2010 Dodge Charger Concept (update 10/03/09)

[Peter Lombardo]

OK, this might be old news and than again it may not be.

I think most all of us have expressed our dislike of how Chrysler (the old Chrysler, well ,maybe not the old Chrysler, but I think it was the version of Chrysler Corp that was know as DaimlerChrysler, which came after the “new†Chrysler but before the Cerabus Chrysler which is now the “ObamaChrysler†or maybe it’s the Chrysler Corp that we own, so it would be the “Very New Taxpayer / AutoWorkers Union, once bankrupt, but now bailed out FiatChrysler Corpâ€)….I don’t know, it all gets so confusing anymore…..anyway, back to the main topic…..we, if I remember correctly, for the most part, did not care much for the styling of the Dodge Charger….not the Challenger, which most of you guys like, but I find extremely boring when compared to the Mustang, both 2009 and 2010, and the very stylish and well thought-out Camaro , but again, I digress, I am talking about the old news Dodge Charger here. I seem to recall that there were a few models started, and even Harry did a rendering of a 2 door model of the Charger, but I have no recollection of a finished charger concept model be shown here. Did I miss something? I ran a search for Charger Concepts shown on this forum, and the only thing I found was my model of the 1964 Charger Concept, and that is really old news.

Well, about a year and a half ago, I picked up a Testers model of the Charger. I looked at the kit many times, and even though it is a well designed kit, I just could not bring myself to build, what I think is such an ugly car (I apologize to any one that owns one here), but please, considering that the 300 looks pretty cool, it’s brother the Charger did not benefit from the same gene pool. I guess not all twins are identical….come to think of it, Robin Gibb, sure got the short end of the “gene†stick when compared to Maurice and Barry Gibb (any buddy remember the BeeGee’s?)

Again, sorry, I got off course…..so, the first thing I did was convert it into a two door and then opened the doors, but the project stalled right there because the car was still not “working†for me. You know, those great Dodge Chargers from the late 60’s were just so perfect looking. They were strong, masculine and edgy without overdoing anything. The wide nose front end was perfect on the car. The relatively flat top surfaces were smooth and purposeful. The roof line was exactly right and it was one of a few muscle cars, in my mind, that could carry off the vinyl roof treatment and not look like a “ladies†car in doing it. The big wide rear end matched the front perfectly and the blacked out grill and tail treatments were also perfect….gee. I am using the word perfect an awful lot here. And lastly, the well placed fuel filler on the left rear hip was a great little touch…my good friend back in the day had a 1969 Charger in light metallic blue with a black vinyl roof and a black vinyl interior. A high output 383 with an automatic trans, redline tires and rally wheels and man she was one beautiful car….we used to give Goat’s, 396 Chevelle’s and all the other muscule cars, short of a Hemi or 427 Chevy’s or Ford’s, a real run for their money back then…..but again, I got sidetracked, the reason I began this post was to see what you guys think of this Charger Concept rendering I ran a crossed. Maybe this is old news, and if so, I am sorry, some times I can be very much behind the curve, but I am interested in what you guys think of this design. This was designed by Michael Leonhard, who I think did a great job of capturing the look and feel of the 1969 car. This is such a great looking retro, in my opinion that I have to build it. I don’t want the Dodge designed car on my display shelf…but this could be there any day.

I have begun the building of this design and will post some under construction photos later…but right now I have to take my sons dog to the vet’s to have his nails clipped….don’t ask, I have no say in this, it is my wife’s doing and I must humbly obey or pay dearly.

Edited October 4, 2009 by Peter Lombardo

[jjsipes]

Although I have not seen those exact renders, I have seen some that were similar. Great looking car. Oh if only Chrysler would listen and build this, I feel they would have sold them just as quickly as the Challengers. People want these retro looking rides. I can not tell you the last time I seen a new Challenger on a dealer lot. As soon as they get them they are sold out. Not everybody wants what the government is trying to shove down our throats.

If you decide to attempt to build this in 1/25 scale I will be looking. Maybe you could get a resin caster to make copies and you could sell them. Awesome and good luck.

[dwc43]

I like that. Not bad compared to what we got. Still not as good as the first low slung two dr. red concept car they built back in the '90's when they first talked about bringing back the name.

[Peter Lombardo]

Ok, I finally got a chance to take a few pictures of my 2010 Dodge Charger Concept while under construction. This is another build that is using copious amounts of Bondo auto body filler. As I stated before, I had cut open the two doors about a year ago but the car sat idle because I did not care for the look of it. I saw this rendering and found a look that I could get behind.

First thing I did was I cut about a scale three to four inches out of the roof height. In order to maintain the proper flow, I added about 8 or 9 scale inches to the center of the roof. I spliced in a section from an AMT 300C roof that I had liberated from a 300C that I turned into a 2 door “Woody†convertible a few years ago. Then with some putty and my Dremel sanding drum, I re-contoured the the C pillar shape to mimic the rendering.

Next, I glued two pieces of plastic to the inside of the door panels and using a Dremel grinding bit I dug out the side door contours which will form the very recognizable concave scallops from the 1969 design, except this time they are on steroids.

On the rear end, I added some plastic strips to the trunk lid and the upper rear quarter panels. Next I loaded up the inside of the rear end of the car with more Bondo…when set I used my trusty Dremel tool grinding drum to re-contour the tail end of the car. Using putty, I built up the rear wheel wells and began to contour them. I reshaped the lower fascia, added the narrow opening and re-contoured the license plate area. I have to rework the exhaust openings yet, but I will get to that later.

Next I began work on the front, which I thought would be more difficult than the rear…it was….First, I cut off the leading edge of the nose than super glued plastic strips on the sides and across the front top, and around the bottom of the new grill opening. Next I fabricated the new front bumper and air dam. I have drawn on the area where the grill opening and road lights will go later. I filled in the area in front and behind the nose with more Bondo and when that set up, I again attacked with my Dremel grinder roughing in the major contours. I have done a little hand sanding, mostly to the back end, but I still have major sanding, re-puttying and more sanding to go before I am close to happy with the body modifications.

A couple of points, first I will rework the hood and put in the two hood scallops, set the grill and road lights tighten up the grill and tail light openings and than scratch build the grill (top one) and tail light fixtures. My biggest note though is that the rendering appears to be too short…..too stubby. The rendering appears to me to be very close to the Challenger wheelbase which was not what I was going for.

I wanted the same wheelbase as I believe that is what Chrysler (Dodge) would do. I have kept the wheel base the same as the original Charger, as I think any derivative of that design should do….I mean, Chrysler would not alter the wheelbase from that of the 300 as that would cost far more in development money and there is no reason to do that. I think Michael’s design is great, but I also think he took some “artistic license†in that he designed a car that is shorter. I could have easily taken a chunk out of the center if the car, but I don’t want to do that. I kept the front and rear overhang as close to the rendering as possible, but my model is longer than the drawing…oh well, that is just the way it will be.

Michael did renderings in Orange with Black, like these drawings, Red with Black, Yellow with Black and Purple with White. I did a 300C as a two door a few years ago (Ferrari 612 roof on it) in Orange and Black, and I did a Super Bee Concept in Yellow and Black, so I think it is time to do a Purple one, but I think this will be with a Black roof and Interior and paint trim, rather than White trim. OK, that’s it….hope you followed along to the end. I will add to this when I have made some more progress.

[The Red Ranger]

It's a great start to a great build. This was on my long list of future builds, and now that you are doin it, I don't have to I think it's going to work out, and I agree when I first saw it I felt like it was too small for a Charger.

[Foxer]

Some nice body work in the works there! The concept rendering looks good to me, but the front end seems in conflict .. the old Charger grill atop the new Dodge cross hairs. This will be interesting,

[sak]

Yeah brother !!!! Thats what the charger should have looked like. The designers really dropped the ball on that one in my opinion. I kinda hoped that after Mercedes bought them, they would have used some of the styling from the c class coupe and made a true 2 door hardtop. But I guess once the accountants get through with it, alot of things get tossed by the wayside. As good as the challenger looks, its now a two door sedan.

Edited August 20, 2009 by sak

[jjsipes]

Any progress? I love what you are doing here. I wasn't a fan with the 4 dorr Charger but, it has grown on me. Was close to purchasing the B5 Blue Charger Superbee because I loved the color but waited for Challenger in B5 Blue.

[BigGary]

Few of us would disagree that we were disappointed in this generation charger, mostly that it was a 4 door. That said, there's little doubt that it is a great car. Take a look around, you won't find any large cars that are 2 doors. The concept of the "sports sedan" has kind of taken the large 2-door-squeeze-into-the-back-seat thing away. If Chrysler had taken the same approach with the Charger that they did with the Challenger, it would be a different car. As far as I'm concerned, they should have rolled a '69 Charger into the design studio and said"This is what we want".

Gary

[made007]

Few of us would disagree that we were disappointed in this generation charger, mostly that it was a 4 door. That said, there's little doubt that it is a great car. Take a look around, you won't find any large cars that are 2 doors. The concept of the "sports sedan" has kind of taken the large 2-door-squeeze-into-the-back-seat thing away. If Chrysler had taken the same approach with the Charger that they did with the Challenger, it would be a different car. As far as I'm concerned, they should have rolled a '69 Charger into the design studio and said"This is what we want".

Gary

Here on PR i havent seen a lot of chargers, exept for the cops they run in chargers and mustangs

[Dr. Cranky]

I'm amazed at how unafraid you are to chop, cut, and bond all those parts into what looks so far to be a great build! Keep it going.

[Peter Lombardo]

Work has been progressing rather slowly on the 2010 Dodge Charger Concept. I am not surprised that it is taking a long time as the modifications are pretty extensive. The more I sand and re-putty areas to get them to my liking, the more the proportions of the car just don’t seem right. Upon first blush, I figured that the drawing was quite a bit out of whack, but it was bothering me. I was happy with the overhang in the front and rear, but the middle of the car seemed wrong. Well, I had to get to the bottom of the issue, so I had to measure the drawing and the model and see what was wrong.

The model is 1/24th scale and the drawing picture is somewhere around 1/58th scale. To solve the problem I had to measure the drawing from the tip of the front to the very back…that set the overall length. Next I measured all of the points I wanted to verify like wheel base, roof length, front and rear overhangs, etc…. next I worked out the percentage that each measurement was to my control number which was the overall length of the car.

Next I measured the same areas on the model and worked out the percentage of each measurement. Next, I converted the percentage of the measurement back into an actual measurement so I could compare the area. In doing a quick comparison I discovered that the wheelbase and overhangs were very close, so close that they were not an issue, but the roof turned out to be way out of whack. The roof on my car was too long and the rear sail panels were too far back.

The fix was easy to see. I cut the roof in the center, carefully cut around the roof, re-set the roof a scale 6 inches forward and glued spacers into the cuts to tighten everything up.

Once the glue was set up, I added some putty and when that dries I can start sanding again.

I made quite a bit of progress to the front of the car which received the grill opening on the bottom and the road lights on the sides, next I began tightening up the contours and the lower valance lip. I began the hood cut outs and have tightened up the door scallops. Once I am happy with the contours I will build the front grill and the rear taillight unit. I plan a black vinyl roof and a purple pearl body color with black trim and stripes.

[made007]

the front end is looking good already, keep it up pete

[Trans Am Erik]

Great work Peter! I've seen some of your cars on here and your bodywork is very impressive. I also agree that the new Charger is a nice car, IMO it's just not a "Charger"! Starting with a different concept rendering I created the '06-9 charger. I cut up an '06 Charger and a Monogram '69 Charger. Check it out, it has a thread on here, and let me know what you think.

[Harry P.]

That's a pretty ambitious project! Can't wait to see it finished, it should be pretty impressive.

BTW, here's what the initial Charger concept looked like... and what we all thought the "new" Charger was going to look like:

When I saw this, I was pretty excited about the Charger coming back. In fact, I decided then that my next new car would be this one. What a disappointment it was when what we actually got looked nothing like this, but more like it was styled by the same people that gave us the new "gangsta" 300...

I did a couple of different renderings based on what Chrysler actually did put into production as the new Charger, including this one:

Why Chrysler didn't put the concept version into production is a mystery to me!

[MrObsessive]

Why Chrysler didn't put the concept version into production is a mystery to me!

Harry, you don't know how many times I've wondered the same thing!

There is probably only one answer = Daimler.

I've thought about doing this very car a number of times using the original '68/'69 Charger, a Dodge Stealth roof......and maybe some fancy plastic surgery to create the front end.

.............so many projects so little time!

[B-dub]

On the concept (the one that was the real concept for the what we have now charger) .. It looks like it should be a remake of an intrepid or avenger or w/e that's called...

The same grill design may be a trademark style.. but it's getting played out and to put it on a concept for a legend in the car world doesn't settle well with me

[The Red Ranger]

Harry, you don't know how many times I've wondered the same thing!

There is probably only one answer = Daimler.

I've thought about doing this very car a number of times using the original '68/'69 Charger, a Dodge Stealth roof......and maybe some fancy plastic surgery to create the front end.

.............so many projects so little time!

I must say, that would be LEGENDARY to see!

The one thing that I never noticed, and I don't even mind the way it was done, but the concept was a 4 door also, but it looked so right I literally glanced over it for the first several pics of it.

I just got to wonder how they went so wrong with the Charger, and ended up almost too similar to the original Challenger. Thats the Mystery. I really expected the Challenger to end up being as awful but to my surprise there is a nice treat still left at Dodge

[Peter Lombardo]

I am glad to see that Harry dragged up the Charger Concept car from around 2000. I also thought that was a great looking car, but knowing the way the manufacturers worked back than, I knew it would only be a “teaseâ€, because they didn’t have the stomach to produce a vehicle that was that “cutting edge†back than, and now they don’t have the checkbook to do something like that. I fear that from here on in, at least for GM and Chrysler, it will be just boring fuel efficient vehicles for the masses. We’ll see, maybe GM has a few more Camaro’s and Pontiac G8’s in them and perhaps Chrysler, with Fiat’s guidance can give us some sporty European style sports sedans….maybe, maybe not…but anyway, the reason for this post is that I also loved the slippery and sleek updated version of the 1968-69 Charger. I built my own version of the car back than.

As you can see, there is a little dust on the car that I did not get off for the pictures and I took them rather hastily a few minutes ago for this post. Look, I like the effort I gave the car, but it is not up to my standards of today….but it is what it is, and it was where I was at about 10 years ago.

The hood has warped a little, but that was because, the Tamiya Z hood was molded in clear and I had to build the scallop in the center. The clear plastic is so brittle that it broke in a few places and because this plastic has a “Memoryâ€, it wants to revert back to it’s old shape.

I started with the Revell 1/25th scale1969 Charger and the Tamiya 1/24th scale Nissan 300ZX Coupe. The two slightly different scales actual worked to my favor since the 300 ZX was a smaller car in real life. I scratch built the roof lines and added a hybrid front end made from a Viper grill and headlights from a 1980’s Camaro.

The rear end is a shortened and heavily modified Charger unit. I built this back when I was just getting back into custom cars after 10 years of HO trains followed by 5 years of only race car modeling, so my skill level was not where it is today. Also, I was not using Bondo putty yet, so some of the putty I used has shrunk in a few spots in the front….live and learn. I dropped the 440 block in it and added a supercharger like the rear Concept, but as you can see, I was not trying to make an exact copy of the car, I was taking a little artist license with the design and just trying to capture the feel and the flavor of the actual car.

It just occurred to me that the current Charger build I am working on now is the 3rd Charger Concept car I’ve done…..Maybe there is something going on in my head that I need to pay attention to.

P.S. I have made some more headway on the new Concept Charger….getting close to getting her primed, cleaned up and ready for paint…..and more pictures.

Edited September 5, 2009 by Peter Lombardo

[Trans Am Erik]

(If it works) Here's a link to my '06-9 Charger concept

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...ic=7050&hl=

[Peter Lombardo]

Erik, that looks great!!!! What happened? This posting is from 2007, have you completed this build? If so, let’s see it…… if not, why not! I would love to see it completed. As for the concept that you based it on, that car is great looking. I have not seen it before, but it is clear that the designer of that car “Gets itâ€. My argument with the U.S. manufacturers has always been, with very few exceptions, that they always play it “too safeâ€â€¦.rather than take a chance with a cutting edge design (the new Camaro is one of the exceptions), they play it safe and go with the same old boring “Bricksâ€.

While Mercedes, Porsche, Audi and BMW are giving us great big three scoop sundaes with whipped cream and toppings, Chrysler, Ford and most of GM are handing out plain old bowls of Vanilla Ice Cream….and they don’t even give us sprinkles with it.

Don’t get me completely wrong here, the new Shelby GT 500 looks great with all of the bells and whistles and the new Taurus, especially the SHO, look pretty cool…Ford is finally beginning to see the light…but as of right now, I see nothing from Chrysler that I would even consider interesting, let alone worthy of my hard earned cash. GM, under Bob Lutz’s direction has done some great looking vehicles, the Camaro, Pontiac G8, Solstice coupe (pretty neat) and even the new Buick Lacrosse looks beautiful, from the pictures I saw….so there is some light in the tunnel, but for the most part, we have to look to Europe for the great looking designs…I mean, have you seen the VW CC up close? It is just about the most perfectly styled midsized car ever!!! Drop dead gorgeous….why do the Germans get design and the American’s bland design?

Anyway, Erik, show me that car finished!

[Trans Am Erik]

Sadly my Charger did get put in mothballs. For a while I lost my place to build, and I've been working on my full size '77 Bandit Trans Am. My recent model progress has been on my Trans Am concept, the Charger is next. I haven't picked out a color yet or started on a power plant.

[Peter Lombardo]

I have made some more headway on my 2010 Dodge Charge Concept, which was designed by Michael Leonhard. (he gets full credit for the design) The door and hood have been hinged ( and the doors open with the leading edge turning into the car, as the real car would have) and are working fine even though you can’t tell from these pictures as they are all taped shut. I still need to do quite a bit of sanding on the body as there are still some rough areas, but each time I go through each area the lines and edges get more and more tight, so it is coming along nicely. Even in gray primer, the design is light years ahead of the current Charger that Dodge has produced, and I have to tell you these pictures look like junk compared to the actual model. I can’t wait to see it with its purple paint.

After I apply the Squadron white putty (since I ran out of Tamiya putty and it is discontinued ) I have to apply a coat of super glue, the very thin penetrating type to help strengthen the putty. In my opinion the Squadron putty dries too soft for my liking so I like to apply a coat of thin super glue and sand that smooth. I find that the glue sinks into the rather porous putty and firms it up and helps combat any future shrinkage (remember George Costanza’s problem with the dreaded shrinkage?) Anyway, I have some glue on under the primer and it needs to be sanded.

I have installed rear view mirrors from a C5 Corvette. A few years ago I asked Norm from Replica’s and Miniatures of Maryland to cast me some resin re-pops of the Prowler and C5 Corvette mirrors, as with all the castings from Norm, they were perfect and exactly why I asked him to make me some sets…they come in very handy for these kinds of builds.

Next I built the front grill assembly. I cut out a piece of styrene the size of the opening and than using a few strips of Evergreen Scale Model styrene strips, ( .020 X .060†stock) I glued them down on their edge with Tenax 7R glue which will semi-melt the plastic if it is applied carefully and let you bend the strip into the shape you need. I shaped the grill surround and than cut out an Aluminum mesh grill and after I sprayed the grill backing and surround black, I super glued the grill mesh in place. Later the surround will be “bare metal†covered with brushed Aluminum bare metal material and during final assembly will be installed with a slight bow effect with the ends set deeper than the center.

I have completed the taillight backing and the surrounds. They will also get the bare metal treatment but the taillights will be made from 5 minute epoxy mixed with Tamiya clear red and than set into the taillight areas. They will be rather dark as the Concept has “blacked out†taillights very similar to the taillights on the Firebird Trans Am’s from the late 80’s ( I think it was the late 80’s) anyway, they will be dark.

I think Michael made a little mistake on the drawings of the rear of the car. The two small lights on either side of the license plate area in his rendering are colored red. I believe they would be the back up lights and therefore colored silver (clear). I could be wrong here but I do not see taillights anywhere else and having those as reflectors makes light sense to me too, bottom-line, on my build those lights are considered back up lights and will be treated as such.

I also opened up the side marker light openings both front and rear which will later get the same epoxy and clear red or orange paint as the taillights get. I also completed the exhaust tip openings in the rear and they are ready to accept the tips. After that I will drill out and set the gas filler up on the left rear quarter panel like the Concept, and the 68 / 69 Charger had.

Once the body is sanded smooth and the purple top coat is on the top will get the full black vinyl roof treatment. There is a black strip going over the rear deck and the hood gets a black out treatment although the drawings do not show this very well, so I will just do it the way I think it should look. I have a shot here with the wheels and tires I am planning to use. I really like the big chrome mags on this; I just don’t think I will be able to get the red line stripe on the tire as the side wall on these tires is way too thin. I will try, but I can’t promise I can get it.

Next up, I am rebuilding the inter door skins to work with a 2 door design rather than a 4 door, as the kit supplies. The engine is being build stock and the seats will be two toned with black and purple to match the exterior color scheme.

So far, I am very pleased with the progress on this car…I enjoy building it as it is a complete transformation of the stock Charger. I fact I have enjoyed it so much that I stopped working on the model of the MGB I am building to replicate my real MGB that I just completed a 4 year restoration on. Every modification I am making could easily be done to the real car. No additional car panels were mated to the stock body….just sheet styrene and putty.

[Peter Lombardo]

I have made some headway with my 2010 Dodge Charger Concept car. I have the body painted, although you really can’t tell the true color because the lighting I used for the pictures I took. Many of the pictures came out looking like the car is blue, but that is not the case.

It is really a custom mix of House of Kolor paints to make an updated pearl version of Plum Crazy. It looks fantastic in person. I have coated the Plum Crazy with clear coat, but it has not been sanded and polished yet, I want it to be totally dry first. I will take the final pictures of it when it is done outside so hopefully the color will be true.

I have mounted the tires and the chassis is basically done.

The engine is installed but not all of the under hood items are in place yet. I have the vinyl top material in black, but it is so old that it has stuck to the backing a little too well, so I had to order new material. It should be in this coming week. So I can get started on the vinyl top next weekend.

I have completed the front grill and the rear tail light bars…they worked out pretty good considering I had to scratch build all of the pieces.

The interior is done and ready to be installed with the exception of the door interior panels which were completely scratch built and just need paint.. I apologize for some of the pictures being poor, but it was a dark rainy day today so the lighting is really bad.

Some pictures were taken in lighting that allowed the Plum Crazy to come through as Plum, and some it looks blue.

I am really loving this build, it keeps looking better and better with each stage, so I am really looking forward to the completion.

[Janne Herajärvi]

Very nice color choice. I like the way it looks like blue in other pics and purple in others.