Seemed like a fitting end to "Dodge Challenger Week" around here, so I drove my old bomb home for this weekend. Also seemed fitting to provide a fair picture of the old girl, without flourescent lights or parking posts in the background (I posted a similar photo back in August of 2006).

It's interesting -- 1 and 1/2 years ago I blogged about how much modern cars have improved and how old cars really feel old when you drive them. But this is the first time I've driven my 1970 Dodge Challenger after driving the 2008 Dodge Challenger. You know what? The new one drives better -- but not as much better as I think it should. The biggest improvements are (in order of magnitude) body-roll control, steering accuracy and braking confidence. I actually expected that order to be reversed, but steering on the new Challenger isn't as good as I'd hoped, while the steering and brakes on my old one seem better than they should be. Body control remains floaty on the purple car, even with brand new shocks.

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The immediate answer is, "I don't know for sure" because I didn't instrument test these vehicles or carefully analyze every aspect (cargo capacity, price/value, audio system, etc.). But I did hijack a couple staffers and we took both cars on a driving loop through Mulholland.

Beileve it or not, there's some kind of embargo on Dodge Challenger driving impressions. Seems impossible, considering I've read several First Drives about the car, including our own, and they all include driving impressions. Don't get me started on the stupidity of road test embargos in 2008, that's a discussion for another day (maybe next Tuesday...). Anyway, I can't believe it's "against the rules" to reiterate what our First Drive already says, so here goes.

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Park it next to the new Dodge Challenger. We've got one in our stable right now, and just for kicks I parked the 2008 Challenger SRT-8 next to my 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE. Please excuse the lighting -- these shots were taken on impulse while both cars were available versus being a planned pairing.

Wow! I knew the new Dodge wasn't going to be a compact pony car, but I didn't know it would make the original Challenger look like a compact pony car. Dwarfing the new Mustang is one thing, and I was prepared for that. But dwarfing the original muscle car?

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Last Friday's blog entry discussed the crash-and-burn status of large truck and SUV sales. Basically, if it's big and it's truck-based, it ain't sellin' (with rare exception). At the same time, Ford's archaic Ranger is up for the year, and anecdotel evidence suggests new and used Rangers, along with older Toyota and Nissan compact trucks, are quite popular with truck buyers in 2008.

This is basically a repeat of what happned with American cars in the 1970s. For decades they'd grown larger and larger, then a fuel crisis hit and everyone (car buyers and car makers) stopped, took a critical look at the size of their vehicles, and basically said, "What the #@&* are we doing?! Nobody actually needs vehicles this big, we're just caught up in a 'Size Arms Race' with the rest of the industry. Now our vehicles are just stupid-big -- and they guzzle a lot of gas!"

This epiphany had every carmaker immediately downsizing their offerings as a result, and while cars have grown in recent years we've still never approached the behemoths being sold in 1974.

A news story yesterday reported on the production of (and promotional blitz surrounding) the 25,000th Dodge Viper ever built.

I vividly remember the first time I saw the Dodge Viper concept car. It was in a multi-page insert in a 1988 Car & Driver magazine. At the time I was a college student attending Pepperdine and I recall sitting in that 15x15 dorm room with my numbskull roommate, Patrick, trying to explain the level of cool that concept car represented. I was even more floored when Dodge announced it for production and stated it would indeed have the same V10 engine displayed in the concept car.

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The 2008 Dodge Challenger stands poised to upstage the Chicago Auto Show this week, and as an avowed Mopar freak I should be fully enthralled by this car's return. Yup, I should be.

But I'm not. While I see the Challenger's return as an excellent opprotunity to cash in on Chrysler's muscle car heritage (and I love the production grille, fuel-filler door and other styling cues) I also see some major problems with the car's launch plan. As I stated last week in my Dodge Charger R/T post, the LX chassis is pretty hefty for a "sporty coupe" -- even one with a muscle car heritage. But there are additional issues that have me concerned, most of them centered around first impressions this car will make on potential buyers.

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A refresher course in the Chrysler LX platform has me somewhat concerned about the 2008 Dodge Challenger. I just drove a 2008 Dodge Charger R/T (which is basically the same car wtih a bit longer wheelbase and two more doors) and I'm reminded of a couple LX trademarks.

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After the first day of the 2008 Detroit Auto Show I've seen Brian Adams sing next to Audis, Kim Cattrall driving a Mercedes-Benz, and professional basketball players shoot hoops over a Kia. But easily the most "wild" product unveil surrounded the 2009 Dodge Ram -- literally.

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We could talk about shopping and gifts and family get togethers, but let's talk about the real meaning of the holidays -- getting things done! This nether-week between Christmas and New Year's is pretty useless from a professional point of view, with few businesses firing on all cyclinders. At the same time, it's an excellent opportunity to tackle that perpetual "to-do" list we all have.

I've jumped on mine, with the passenger window in my 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE being replaced by a used one I found on eBay. The Challenger's original window had some nasty scratches running in a vertical line along the rear edge. With the window pulled I diagnosed the cause as a felt window guide worn down to bare metal (some "love taps" with a hammer cured that problem). I went into this job having minimal knowledge of - or experience with - replacing old Mopar windows. That's good, because once I realized how tricky the job was it was too late to go back. I re-attached the door panel, and gazed through my scratch-free window, just as the sun set and the Southern California temperature dropped below 50 degrees.

Other major items on my "to do" list for this week include:

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If you know anything about search engine optimization (SEO) and Google you know that , in effect, your Web page must show up on the first page (or top 10) results when someone types in a search term. Most experts agree you should actually be in the first two or three results at the top of the first page to truly benefit from search engine technology, but if you aren't on the first page at all just hang it up and go home. This means even worthwhile Web content is often overlooked simply because it can't make the top 10.

Think of the 2008 Dodge Avenger as a potentially worthwhile family sedan that simply can't make the first page of results. This isn't as much a reflection of how bad the Avenger is but how good everything else in the category has become. As I drove this silver R/T version home, complete with 18-inch chrome wheels and "mini-Charger" styling, I found myself focusing on exactly where the Avenger fails.

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