
continued for several years to produce the RWD cars even after the "2016 crucifixion".
Why? Simple, it's always about demand and $$$ - and I guarantee some bean-counting estimation,
of course - that told them if they invested in buying the company, they'd get so much of a return by
continuing the lines of Chargers and Challengers.

To be even further honest about it, they did continue to make minor improvements to both over time, too;
it gave them more time to work on the engineering of the electric stuff to come as well.
It was only when demand slipped below some pre-determined level that they decided to finally pull the plug.

Saw the same issues discussed back in 1971, when I was a subscriber to Car and Driver. Road test of the 1971 GTX. When asked about the headwinds the high performance market was facing, Chrysler's CEO said you don't give away sales, unless they drop to an unprofitable level. They did, and that was the last year the GTX was a stand alone model, though it had a swan song as an option on the Road Runner. Those of us who were around then remember well the dry spell that followed.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Can’t go into specifics here but… the Hemi was scheduled to retire in 2018. And it would have if different things had happened a few years earlier. The CAFE standard was relaxed, and the engine got a reprieve. That was taken away in 2021.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Mine was 400 pounds lighter without all that crap. They made me put down extra money when I ordered the car because they thought no one would want it without A/C and all the power options if I changed my mind about buying the car.

I remember them. Typical GM though… automatic only, as their transmissions and rears weren’t up to the task.

 

[chargervert]

Saw the same issues discussed back in 1971, when I was a subscriber to Car and Driver. Road test of the 1971 GTX. When asked about the headwinds the high performance market was facing, Chrysler's CEO said you don't give away sales, unless they drop to an unprofitable level. They did, and that was the last year the GTX was a stand alone model, though it had a swan song as an option on the Road Runner. Those of us who were around then remember well the dry spell that followed.

Like this 72 Road Runner GTX.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Can’t go into specifics here but… the Hemi was scheduled to retire in 2018. And it would have if different things had happened a few years earlier. The CAFE standard was relaxed, and the engine got a reprieve. That was taken away in 2021.

And we all know who was behind that in 2021.

 

[moparedtn]

As much test driving as I did before buying the 5.0 (I wanted a Firebird Formula 5.7 actually), I could
not find a damn GM (IROC or otherwise) that didn't rattle and squeak brand new off the lot.
On the other hand, the 5.0's I drove were also hit and miss as well - but that was because a couple
actually ran poorly brand new, as if someone had already beat hell out of them at the dealer....

I finally laid down a deposit on a soon-to-arrive on the truck 5.0 and waited anxiously.
When my friend then told me he had just bought one the same color as I had ordered, I became
suspicious - and come to find out, that ****-assed dealer had sold my car out from under me!
I couldn't get over to that dealer quick enough to not only get my deposit back, but to have me
some sales manager *** while I was at it.

My friend still has that 5.0 to this day; he's put supercharger this and suspension that and what have
you on it over the years and the damn thing is legit fast (but he's always been a very responsible fella).
I went on to buy a red 5.0 shortly after the incident at the dealer (from another dealer, of course) and
put about 250k miles on it over the years, never replacing anything other than normal wear stuff.
Tough car. Hell, it still had the original clutch in it, even after its' years of racing and commuting - and
to the day I finally sold it to a club in Knoxville that restores and loves the 5.0's, it never had a rattle
or squeak, either.

Camaro, yer arse...

 

[chargervert]

I remember them. Typical GM though… automatic only, as their transmissions and rears weren’t up to the task.

They all had those issues,the trans in the Mustangs were junk too. It took until the modern retro cars until they had drivelines that could handle horsepower!

 

[chargervert]

As much test driving as I did before buying the 5.0 (I wanted a Firebird Formula 5.7 actually), I could
not find a damn GM (IROC or otherwise) that didn't rattle and squeak brand new off the lot.
On the other hand, the 5.0's I drove were also hit and miss as well - but that was because a couple
actually ran poorly brand new, as if someone had already beat hell out of them at the dealer....

I finally laid down a deposit on a soon-to-arrive on the truck 5.0 and waited anxiously.
When my friend then told me he had just bought one the same color as I had ordered, I became
suspicious - and come to find out, that ****-assed dealer had sold my car out from under me!
I couldn't get over to that dealer quick enough to not only get my deposit back, but to have me
some sales manager *** while I was at it.

My friend still has that 5.0 to this day; he's put supercharger this and suspension that and what have
you on it over the years and the damn thing is legit fast (but he's always been a very responsible fella).
I went on to buy a red 5.0 shortly after the incident at the dealer (from another dealer, of course) and
put about 250k miles on it over the years, never replacing anything other than normal wear stuff.
Tough car. Hell, it still had the original clutch in it, even after its' years of racing and commuting - and
to the day I finally sold it to a club in Knoxville that restores and loves the 5.0's, it never had a rattle
or squeak, either.

Camaro, yer arse...

You lucked out and got a good one.

 

[440 PHIXX]

They all had those issues,the trans in the Mustangs were junk too. It took until the modern retro cars until they had drivelines that could handle horsepower!

I remember quite a few Fox 5 speeds at the track. They were fine on small tire. It wasn’t until you ran out of wheel well that you had to upgrade. A lot of guys had Williams or Moser axels.

 

[moparedtn]

They all had those issues,the trans in the Mustangs were junk too. It took until the modern retro cars until they had drivelines that could handle horsepower!

You'll have to tell the T5 in my old 5.0 that then (250k miles, zero issues).
The younger fellas at the track would try to tell me all the time about how I was going to have to
replace it and the 8.8 rear "every 3 races" because they were supposedly "fragile".
Nope....but I did watch many a GM go boom during races.

 

[moparedtn]

You lucked out and got a good one.

No, I just knew how to wheel a car around a track....
No accounting for human squirrels and their treatment of their rides, however.