When automotive historians look back on the horsepower wars, it'll be cars like the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat that force them to re-write the books on the muscle car era. It’s become clear that the skirmishes between GM, Ford, and Chrysler in the late 60s and early 70s were no more than quaint differences of opinion writ in cast iron and bias-ply rubber – at least in comparison to the overwhelming firepower offered by the modern cast of eight-cylinder characters currently plying American roads.
Nostalgia has played a role in masking the less-than-spectacular aspects of the original generation of muscle coupes, but there’s no amount of tire smoke and chromed mirrors that could disguise the fact that Dodge has created the most outrageously powerful rubber-burner ever to have been built by a Detroit-based brand. The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat’s 707 horses and 650 lb-ft of torque tower over the modern competition and shame the original hot metal that it pays homage to in name, style, and spirit.