What’s the best way to make a car (any car) cool, to give it immediate interweb fame and ensure it becomes a highly searched item in Google Images? Why, turn it into a police cruiser of course!

Such a thing has just been done by the blue and white (er… green and white?) at the Broward County Sheriff’s office in Southern Florida. The car is a shiny new Dodge Challenger R/T and it looks even more intimidating with that big light-bar up top and the county sheriff’s white and green paint scheme.

Check out the gallery of photos below and try and remember (as hard as it might be) to keep your speed down while traveling along southern Florida’s flat and straight highways. Otherwise, you might get to see this R/T up close.

GALLERY: Broward County Sheriff’s Office Dodge Challenger R/T

[Source: LawOfficerConnect]

Dodge has announced that for 2010 it is resurrecting the Plum Crazy paint color. The eye-catching shade of purple will be available on Challenger SRT and R/T Classic models, which will also get black dual wide side stripes or optional white stripes. All Plum Crazy R/T models will get Plum stitching on the seats, while SRT models will get a Plum seat stripe. The package can be had for $225 on the R/T and $500 on the SRT model.

In addition, for 2010 the R/T manual transmission models get the option of a Super Track Pack that delivers Goodyear 245/45/20 tires, an upgraded suspension, upgraded brakes and he ability to completely turn ESP off. This package can be had for just $400.

With the introduction of Plum Crazy Dodge has also ceased the limited run of the Detonator Yellow and B-5 Blue colors.

[Source: AllPar & MotorAuthority]

Those shifter experts at Hurst have just announced that they will offer a new modification package for the Dodge Challenger… and the real surprise is that it is available for Challengers of all colors.

Hurst is well-known for its either white/gold or black/gold paint schemes, but that certainly limits the company’s customer group. This new setup, the Competition/Plus package, will be available for any Challenger, be it B5 Blue, Hemi Orange, TorRed or any other color.

Along with appealing to a broader audience, the new kit is designed to offer performance at an affordable price. It includes Eibach springs, a Magnaflow exhaust, 20-inch Hurst wheels, color-matched leather seat inserts and stitching and a Competition/Plus shifter with a classic white shift knob ball.

Hurst just announced the new Competition/Plus package for the Challenger at the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, CA.The Competition/Plus package is available for the RT and SRT8 Dodge Challenger at Hurst Dodge Dealers at cost of $18,495 above the factory Challenger price.

[Source: Autoblog]

[Photo Credit: Drew Phillips]

GALLERY: Hurst Competition/Plus Challenger

Official release after the jump:

Forget the Fusion and Avenger, the 2010 Ford and Dodge NASCAR racers will be mean street machines and real pony cars. That’s right, the Mustang and Challenger.

Both cars are expected to be closer to stock than any car in recent history, but that’ s not saying much.

The move was made by the NASCAR governing body in an effort to help the series. In the past both GM and Ford warned that the current Cup cars would turn NASCAR into a spec-racing series with every car not only being similar but looking the same. This, they argued, would in turn lead to a lack of brand identification and, therefore, a loss of interest in the series.

It seems they were right.

NASCAR has suffered a significant drop in not only attendance figures and souvenir sales, but also in TV ratings – indicating that the problem is in fact a lack of interest and not a lack of funds.

The new cars actually won’t be all that different, but they will look different, something that NASCAR is most likely hoping will be of interest to manufacturers looking to capitalize on some marketing.

Despite the move by Ford and Doge, GM will continue to run the Impala SS rather than the 2010 Camaro. Also, Toyota is continuing on with its Camry, mostly because it doesn’t have anything else. The sole Japanese automaker in NASCAR recently dropped the two-door Solara from its lineup.

[Source: Fox Sports]

New for 2009 is the Dodge Challenger SE Rallye model, which comes standard with a long list of exterior updates and, more importantly, a five-speed automatic transmission.

The new tranny is the same unit found paired to the V8 HEMI engines in R/T and SRT8 models. It’s no surprise then that it offers an aggressively short first gear for increased performance. Surprisingly, fuel-economy takes a bit of a hit with city mileage dropping from 18mpg to 17mpg. Highway mileage remains constant at a decent 25 mpg.

The new transmission also features Dodge’s Auto Stick feature, which allows for manual shifting through the gears.

Exterior highlights of the Rallye car include 18-inch wheels, a chrome fuel cap door, a body-colored rear spoiler, as well as dual hood and trunk stripes with outer accent stripes.

The interior also received some added details with what Dodge calls “micro carbon” detailing.

The 2009 Challenge SE Rallye will be offered in seven colors with pre-specified stripes: Brilliant Black Crystal Pearl with Dark Gray dual stripes and Red accent stripes; Bright Silver Metallic with Dark Gray dual stripes and Red accent stripes; Deep Water Blue Metallic with White dual stripes and Red accent stripes; Inferno Red Crystal Pearl with Black and Dark Gray accent stripes; TorRed with Black dual stripes and Dark Gray accent stripes; Dark Titanium Metallic with Black dual stripes and Red accent stripes and finally, Stone White with Black dual stripes and Red accent stripe.

The 2009 Challenger SE Rallye is currently available to be ordered at Dodge dealerships with production beginning in April. Pricing is $26,490 (including the $725 destination fee).

GALLERY: 2009 Dodge Challenger SE Rallye

More after the jump:

It looks like something Dodge had on display at the 2009 North Americna International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit will actually go into production. No, it won’t be a forward-looking electric car but rather a retro inspired version of the all-new Challenger.

Available as of today for $34,005, the Challenger R/T Classic gets a long list of “classic” design cues to bring back memories of the good old days.

For starters, the Challenger R/T Classic gets two wide side R/T stripes and old-school Challenger heritage badging. It also gets retro-inspired 20-inch chrome wheels, an egg-crate grille with an R/T badge, a body colored rear spoiler and a chrome fuel door. On the hood can be found two functional hood scoops!

Dodge will offer the Challenger R/T Classic in Brilliant Black Crystal Pearl, Bright Silver Metallic, Stone White, as well as three Dodge heritage colors: HEMI Orange, TorRed and B5 Blue.

Of course, the R/T Classic comes with the latest version of Dodge’s 5.7-liter HEMI engine, which produces 376 horsepower  and 410 lb.-ft. of torque – enough to ensure a sub six-second 0-60 mph time. A performance exhaust is also a part of the package so you can hear that baby rumble.

A six-speed Tremec manual is standard equipment with a 5-speed auto optional. The six-speed gets a precision-shift “pistol-grip” shifter, Hill Start Assist and a 3.92 differential and both models come with a Track-Pak that includes special pedals, four-wheel disk brakes and stability control with a traction control system that can be shut off.

Inside the retro theme continues with a trapezoidal theme for the door-panel cover and gauge cluster. A dark headliner, slanted shifter console and “four bomb” gauge cluster are also inspired by the origial.

Dodge Challenger R/T Classic:

Official release after the jump:

Most manufacturers displaying at SEMA gave a few different tuner shops their latest and greatest car and let them go wild on it… but not Dodge. And with an in-house group of experts like the ones at the company’s SRT (Street and Racing Technology) division, who needs to.
SRT engineers were tasked with building a high-performance variant of the new Challenger and they did not disappoint. As though the Challenger SRT-8’s stock 425hp, 6.1-liter HEMI engine were not enough, the SRT team decided to stuff the Viper’s big V10 under the hood. Making 600hp and 560 ft-lbs of torque, this is one badass machine.
But the boys over at SRT didn’t stop there.
The Challenger SRT10 gets a Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual transmission with Viper gear ratios, a four-inch steel drive shaft mated to an aluminum differential with a 3.73:1 final drive and a limited slip differential.
Handling has been improved due to Bilstein shocks and the rear of the car, in particular has been firmed up with a larger sway bar and 20 percent stiffer springs.
The SRT team is known for producing vehicles with exceptional braking capabilities and the Challenger SRT10 is no exception. It has six-piston front calipers with 15.4-inch rotors and four-piston rear calipers with 14-inch rotors. On interesting feature is that SRT engineers designed a system that senses lateral acceleration and will prime the brakes in anticipation of a braking zone.
The Challenger SRT10 also gets an aggressive new look with 20-inch wheels, a carbon fiber hood and a carbon rear spoiler. That spoiler and the front lip have been designed to give incredible amounts of useful downforce – something the SRT team figured out when building the Viper ACR.
While the Challenger SRT10 is only a concept it is likely to see production. After all, Dodge built the Ram SRT10 didn’t they?

Official press release and PHOTO GALLERY after the jump: