When it hit the market in 2006, the Dodge Charger proved to be two things at once. It was the answer to the prayers of the V8, RWD Mopar faithful, the police who sorely missed the Diplomat and the 440 Pursuits, and anyone who wanted to own a Charger but didn’t want to buy a classic. It was also a middle finger to the “Two Doors Too Many” crowd, a car that could’ve taken any other nameplate and have been fine but nooo, it had to be called a Charger. If you were on Moparts when the 2006 Charger came out, you would’ve seen actual bile pour out from your computer monitor after opening up any of the many “new Charger” threads.
Personally, the only misgiving that I have against the new Chargers is that Dodge has never seen fit to put a manual transmission into one for sale to the public. After that, I like them. But since I’ve owned it’s corporate cousin, the 300C, since early 2013, I haven’t had a desire to own a Charger as well…or rather, I didn’t, until I saw the ute conversion package offered by Smyth Performance. Combine a Chevrolet Colorado rear glass, Dodge Grand Caravan taillights, and Smyth’s own bodywork from the front doors back and the Charger turns into a neat coupe-utility that I’ve dreamed about for a bit. So I wondered, what would it take to actually put one together? As of writing, Smyth has the Charger kit listed for $2,990. It’s a chunk of change, but it’s not as bad as I was expecting. That doesn’t cover the cost of paint or the taillights, which aren’t included, but overall not bad. Now, for the car…
To Copart I went. If I’m going to take a death wheel to a late-model Charger, why not go after one that has rear-end damage anyways, right? This run and drive, 5.7L powered 2010 ex-cop unit (note the column shifter and console setup) is the latest model Charger that the Smyth kit works with and one look at the back end of the car will tell you that yeah, a ute conversion wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Instead of gutting this car for it’s powertrain and sending the rest off to the shredder, the vision in my head looks something more like this…but with less yellow.
This is a bonkers good use for the eyesore four door Charger. I find nothing pleasing to the eye from the door pillars back when I look at a Charger, it’s about as cohesive as the awful Caliber. But as a ute? Fantastic!