The 1978 Dodge Challenger is the exact opposite of a Demon

Today the Dodge Challenger is the vehicular embodiment of ridiculous horsepower, speed that hurts your face, massive burnouts, and pure Americaness, with 15 models ranging from 305 to 840 ponies with SRT 392, SRT Hellcat and SRT Demon Variants.

The original Challenger, similar to the Plymouth Barracuda/‘Cuda went on sale in 1970 as a ponycar to compete against the Camaro, Mustang, Firebird, and Javelin and to slot below the midsize Charger Coupe. Engine options ranged from the lowly slant six to the mighty 426 Hemi.

The original was restyled in 1971 and 1972, and discontinued in 1974. But in 1978, four years later, Chrysler decided to import the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda “personal luxury coupe”.

For the American market, the Galant was sold as the Dodge Challenger, marketed on GT performance and the Plymouth Sapporo marketed on luxury.

Calling a foreign car Challenger after the original car was considered a travesty by Chrysler purists, who hated it for being “Japanese BS”, Reaction would have been worse if the Plymouth version was called Barracuda or ‘Cuda.

When the third generation came out in 2008 enthusiasts rejoiced for the return of rear wheel drive Mopar performance and Hemi power. But the previous Challenger had the ideal front engine rear wheel drive layout.

Another thing the enthusiasts ignored… that thing gotta Hemi.

Not designed for power the 1.6L and 2.6L engines produced 77 and 105 Horsepower respectively. Both had Chrysler’s hemispherical combustion chambers just like Chrysler’s FirePower and 426 Hemi engines. Despite the name Hemi returning in 2003, modern Chrysler V8’s (5.7, 6.4, 6.2 Hellcat, 6.2 Demon) don’t have Hemispherical combustion chambers due to emissions regulations.

in 1983 the Challenger and Sapporo were replaced by the Mitsubishi Starion based Dodge Conquest, which in 1991 was replaced with the Mitsubishi 3000GT based Dodge Stealth.

In summary the two were unappreciated, affordable, rear wheel drive, Japanese built and American badged four seater coupes. They were focused on handling, lightness, and responsiveness. They came alive on winding roads and not on the drag strip, and that is what made them so different from the modern Challenger.

Rear Wheel Drive, Hemi powered, affordable Mopar performance was alive from 1978-1982, but in a way that wasn’t as raw and speed obsessed, only had power it could use that didn’t wrinkle it’s tires or do a wheelie, and it didn’t have German suspension, a Mexican engine, and wasn’t assembled in Canada. But it deserves to be remembered just as much as much as any other Rad-era car.