Another area that posed difficulty was the rear fascia. Although not as irreconcilable as the front fascia, the rear of the '68-'70 model has a distinct rear slope while both current LX cars have a forward-facing slope. To solve the problem, Horton adapted the styling vocabulary of the early car to the forward slope and larger bumper cover of the LX. Fans of the early Charger will also appreciate the use of the '69-'70 taillight "bar". Given our compromise on the slope of the rear fascia, we didn't think it was too much to ask if we departed from the forgettable corner lenses of the Magnum and 300C.
Elsewhere, we departed substantially from the classic Charger by retaining the sexy fender flares of the Magnum and 300C. In our opinion, this is an improvement over the classic Charger design, especially with the wheels pushed out to the corners of the car-a fixed trait of the LX platform.
Pushing the wheels out to the corners is not only aesthetically pleasing, it also improves handling a great deal while simultaneously improving ride quality. This should prove to be one of the keys to the LX platform's future sales success in the mid-lux market, but buyers have been famously picky in this segment. At Chrysler, the plan for the 300C is embarrassingly straight forward: sell a better luxury car for less than the competition (i.e. Lincoln LS and Cadillac CTS). In our mind, that works. But at Dodge, the official plan to market the four-door Magnum wagon to active, often-single males is hard to swallow; we feel most of the males in this category would be considering the new Mustang, the new GTO or possibly a C6 Corvette (not to mention the 300C).
The Business Case The business case for targeting a predominantly male audience with a station wagon model may just be a "Pacifica-like" miscalculation on the part of Dodge's German handlers, but we think the Dodge boys are smarter than that. The Charger so perfectly fills the male market niche that it's laughable to do anything else. So where does that put the Magnum SRT-8 station wagon? The answer to that is, "right where it belongs." A real domestic rear-drive wagon hasn't been built since 1996, and we think for traditional families on the run there's plenty of pent-up demand for one that looks and runs as good as Magnum.
Our inclusion of a four-door Charger variant makes things interesting. After hearing of Dodge's work on a four-door midway through our own design, we followed suit. It's entirely possible that the Charger could come to showrooms strictly as a four-door. We aren't strictly opposed to this; four-door performance cars are accepted-even desired-by enthusiasts these days. There is certainly enough grace in the LX's proportions to support nothing but four-door variants, and given the public appeal of the 1999 concept car, the chances are good that it could happen. Even still, with so many four-door LX models in the works (Chrysler is even planning a wagon version of the 300C called the Touring model), there's not much differentiation in the line-up. A two-door coupe would certainly address the need for a domestic rear-drive V-8 coupe. We hesitate to call it a ponycar since LX is larger, but a roomier Camaro may have indeed saved the F-body from demise. In any case, a two-door or four-door Charger would be a grown man's "Camaro," not a kid's car.
So will Dodge build the Charger and capitalize on the vacuum left by GM's cancelled F-body? We give it better than a 50 percent chance. But even if market conditions and the current financial woes of Daimler Chrysler prevent a Charger from becoming reality, we are hot rodders and are constantly inspired by the possibility. The LX platform has the potential to be fodder for many cool projects. If nothing else, maybe we can inspire craftsmen to build a new Charger out of a 300C or Magnum.