Dodge Viper RT/10

A lot of water passed through the mill from the time the Dodge brothers assembled engines for Henry Ford until the Dodge Viper peeked out from under its wraps at the 1989 Detroit auto show. Dodge Viper RT/10Over the course of that era, the Dodge brothers split with Ford to begin building cars of their own under the imaginative Dodge Brothers name; Dodge Brothers was bought by Walter P. Chrysler as he built Chrysler Corporation in the image of his previous employer, General Motors; and Dodge (sans Brothers) went from an icon of performance during the halcyon years of the Sixties to becoming largely irrelevant by the late Eighties. Omnis and K-cars  will do that, no matter how proud one’s history.

Bringing Dodge model back to life

A quickly fading brand with a dreary image were what faced Chrysler Corporation planners as they considered what they should do for the ’89 Detroit show, and their response — a huge, brutal two-seat sports car — Read more . . .

Dodge Power Wagon

Do you long for those carefree,  happy days you spent in the United States Army? Not too many of us do, but one of the legacies of the American military is a present billion-dollar-a-year craze. Dodge Power Wagon It’s not the color khaki, no. It’s not the camouflage craze. It’s the sport utility  motor vehicle.

There was a time when the person who drove four-wheel-drive vehicles didn’t drink cappuccino every morning on their way to transport their kids to soccer practice. There was a time when the person who drove four-wheel-drive vehicles weren’t welcomed at the opera and at the country clubs. There was a time when the person who drove four-wheel-drive vehicles were mainly men on missions be it for the Forest Service, the military,  or utility companies. And the vehicle of preference for those manly men who got the job done was the Dodge Power Wagon.

Machismo appearance

It is a bit ironic today that Daimler-Chrysler, the company that owns the Dodge brand, Read more . . .

Green Cars Not Necessarily Dull

Pundits have been predicting that 2008 won’t be kind to auto manufacturers.   But a quick tour of the year’s first two major auto shows — the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and the Chicago Auto Show — demonstrates that manufacturers plan to do anything but pull in their horns. (And when it comes to Chrysler, we can say that quite literally, since its Detroit show press event featured a full-on cattle drive.) Read more . . .