The Mopar brand is noting its 80th anniversary with the introduction of the limited-edition Mopar 2017 Dodge Challenger. The pony car is available with a pair of hand-painted, show car trim options. Only 80 models will be sold in Pitch Black/Contusion Blue, with another 80 in Pitch Black/Billet Silver, in a nod to 80 years of the Mopar brand. The Mopar 2017 Dodge Challenger also includes Mopar performance parts, accessories, an owner’s kit and the now requisite serialized badge.
It’s sad to hear rumors on the street that FCA is considering dropping the Hemi in favor of smaller turbocharged engines. This is brand treason if true.
Mopar (a contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was born on August 1, 1937, as the name of a line of antifreeze products. Mopar has since evolved over 80 years to serve as the service, parts and customer-care brand of all FCA vehicles around the globe.
The Mopar ’17 Dodge Challenger is the eighth limited-edition, Mopar-modified vehicle delivered from the factory. In 2010, the brand produced the first – the Mopar ’10 Challenger. Other low-run, factory-produced Mopar drives followed: the Mopar ’11 Charger, Mopar ’12 300, Mopar ’13 Dart (RIP), Mopar ’14 Challenger, Mopar ’15 Dodge Charger R/T and Mopar ’16 Ram Rebel. All told 3,650 limited-run Mopar vehicles have been sold since the first in 2010.
The Mopar 1960s
Mopar became famous during the 1960s. A group pf Chrysler engineers dubbed the Ramchargers worked nights and weekends to make their project cars faster at the track. The high-performance parts developed led to the Mopar Direct Connection brand of racing parts. Direct Connection parts were first given only to professional racers, but later sold to any racer. Notable and fearsome was “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, an innovator, icon and champion in drag racing who became a lifelong brand ambassador for Mopar. The Garlits and Mopar names stayed intertwined throughout his legendary, record-setting career.
Winning at the track meant sales in the showroom, and Chrysler and its package cars were winners. The ultimate race engine, the 426 HEMI, arguably dominated tracks in 1964, followed by a takeover of the streets with the 426 Street HEMI in 1966. By the late ’60s and early ’70s, Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth performance enthusiasts adopted the word Mopar to describe all their vehicles.
The last package cars of the era appeared in 1968, when Chrysler built a series of Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda HEMI (HEMI Under Glass – a reference to the ‘Cuda’s glass hatchback) Super Stock cars. Remarkably, these race vehicles are still among the quickest and fastest in the Super Stock categories of NHRA racing. Mopar honors these cars by sponsoring the special NHRA Mopar HEMI Challenge each year.
Mopar-sponsored Dodge Charger R/T fuel teams fielded by Don Schumacher Racing have dominated the NHRA Funny Car class, claiming four championships in the last six years, and spearheading the capture of the NHRA Manufacturers Cup by the Mopar and Dodge brands in 2016.
Today, Mopar’s global reach distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 25 customer contact centers globally, Mopar has service, parts and customer-care operations and dealer support worldwide.
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