News

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already familiar with SpeedKore’s highly modified 1970 Dodge Charger. Introduced by the aftermarket company at SEMA in 2018, it has a fully carbon-fiber body and looks menacing. Originally, the car was powered by a 966-hp supercharged 6.2-liter Demon V-8. But it’s since been swapped out for one of Dodge’s 1000-hp Hellephant crate engines. It sounds wonderful on the dyno.

Demon-Powered Dodge Charger from SpeedKore at SEMA

SpeedKore Dodge Challenger SRT Demon for Sale

SpeedKore released video of its 1970 Charger hitting the dyno post-swap, giving us an idea of how that supercharged 7.0-liter Hellephant engine sounds when it’s actually in a car. According to a representative, the shop is still finalizing the engine’s tune, but it’s expecting to achieve somewhere in the realm of 900 horsepower to the rear wheels when finished. Here’s what the engine looks like installed into the car:

Speedkore

Usually, show cars like this Charger are given one moment in the spotlight before they’re tucked away forever. We’re glad SpeedKore is committed to the continued development of this car, even years after its initial debut. It’s too cool to be forgotten.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

Cadillac has revealed that it will offer magnesium wheels on its upcoming Blackwing sports sedans.
The V-series Blackwing models are higher-performance versions of the CT4-V and CT5-V.
These new variants will go on sale in the summer of 2021.
Magnesium wheels have been used for decades in professional auto racing, prized for their light weight. Cadillac claims that magnesium has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any commonly available metal. But magnesium wheels are virtually unheard of in current production vehicles, though Chevrolet offered them as an expensive option on some fifth-generation (C5) Corvettes. Now Cadillac is bringing true mag wheels to the street as an option on its 2022 CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing high-performance models.
From the teaser photo GM released, its new mag wheel won’t look very different from the hundreds of aluminum alloy wheel designs currently spinning around on today’s vehicles. Its one distinguishing feature is a small “Mg” logo stamped into the wheel rim, the symbol for the element magnesium.

Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing: 650 HP and a Manual

Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Is a True ATS-V Successor

Cadillac says that the new forged mag wheels will reduce unsprung weight—we assume this means in comparison to the car’s standard aluminum alloy wheels—though the company hasn’t revealed by how much. Cadillac also claims that the lighter wheels and will improve ride-and-handling. They could improve acceleration as well. The laws of physics agree, but it will take driving and testing the mag-equipped cars back-to-back with those on the standard wheels to see exactly how much the dynamics actually improve.

Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing
Cadillac

Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
Cadillac

Asked why it chose magnesium wheels rather than carbon-fiber rims like those Ford fitted to the Mustang GT350R, Cadillac responded that “magnesium wheels help reduce mass at the center, allowing for more flexibility with the spoke design and better shock/vibration absorbance. In our testing, magnesium alloy wheels produced a better ride quality due to its vibration dampening.”
This actually isn’t the first time parent company General Motors has offered true magnesium wheels on one of its production cars. Chevrolet sold magnesium wheels for several years as an option for the fifth-generation (C5) Corvette but apparently dropped the expensive and rarely purchased item in 2001.
“Nice mags!” is a phrase you heard often in enthusiast circles if you were around in the 1960s. (Of course you heard it, Ceppos. You were there!—Ed.) It referred to “mag wheels,” a term derived from the exotic-looking, lightweight magnesium wheels prevalent on post-war racing cars. But it was actually a misnomer; magnesium wheels were virtually never installed on production cars back then; they were expensive, prone to corrosion, and thought to be too fragile to handle the hard impacts and bad weather encountered in street use.
Many of the muscle cars prevalent in the sixties were equipped with stylized, stamped-steel wheels that were often chromed and painted. For reasons lost long ago, they were dubbed “mags.” There is one type of car, however, on which magnesium wheels have found wide use: the hot rod. Rodders long ago appropriated magnesium wheels from race cars—Halibrand-style mags used on old sprint cars and Indy roadsters from the fifties and sixties have been long-time favorites—for their cool appearance as well as their light weight. Today, many of those original designs are recreated in aluminum.
We’ll have to wait until these new Cadillacs are revealed, likely in spring 2021, before we know if “nice mags!” is a phrase we’ll be hearing once again.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

It almost never happens, but this week, the Window Shop crew actually took the viewer-submitted challenge seriously. The prompt? Find the most reliable car out there for $5000. This episode features five solid and compelling choices with sterling reputations for reliability and longevity. But even though we like one another’s picks, that doesn’t keep us from bickering about how to properly use a tree air freshener or digressing into a discussion about cars that are like coffins.

With Used-Car Demand Up, How to Get Top Dollar

Quickest Cars Under $10K: Window Shop with C/D

Dyer: Adventures in Used Car Sales

Contributing editor John Pearley Huffman, a devoted lover of the Toyota Tundra, puts his pickup obsession aside and shows off a low-mileage 2007 Ford Crown Victoria police car that may have spend the past 13 years idling. Associate editor Annie White offers up the only German car of the bunch, a 1978 Mercedes-Benz 300D that’s similar to the W123-generation Benz that former EIC Eddie Alterman bought. That diesel Benz may make just 77 horsepower, but it’ll likely still run in 50 years. Deputy testing director K.C. Colwell and yours truly select two ’90s Japanese classics that would be dull if it weren’t for their manual transmissions. Finally, contributing editor Jonathon Ramsey presents what can only be described as peak Buick. He suggests it’s the best car for millennials, but our resident millennial wholeheartedly disagrees. The rest of us fall completely in love with Ramsey’s pick—a pristine Park Avenue Ultra—and begin to understand why the great American road belongs to Buick.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

Ford made sure that when the Bronco’s doors came off, the rearview mirrors stayed. And so Jeep has found a solution to that, because the Wrangler and Gladiator’s mirrors do go with the doors.
A separate Mopar-built doors-off mirror kit can be had for $295.
Jeep has also come out with a Gladiator Willys, a special edition off-road-ready Gladiator which is the first to wear the Willys name.
For all that 2020 has revealed itself to be, it has also turned out to be the year where Ford and FCA truly begin to square off when it comes to their respective dominance in the truck space. Ford’s F-150 Raptor has a new challenger, the Ram 1500 TRX, and the Jeep Wrangler has the new Ford Bronco to test its own dominance. Each company knows its competitors and in some cases makes it explicit.

Ford Bronco vs. Jeep Wrangler: The War Begins

Gladiator Rubicon Is the Wrangler to Get

New Bronco Feels Poised to Invade Jeep’s Turf

Ford had a temporary advantage in that the Bronco’s mirrors don’t come off with the doors, unlike the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator’s. Jeep, keeping up with the tit for tat seen now for months, is not to be outmatched by Ford: Mopar now makes a mirror kit for the Wrangler and Gladiator so that when the doors come off, the mirrors can stay on as they do on the Bronco. The factory-backed mirrors cost $295 and can be installed with a bit wrench, which comes in all Wranglers and Gladiators. The mirrors have a breakaway feature so that when the road or trail gets tight, you don’t risk losing your mirrors.

FCA US LLC

The Gladiator is also adding a Willys edition to its lineup for the 2021 model year, which will be the first time the Willys name will be on the pickup. The Gladiator Willys will come with Willys decals on the hood and rear tailgate and 17-inch black aluminum wheels. It boosts its off-road readiness with a limited-slip rear differential, Rubicon rock rails and shocks, and 32-inch all-terrain tires.
The Gladiator Willys will be offered in eight colors and starts at $36,760. It is already at dealerships.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More