GSBot

We've been hearing about this car for three days, but we just couldn't find it. Then, just before lunch, one of our intrepid reporters tracked the beast down within the tropical bowels of Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall. Behold: the HPP Daytona!

Yes, it's a new Dodge Challenger wearing a Charger Daytona costume, but updated for today's muscle car aficionados. Under the hood sits a standard 5.7-liter HEMI V8, further proving the point that when it comes to the Daytona/Superbird, it's what's on the outside that counts! Luckily for us, HPP did a pretty decent job on the outside.

The nose cone works, and works well. Here comes the hate mail, but this author thinks the nose actually looks better than the original 1969 Charger Daytona's does. Here's a pic for reference. To be fair, the HPP's schnoz is actually much more like a Plymouth Superbird's than the Dodge. The wheels are great, the fake vents on the door are bad, the stance is right... and then we get to the rear wing.

While we're positive that it's the same dimensions as the mondo-sized Daytona/Superbird wing, the new Challenger's trunk is about half the length of the Sixties/Seventies cars. Meaning it looks... not quite right. Also, this Mopar muscle car has grown so much since forty years ago that the car is just screaming for more wing. But we'll still happily take one, as the HPP Daytona was/is totally worth the hunt.


Gallery: SEMA 2009: HPP Daytona Challenger


SEMA 2009: HPP Daytona is one big Hot Wheels toy originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.