2011 Hooniverse Car of the Year Nominee: Hotchkis E-Max Challenger
My nominee for the 2011 Hooniverse Car of the Year award is an easy choice. I drove something this year that I can’t stop thinking about. This car has infected my very soul, the sounds it makes play on a constant loop as the background of my dreams (and nightmares), and everything about it has left me wanting more.
I’m talking about the Hooniverse ride of choice for the 2011 LA Auto Show; the Hotchkis E-Max Challenger.
To create the E-Max, Hotchkis started with a fairly basic 1970 Dodge Challenger, and turned it into a T/A clone. The 340 cubic-inch V8 under the hood wails like it’s in entered a screaming match with the Devil… and it intends to win. Yellow and black work together on the exterior to create a pallet that’s at the same time both menacing and bright.
Both the exterior and interior are classic cool, with the exception of but a few well-placed patches of modern mayhem. The large, black wheels look good tucked under the fenders, yet also serve to keep autocross action moving in the right direction. The wheels are just a hint, however, at the technical sorcery lurking under the skin.
The E-Max Challenger wears Hotchkis’ Total Vehicle System, which basically means your suspension needs have been well and truly met. This mad muscle machine is not a straight-line brawler. Canyon roads, coned-off parking lots, and world-class racetracks can be taken with confident speed, and the constant rebel yell from the uncorked exhaust system.
The Hotchkis E-Max Challenger deserves to be the 2011 Hooniverse Car of the Year for a number of reasons. It’s louder than it needs to be, handles better than anyone would expect it to, and melds the best parts of old and new. The E-Max Challenger is a mean son of a bitch, with a ferocious bark. It’s also an easy-going pussycat, that can be happily driven on a daily basis.
I love this car. I love everything about it, and I would put it in my own garage given the chance. This is obtainable fantasy garage material, and that is a moniker that most cars can never wear.
Vote for the Hotchkis E-Max Challenger as the 2011 Hooniverse Car of the Year.
To help sway your votes, I put together a quick re-edited version of my original Challenger video:
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It's got my vote. So far.
Oh, just you wait…
Eastern European?
Again, I have a level I will trade you in exchange for car keys…
One of my favorite cars in recent years. Definately a vote from me.
A few days ago I stumbled upon this one too…..
<DIV style="OVERFLOW: auto"><img src="http://purevisiondesign.com/images/photos/72gtxr/5.jpg">
http://purevisiondesign.com/rides_otr_gtxr.asp
Oh my.
I'll be in my bunk.
I really can't argue any of that, and have no reason to do so. That thing is just plain bad ass, and I really love the treatment of everything.
Also, this: "The 340 cubic-inch V8 under the hood wails like it’s in entered a screaming match with the Devil… and it intends to win." This is why I read this stuff.
Incidentally, I would like to throw this in the ring, as I just found out it exists. I would like to know more about it though. All I know is that I see a small block Chevy, Wilwoods(?), Cobra Rs, a tube frame(?), and what looks like a really far back seating position due to a mid mounted V8 in an already suicidal car…
<img src="http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Mike%20Garrett/001dec/cc/cc31.jpg">
Found it here: http://speedhunters.com/archive/2011/12/13/event-…
Apparently it's in Southern California. Do you know anything about it, Jeff?
Could tell that was Cars and Coffee before clicking the link. I will ask my CnC expert friend…
I do wish there were year-round events like C&C here. Maybe there are and I don't know about them. But it's always nice to see people out driving their cars in the early Winter. I guess that's SoCal for you… Northern Californians are a bunch of wimps.
The ones that have nice cars seem to be. They don't want all that dew and dust on their glass slippers….
That is excellent. I want to see a video of the driver getting into it. The ergonomics look like they may actually be less flattering than an Elise.
Wonderful. Crazy cars like this VW are one of the reasons I read Hooniverse. Kind of reminds me of a local drag car from here in Sydney way back in the early 80's (writing that makes me feel old). It was a mid-60's Beetle with the standard VW transmission reversed to a mid-engine configuration and mated to a Leyland P-76 V8, filling up the back seat space, scant attention paid to separating the engine from the drivers area, and quasi-legal registration (so the owner could run in the street-driven classes). The near-complete lack of weight over the front end made for some pretty spectacular wheelstands.
There are some seriously crazy people who modify these things. It's kind of a chicken or the egg situation to me. Is it the car that makes them crazy, or does the car just attract crazy people? Either way, the ideas they come up with are borderline actually clinically, straight jacket, insanicide.
Boo. 1970 Challengers are ugly, horrible cars. Please do not do anything to encourage love for them or drive prices up until after I corner the market on them.
You're being evil again…
/Save a good one for me.
I dig it. Not "HCOTY" dig it, but I think it is pretty cool.
If a similar treatment would have been given to a car with more "station wagon" in it, it would have gotten my vote! I want something I can enjoy with the whole family and something I can take to Home Depot when I need to.
Don't worry, I'll still vote for lack of better things to vote on.
Hotchkis-tuned CTS-V Wagon perhaps? or something classic?
Something classic, something people don't expect to go fast around curves!
About a year ago, I almost bought a Buick Roadmaster wagon. Hotchkis offers numerous parts for those cars, and I put together a shopping list with ALL of them. I set aside the whole plan when I realized that I only had enough money for the car or the upgrades, and I had time for neither. Seeing the Hotchkis Challenger on here a few weeks ago made me want to pull out my credit card and say "screw it."
If you do that, be sure to let us know and send pictures.
Nothing at all to do with their loaning you the car, so you could show off in front of your colleagues at the car show?
Nope, it's here because it's the coolest fucking car I've ever driven…