Chrysler enters a Vanishing Point Challenger in a race, promptly crashes it on Day 1

[HeilSvenska]

Before

this is the automakers's entry this year's One Lap of America "cross-country" race. Chrysler's Vice President Ralph Gilles and Erich Heuschele, Vehicle Dynamics Supervisor for SRT, are entering a blank white Challenger inspired by the 1970 Dodge Challenger that stars in the cult film Vanishing Point from 1971. The plot of the original movie revolves around a guy named Kowalski who has to deliver a white 1970 Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. He's aided by a blind DJ named Super Soul who listens to the police band and delivers helpful if not clairvoyant info to the protagonist over the radio. It's fitting then that Gilles and Heuschele have entered the One Lap race this year under the names of Kowalski and Super Soul, and the car they'll be driving is the very first preproduction Challenger prototype that was ever driven on public roads. It's been rescued from the crusher and slightly modified with a fresh coat of white paint (the first ever seen on a new Challenger) and new wheels to more resemble the original.

& After

[ferrarif1fan89]

Nice one, Chrysler, money well spent!


Not.

[HeilSvenska]

Originally Posted by ferrarif1fan89 Nice one, Chrysler, money well spent! Not.

Aha, money well saved, you mean.

If you read the thing, you'll know that it was't a production model, and they were supposed to crush it anyway, so no money lost. (All preproduction cars must die one way or the other. Sad, but true.)

[graywolf624]

If you read the thing, you'll know that it was't a production model, and they were supposed to crush it anyway, so no money lost.

Actually I have to agree with the waste comment, only because the car needed to make it past round 1 to be marketed.. instead they spend the money for logistics only to lose the car.

[HeilSvenska]

Originally Posted by graywolf624 Actually I have to agree with the waste comment, only because the car needed to make it past round 1 to be marketed.. instead they spend the money for logistics only to lose the car.

True. $2,600 entry fee, probably prepaid lodging fees, wheels and tires, a brown vest and a beanie.

Wrecking a new Challenger in front of all those potential buyers for the very first time? Priceless.

*Seeing how there may be a lot of potential buyers in the crowd, Chrysler entered a replacement.

After putting the first Challenger in the fence yesterday, co-drivers Erich and Ralph, design engineers for Chrysler, have returned to the circuit with a whole 'nother car. One Lap of America will be an exhibition run for them now, since you can't officially run for points once you've replaced your car—so now they're just in it for kicks. The orange SRT rolled into the paddock this morning at Mid America Motorplex in Pacific Junction, Iowa, and completed a perfectly respectable and wreck-free run out on the track. Ralph told me that they drove wrecked Challenger 200 miles in the shape it was in yesterday with no problems, getting 19 mpg on the highway. It's getting repaired at a friend's shop, and Ralph confirmed that it'll likely be run in the Targa Newfoundland, Canada's version of the Mille Miglia. It's a good thing that race cars never die!