Throwback Thursday: Pictorial—adding assembly lines to a crowded plant

Trenton Engine was built in 1951 to make high-volume V8s; today, it makes V6 engines and motor parts. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, the plant was just about at its capacity, as Chrysler had been building up its sales through the 1990s and dropping imported Mitsubishi fours and sixes. They made aluminum-block V6 … Read more

2025 Dodge Challenger powered by Hurricane engine spotted, and this isn’t it

2025 Dodge Challenger first rendering attempt

A new Dodge Challenger prototype has been spotted within the company, according to a stellpower source. Over a year ago, a different source said the “LB” body Challenger would boast a choice of Hurricane straight-six or full-electric power; a “4xe” style setup is also possible, and the Pentastar V6 could well make a comeback as a low-cost entry-level engine to keep the starting price low. Another low-end option would be the Hurricane Four. <>Read more

Retro Friday: diesel slant sixes

1977 Slant Six

When the fuel crises of the 1970s hit, American automakers were unprepared. Once Chrysler saw that big car owners were dropping their V8s in favor of newly-available slant sixes to save fuel, they authorized a two-barrel slant six to make the smaller engine more satisfactory—but could they go further? Chrysler had more than one slant … Read more

Dodge Challenger Hellcat Product Testing: Falken Azenis FK460 A/S Tires

2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat in Go Mango

To prove their point, Falken sent me a set of Azenis FK460 A/S for testing. Although they arrived in mid-April, we have seen freezing temperatures and a little snow here in Michigan. This has provided me with a great chance to test these all season tires in a setting that is very similar to the fall and early winter. We have had enough rain to wash away the winter road salt and other debris that accumulates during snow plowing, but plenty of 20°F road surfaces and even some light snow to make things slippery. <>Read more

Retro Friday: the Electric Vehicle Company, Maxwell, and Chrysler

1908 Columbia Electric car

In 1896, Henry G. Morris and Pedro G. Salom, makers of the Electrobat taxi cab, formed the Electric Carriage & Wagon Company. Nobody knew that gasoline was the future of the car then: the very first cars, made in the 18th century, had been steamers. Karl Benz made several copies of a single gasoline-burning car in 1885, but then Thomas Edison had opened the world’s first generating station for commercial and residential buyers even earlier—and electricity seemed like it might be the fuel of the future.
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Is there room for Hemi V8s in Mopar’s post-2024 future after all?

Opinion. Back in 2019, I wrote about the “Tornado,” as the turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine then being development was coded. At that point, the GME 2.0 turbo, coded “Hurricane,” was still in planning. The code names were based on warplanes, as were the Eagle, Apache, and so forth—not past Jeep engines. The Willys/Jeep Tornado engine was an inline six-cylinder with an overhead cam, an advanced design which did not last long on the market. The Willys/Jeep Hurricane engine, in contrast, was a four-cylinder, replacing the “Go-Devil” engine, made from 1950 to 1971. (There was also a Jeep Hurricane concept car in 2005 which is unrelated.)  <>Read more

Retro Friday: Making pistons, inspecting engines

B engine block department (361-383)

Dave Van Buren sent in these two photos from Trenton Engine’s archives. The first shows final inspection of engine blocks for Department 72 Main, which made the low-deck B-engine blocks—the 361, 383, and later 400. The bore sizes were painted onto the blocks because there were variations in the diameter of both blocks and pistons … Read more

4-26 is Hemi Day 2023

426 Hemi

Created solely for racing, the famed 426 Hemi was a cross between Chrysler’s first V8 engines, which had hemispherical heads, and the big Cross-Ram Wedge engines which were winning on the street but failing in NASCAR—the company’s second completely new V8 design. The engine people believed that the wedge engines would have an edge if they … Read more

Dodge’s “gateway vehicle” is finally reaching dealers

2024 Dodge Hornet

The Dodge Hornet, after a long sea voyage, is finally reaching dealerships. 

Dodge called the Hornet a “gateway vehicle.” Some thought it would be a hybrid Challenger or Charger to bridge the gap between gas-powered models and EVs; but it was a gateway in different ways—

A gateway to Dodge for first-time buyers
A gateway between FCA and Stellantis—between SUSW and STLA Small
A gateway between gasoline and electric
A gateway between Dodge as “only big cars and trucks” and Dodge as a full line 

One could also call the Hornet a gateway between past and future; the original Hudson Hornet was a full sized car, sold in several body styles, that won NASCAR and AAA racing championships with its six-cylinder engine and either two-barrel carburetor or twin single-barrels (Twin-H Power). <>Read more

Magneto brings up Hurricane hybrid potential for Wrangler, Dodge

Wrangler Magneto 3.0

One of the custom vehicles Jeep is bringing to Moab will be a Wrangler 3.0 Magneto. The name suggests a hybrid-Hurricane combination—dual H power, so to speak. The reality is not quite so poetic: it’s the third Magneto concept. That said, the concept does bring up speculation about the Wrangler and Challenger (and Charger) once the 6.4 liter SRT Hemi—the “392”—goes away. <>Read more

Flashback Friday: the original Fabulous Hudson Hornet

Hudson Hornet logo

One of the less-likely NASCAR champions was a full-sized L-head straight-six car from a premium brand, brought out in the same year as the first, 180-bhp Chrysler Hemi. The Fabulous Hudson Hornet may not have had a V8, but it had three other things going for it: lighter weight, a stiff unibody, and a sunken floor and engine which gave it phenomenal handling when compared to most American stock cars of the day. The straight-six was nearly as big as the first Hemi—308 cubic inches (while that first Hemi was 331 cid)—but was hooked up to a manual transmission and had less weight to push around.   <>Read more