Since it all really began for us with the Charger, it made sense to us, to feature this one first. The idea for the Charger came from a collection of ideas and for that matter a lot of conversations with friends. Let me give you a quick point of reference. My daily driver is a beefed up Magnum RT and I have a teenage son approaching that magical day of driving. This is a day, that is sure to add more grey to my graying hair. The kids on my sons football team love my car and all talk of someday driving it. As the Dads in the shop discussed this topic the main issues that shadowed the positives of the kids driving was the typical negatives: high insurance premiums, safety, speed, size, gas mileage and other costs. No one wants to give the newby driver a car they cant handle or pay through the nose for them to drive it. Because of the size of my son and his friends, it doesn’t make sense to squeeze them into a small vehicle. So, being a typical car guy, I started to imagine the perfect vehicle. The idea of a SRT “look” had just come out. So, we had to build one. Funny thing was, that when it was done, it was the only car anyone in the family really wanted to drive. It has become a favorite of the teens all the way to our 80 yr. old Grandma. With better than 22 miles to the gallon, tons of performance, great looks and insurance being a fraction of the SRT or even the RT for that matter, What’s not to like? Maybe it’s the Blue we built it in, but I have to tell you, it gets more looks than just about any car I have ever driven.

Before we started C/3, in earnest, we helped friends build several Clone type cars like this. We built some Mustangs and even an CTS into a V car look alike, all with the same type of response. Everyone loved them and couldn’t believe they weren’t the high horse - high priced versions of the cars. I even had a parent tell me I was missing a screw if I let my kid drive one of these Hot Rods. That convinced us that we had stumbled over a pretty cool concept. The first production Charger went through many iterations. First, we built the Charger into an RT Clone and then took it all the way to SRT status. We decided to do this SRT Clone in Blue because you couldn’t buy one and we think it looks a lot better than Yellow. We added all SRT parts, the fascia, hood, grill, lights, fogs, rear valance, rear wing and all the SRT badging and then we wore out the graphic vinyl installers as we tried multiple stripes until we found ones we liked. It then came time to add wheels. We ordered set after set, including factory SRT wheels and none of them really did what we thought was justice. Then we found a wheel manufacturer that built us 22” versions of the Charger SRT wheel in Chrome. That was exactly the look that we were looking for. When we parked it next to the SRT8, we noticed it was about 2 inches taller so suspension was added and I can tell you that it was no easy process to find the right drop and maintain the ride and in addition, we of course, wanted to improve the handling at the same time. Again, by trial, we found a great combination. If you know the 3.5L, it is a great v6, better yet with a chip, dual exhaust and a little more air it really runs well. But what makes this a real unique vehicle is that we spent countless hours mixing and matching those basic performance items to build not only HP and Torque but to deliver great sound and economy. As the process came together we found that we had become as much of an expert on this as anyone else we had spoken with. At that point,we realized we had built the optimal Charger “SRT6” Clone.

Things move fast at C/3, we did more than just turn RT’s or SXT’s into SRT Clones, we started to mix and match, with a little trial and error, we built a process that integrated original parts of the 300’s and the Magnum. At the SEMA show, we had seen a base 300 front end on an SXT Magnum, so we knew it could be done. But we were looking for the full effect and style of the SRT, so we built one with eager anticipation and what you see on the Website is the final production model from those efforts. Although, in the beginning the Magnum, with the 300 SRT front end is what drove us, and we about fell over when we saw the 300 with the SRT Magnum front end. Basically, if you want to stop traffic, this is one car that will do it. We restyle the Magnum with Barracuda style grills and many others, adding distinctive unique looks that you just don’t see anywhere. Once we felt like we could build any combination of Clones or Customs to meet this demand we had to move to building more performance and interior feature into the packages to meet the needs of customers, and we did in that order. We found, most companies focused on lots of look for the 3.5L cars and lots of power or performance for the 5.7 and 6.1L cars. We wanted to do both for both sets of owners. On the original Charger project car, we found few sources for performance mods and less information than expected. By trial and error, mixing matching and tedious documentation, we have found several packages that do more than just add a new upgrade to the list for the forums. These packages have power, improve performance and can even improve fuel economy if you can keep your foot out of it. I will tell you, from someone who can drive anything he wants home from the shop, I choose to drive the 3.5L almost every time. Its fun to drive and with the miles I drive, the gas mileage is a real plus. Admittedly, I do enjoy a blast with 600HP from time to time, but that’s another article.

Having driven almost every type of car, I appreciate great, not just good leather seats, so we went about developing a relationship with leather seat and upholstery manufacturers to design a great seat that didn’t break the bank and was congruent with the design elements from MOPAR. This Charger, has installed, one of the first kits built expressly for C/3. We went with a classic Charger font to add the classic charger Logo in black stitching on dark charcoal leather seating. We added a carbon dash to add some punch to the interior along with unique C/3 Badging. Next, we added a set of Critical Mass Speakers to an already nice audio system and the Icon TV Line was used for headrest monitors and DVD unit. By then, we felt like we had really put those pieces together after installing lots of diffident manufactures units to find the best value and performance. Anyway, the process of building this car and subsequently all of the others has been a tremendously enjoyable journey. We hope we have the opportunity to help you build the ride you have always wanted. If you have any question or just want to talk to a car nut call C/3.