Description
Author: Peter Grist, Foreword by Justin Bell, Hardbound, 160 Pages, ISBN: 9780750923415, 1st Edition, 2000
Since the 1950s, Dodge has produced a series of charismatic performance cars , that have given the company a unique reputation among American car-makers. The original Charger and Challenger and the more recent Copperhead and Viper are outstanding examples of the company's commitment to cars of high performance and aggressive styling.
Peter Grist's pictorial history of these typically American machines gives a fascinating insight into their ancestry and evolution and celebrates the huge impact they have made on the road and on the track. His account is an exciting introduction that will appeal to everyone who is interested in American automobile history.
When the first Dodge performance cars were conceived in the early 1950s, they were a brave step for a company that was well known for its dependable saloons and pickups. Peter Grist describes this change of direction and the radical new thinking that resulted in the creation of the innovative Dodge 'Hemi' V8 of 1953.
This remarkable engine provided the power for the first sporting Dodges and led to the race-bred D-500 series of 1956 which laid the foundation for the Dodge sporting tradition.
But Dodge's reputation for creating big potent sporting cars was really consolidated in the 1960s and early 1970s — the muscle-car era — when the Dart, Charger, Challenger and Demon were so successful on the road, the race track and drag strip. The book features these historic cars and the drivers who have raised Dodge to a pre-eminent position over the last 40 years. It recalls the exploits of Danny Eames, Marvin Panch, Richard Petty, Roger Lindamood and Al 'The Lawman' Eckstrand, and it pictures Dodge's more recent victories, in particular Justin Bell's triumph in the Dodge Viper at Le Mans in 1997.
The author includes illustrations of Dodge's styling experiments and concept cars, which had such a strong effect on their production models, and he looks closely at the 1998 Viper Le Mans Special Edition. He has brought together an evocative collection of over 200 photographs that offer a varied record of the development of these remarkable cars. His book is an entertaining and informative guide to the Dodge tradition which will be essential reading for Dodge enthusiasts and for everyone who enjoys American performance cars.
PETER GRIST is a Dodge and Chrysler enthusiast and owner, as well as a motoring writer specializing in American automobile history.
