Two months. That’s how long it took a team of custom fabricators to rip apart a pair of stock Dodge Charger Scat Packs and rebuild them into rear-wheel-drive, manual-transmission drift machines making 750 horsepower each.
Dodge revealed the cars ahead of this weekend’s Roadkill Nights event in Pontiac, Michigan. The builds started with the standard Charger Scat Pack and its 550-hp Hurricane twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six. What came out the other side barely resembles what went in.
The team included Mike Musto, director of programming at Hemmings, and Suppy Wejpanich of Suppy’s Garage. They built two variants: a two-door coupe called BOOST, purpose-built for solo drifting, and a four-door sedan dubbed the Rapid People Mover, or RPM, designed to haul passengers along for drift demonstrations.
The coupe ditched its factory twin-turbo setup entirely in favor of a single high-output turbo, paired with custom intake and exhaust systems. The four-door kept its twin turbos but with heavy modifications. Both cars claim at least 750 horsepower, a 36 percent jump over stock.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The current Charger comes exclusively with an automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. These builds toss both out the window.
Manual gearboxes and rear-wheel drive only. That’s a configuration Dodge has refused to offer from the factory on the new Charger, despite years of vocal demand from enthusiasts who wanted exactly this powertrain layout.
Dodge will send 750 horses through a manual to the rear wheels for a show car, but won’t sell you one. File that under things that keep enthusiasts up at night.
The chassis work goes deep. Stock suspension and steering components were replaced with drift-specific hardware, and the steering geometry was reengineered for sustained slides. Inside, production trim was gutted in favor of roll cages, racing seats, and multipoint harnesses. The only original piece reportedly left untouched is the windshield.
Both cars wear custom bodywork including wider fenders, unique hoods, rear wings, and aero additions. Purple Haze paint sits under racing liveries that split the difference between factory fresh and grassroots drift culture.
The timing of this reveal is not accidental. Dodge is also debuting the Charger Super Bee at the same event, a new production model that bumps the Hurricane’s output from 550 to 600 horsepower. The Super Bee slots in as the new range-topper for buyers who can actually walk into a dealership and drive something home.
The drift Chargers serve a different purpose. They’re proof-of-concept machines, built to generate excitement and show off the Hurricane engine’s headroom. Two hundred extra horsepower on bolt-on modifications and tuning suggests the 3.0-liter six has more in it than Dodge has been willing to unlock for retail customers so far.
Whether any of this hardware trickles down into a production option remains an open question. Dodge has shown repeatedly that it knows what its audience wants. The brand just keeps choosing to deliver it in forms you can look at but not buy.
Roadkill Nights kicks off August 8, and these two Chargers will be the loudest things on the ground in Pontiac that aren’t running down the drag strip.
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