SEMA 2009: HPP Daytona is one big Hot Wheels toy
HPP Daytona - Click above image for high-res gallery
We've been hearing about this car for three days, but we just couldn't find it. Then, just before lunch, one of our intrepid reporters tracked the beast down within the tropical bowels of Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall. Behold: the HPP Daytona!
Yes, it's a new Dodge Challenger wearing a Charger Daytona costume, but updated for today's muscle car aficionados. Under the hood sits a standard 5.7-liter HEMI V8, further proving the point that when it comes to the Daytona/Superbird, it's what's on the outside that counts! Luckily for us, HPP did a pretty decent job on the outside.
The nose cone works, and works well. Here comes the hate mail, but this author thinks the nose actually looks better than the original 1969 Charger Daytona's does. Here's a pic for reference. To be fair, the HPP's schnoz is actually much more like a Plymouth Superbird's than the Dodge. The wheels are great, the fake vents on the door are bad, the stance is right... and then we get to the rear wing.
While we're positive that it's the same dimensions as the mondo-sized Daytona/Superbird wing, the new Challenger's trunk is about half the length of the Sixties/Seventies cars. Meaning it looks... not quite right. Also, this Mopar muscle car has grown so much since forty years ago that the car is just screaming for more wing. But we'll still happily take one, as the HPP Daytona was/is totally worth the hunt.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Shiftright 9:06PM (11/05/2009)
Dig the nose , the wing and the wheels, as ridiculous as it all is, but ditch the Pep Boys stick on vents and get someone to design graphics that don't use mail box decal letters in Helvetica.
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Clavius 9:41PM (11/05/2009)
+1
Yeah everything looks pretty good save for those two things. The hood scoops I swear must of been a afterthought of sheet stupidity and a drunken trip to PepBoys.
andrew 12:43AM (11/06/2009)
As a graphic design student I have to comment that Helvetica is an appropriate choice for the era this car invokes, though it does beg for something a little more exciting.
Johnny 3:39AM (11/06/2009)
Ill second (or third?) the motion. The car looks amazing. But those pep boys vents... Meeeh
Frank 8:53AM (11/06/2009)
You need to research the original car. Those vents are paying homage to it. IIRC the "vents" were on the original to hide the top of the shock towers or something that the hood and fenders could not clear. I'm not an expert on the winged cars so hopefully someone can confirm/clear up what I said. But the vents were definately there to hide something. This new one is mimicking the original.
xcrunk 9:41AM (11/06/2009)
f'kin YUCK!
Shiftright 1:02PM (11/06/2009)
I know the vents and scoops are found in the original. What's at issue here is the low level of resolution. They just look like Pep Boys stick on Specials whereas the other mods are very well done and finished.
Kristovar 9:08PM (11/05/2009)
No.
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StickShift 9:16PM (11/05/2009)
Those wheels should be a factory option. Sexy.
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Franz 9:46PM (11/05/2009)
You pretty much echoed my thoughts word for word. Those are some pretty sweet wheels.
NudeLove93 6:14AM (11/06/2009)
This whole package should be a factory option.
BoxerFanatic 9:24PM (11/05/2009)
Just goes to show how big and bulky new designs are.
The prow of that nose is far too high on the body, and doesn't suit the shapes of the Challenger at all, not like the straighter, longer lines of the old Charger.
Doesn't work here very well.
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bigMIKE 9:29PM (11/05/2009)
Looks like a poor job on those hood scoops. Take a close look.
http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/sema-2009-hpp-daytona-challenger/full/#9
Otherwise, the color scheme is cool, interior and wheels are nice.
I hate the extra large 345 CI on the hood. Hell, you have a Daytona. No need to shout the engine size. Not a big fan of the DAYTONA badging at the rear quarter. I would have done it in flat black. Again, no need to shout with this car. Dump the giant marble shift knob.
OK. Enough of the cosmetic criticism. Let's see this puppy run.
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dal20402 9:41PM (11/05/2009)
Everything that's bad about SEMA in one car! (Well, if you add the paint job from the GReddy Genesis.)
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MemphisNET 10:00PM (11/05/2009)
Awesome. Don't know if I could drive it every day -- but its a very good kudo's to the original.
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hoov23 10:11PM (11/05/2009)
Wow that's wild... but why is the nose pointy?
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MemphisNET 10:46PM (11/05/2009)
Goes back to the aero-wars of NASCAR back in the 60's/70's. Chrysler was so dominant with the Dodge Daytona's and Plymouth Superbirds that NASCAR ended up banning them right off the track -- even tho they met the requirements by selling at least 500 cars to the public. If NASCAR let it continue, the cars would end up resembling nothing close to a stock car.
...oh... wait...
:P
MajorGeek 10:19PM (11/05/2009)
Own a Challenger, Superbird\Daytona is one of my favorite cars. This fails everywhere. Looks like the Challenger in the middle, hacked on nose and wing (which angles back way too much) like the Daytona, silly stic on vents, wheels that look like hubcaps, too much crap on the hood while the pins look fake or at least not in use, thats just first glance. Oh, wait it's at SEMA, that explains it.
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Mr Clickerson 11:17PM (11/05/2009)
You think maybe that could be because of the fact that it is... Well... A Challenger? lol The Challenger is essentially what the Charger should have been (I'm speaking about the new models)... The Challenger, as sweet as it is, should have been smaller.
MajorGeek 11:26PM (11/05/2009)
Obviously, point was it looks like a hacked up Challenger, which it is... Poorly hacked up. A 1970 Dayton clip and win recreation on 2009+ Dodge Challenger + every other stick on, bolt on they could find at your average white trash auto superstore. Can I try and explain the obvious any further for you? :)