Say what you will about how long the current Dodge Challenger’s been around, but we gotta give Dodge credit for continually adding more power and more variants, and keeping things fresh enough to sell tons of them. In the automaker’s quest to offer near-endless combinations for every possible muscle car niche and budget, the Challenger R/T Scat Pack Shaker and T/A 392 models will be available with the Widebody option in 2021.
Adding 3.5 inches of total width (or 1.75 inches of flared fender per side), the Widebody pack allows for wider wheels and tires, throwing in sticky 305-section Pirellis as well as further chassis and suspension tuning by SRT. It also looks pretty sick.
Dodge says the Widebody enhancements improve lap times by “two seconds per lap or 12 car lengths” over the non-Widebody (Narrowbody?) Scat Pack Shaker and T/A 392. When we asked Dodge to clarify which track it was referring to, a company spokesperson responded: “We do not disclose the tracks where we test our vehicles as that is proprietary info.”
So, take that “12 car lengths” claim for what it’s worth. More meaningfully perhaps, the Widebody apparently cuts the quarter-mile time by 0.2 seconds, making its way down the drag strip in 12.1 seconds at 112 mph.
With more than a dozen variants seemingly all designated by some style-over-clarity suffix like Hellcat, Scat Pack, Demon, or Redeye, we won’t blame anyone for not knowing all the ins and outs of the Dodge Challenger lineup.
Here’s a refresher: both the R/T Scat Pack Shaker and T/A 392 are based on the R/T Scat Pack which is powered by a naturally aspirated 392 Hemi V8 making 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque. A Tremec six-speed manual comes standard while an eight-speed automatic is available.
The Scat Pack Shaker adds a nostalgia-inducing hood scoop that, as you probably already gathered, visibly shakes with the engine while sucking in more cold air, making it feel like you’re driving some barely-hinged, chassis-twisting beast from years past.
The T/A 392, meanwhile, admittedly isn’t all that different from the Scat Pack Shaker mechanically but does get a bunch of cosmetic additions that tip its cap to the iconic 1970 Challenger Trans Am racer, including a whole lot of satin black wrap, optional throwback-style hood pins, black-on-white gauges, and Houndstooth cloth seats.
It also gets those nifty hollowed-out headlamps and a NACA-ducted hood that provide better air management and, of course, look pretty darn cool. Spot a theme?
The cost of all this badassery comes in at around $50,000 apiece with the Widebody Scat Pack Shaker priced at $49,185 and the Widebody T/A 392 commanding $50,858. All I’m thinking about right now, however, is how much it would cost to get some press photos of these cars that don’t look weirdly computer-generated.
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