The American Horsepower War: Part II

(If you read my last blog, I have to be a hypocrite for now. Just this one.)

Back in the mid to late ‘60s, a horsepower war between American auto manufacturers erupted. Starting with Ford making a modified, low production version of the Ford Galaxie which made 425hp, GM responded with a modified Chevrolet Impala (known as the Z11) making 430hp. This prompted Dodge to try to end the war with the 426 Hemi Lightweight along with the nearly identical Plymouth Satellite 426, which made similar power numbers, the Dodge making 500hp and the Plymouth making 550hp.

Manufacturers were slowly fighting and adding on horsepower until 1970 when the Clean-Air Act of 1970 was passed along with the OPEC oil embargo, ending the horsepower war as muscle cars became way too expensive to buy and own and the public being more interested in smaller, efficient fuel sipping cars.

The American-made sports car segment was a shell for decades, the majority being economy cars with sporty wheels and flashy stickers slapped on with nearly zero regard for actual performance, equipped with wheezy 4 cylinder engines paired to sluggish, spongy 3-speed automatics, an example being the ‘73-‘78 Ford Mustang II or the Mitsubishi based ‘78-’83 Dodge Challenger. Skipping to 2007, it wasn’t much better, the Camaro at that point had gone out of production and the Mustang had an underpowered 4.6 OHV V8 and a cheap 4.0 V6 that was borrowed from a minivan.

Out of the blue comes Dodge shining through the recession with an offensively colored new toy to show, the Challenger. It had engines that ranged from a 250hp V6 to a 425hp HEMI V8. Even during the recession, it was a massive hit. Over 7,000 were sold at the end of 2008, 34,000 in 2009, and 57,000 in 2010.

Turns out, Ford wanted a bite of the market too. In 2011, Ford got rid of the archaic 4.6 and the poorly designed 4.0 V6 that was pulled from the Ford Windstar minivan and replaced them with two engines that were designed from the ground up which were a 412hp 5.0 V8 and a 305hp 3.7 V6. Despite the V6 having less engine displacement, it still made 90 more horsepower while weighing 40ibs less.

For a while, Shelby had been quiet, making engine modifications as well as modifying cars in-house. In 2012, a new, heavily modified Mustang was released under the Shelby name, the GT500. The 5.8-liter supercharged V8 made 662hp and had a top speed of 202mph (the convertible was unfortunately limited to 155mph) for $54,000. $54,000 isn’t cheap, but was an amazing bargain for how fast it was.

Meanwhile, the newly founded Fiat-Chrysler alliance wanted a new halo car, a performance bargain that will drag people into dealer showrooms. That car ended up being the Charger and Challenger Hellcat. With 707hp and a top speed of 207mph, the Charger Hellcat ended up being the most powerful production sedan ever, and the Challenger became the most powerful production muscle car ever. It had power that rivaled supercars that were over half a million dollars and was slightly north of $60,000.

Recently, Dodge decided it would top the Hellcat with the Demon. No specifics are released yet, but according to Dodge, it will have an option to only have one seat, be able to run on race gas, and will be based on the Dodge Challenger. It will be released in April.

Thanks for reading!