If you still think that station wagons are a mild-mannered mode of transportation for the stay at home housewife to putter around to the grocery store and bridge games then you are sorely mistaken. Even in its showroom form the SRT 8, (Street & Racing Technology for those not in the know), Dodge Magnum was a powerhouse disguised as a family toter and grocery getter. Rear wheel drive, check. 425hp 6.1L V8, check, all the racing and horsepower heritage Mopar is famous for, check. Then what happens when you add a reworked engine, bigger camshaft, supercharger, and beefed-up transmission and rear axle? Read on and prepare to have your outlook of wagons changed and your mind blown by this one owner, one driver, low mileage Brilliant Black ass kicker.



Exterior

Bathed in its original deep end of the pool Brilliant Black Crystal Pearlcoat nary a flaw can be found. Starting with the very Chargeresque neoprene front bumper with its oval grille with center cross hair design and outboard one-piece headlamp assemblies we see smooth design that was used across the Chrysler model lineup this year. Added gray stripes that run from the front bumper and over the hood, only pausing for the glass and roof then continuing down the tailgate and rear bumper break up the sea of black that is this car. Moving down the long slab sides the only variation from the all black theme is a small chrome highlighted HEMI badge on either front fender and a small red pinstripe that runs from wheel well to wheel well just above the rocker panels. Tinted glass gives not only a cool look but also helps keep other street racers, (hey it is Street & Race Technology right?!?), from seeing who's being the wheel. Wrapping up the tail end are body integrated taillights, a tailgate that opens wide to accept most cargo, and another neoprene bumper with cutouts for the dual exhaust to exit. Factory black chrome wheels adorn all 4 corners and are wrapped in low profile reline rubber. As my partner in crime and crack decoder says, "longroof's are where it's at!".



Interior

Swinging open the door and we are met with a dark charcoal and light gray panel. A separating faux carbon fiber panel divides the two and is highlighted by a blazing red stripe. Power window, power lock and power mirror controls are held within as are one of the many speakers. This theme of colors also appears on the long deep dash with a litany of gauges being in front of the leather wrapped steering wheel that contains not only more faux carbon fiber but also audio as well as other controls. An AM/FM/Multi CD/MP3 player with Navigation is in the center of the dash as are the heater and A/C controls. Power and heated front bucket seats with Dark Slate smooth leather bolster and light slate suede inserts flank a central console which contains the shifter and multiple storage compartments. A long bench in the rear stretches door to door and is of the same design as the buckets. Slight age wrinkling is noted on the driver's seat but nothing remarkable. The rest of the seat appear to never have been sat in. A huge storage area is behind the rear seat and has room to haul just about anything. We note this car is also equipped with the 276 watt Kicker SRT amp, 1000 watt Kicker SRT sub, and 11 speaker Kicker SRT high performance audio system. Black carpet floods the floor and looks showroom new while a gray headliner hangs above and has a factory installed power sunroof.



Drivetrain

Lifting the striped hood we see a true powerhouse of this wagon. A forged bottom end replacement 6.1L HEMI has been installed and holds within not only H-beam rods but a HHP Stage 4 blower cam. Thitek aluminum beehive cylinder heads were then bolted on and a Magnuson Supercharger with a 3" pulley and a ATI Super Damper made for 17% overdrive was added. Bolted to the back of this elephant is a Mercedes-Benz derived beefed up W5A580 5-speed automatic transmission with a Nag 1 controller. A 3.06 geared rear axle puts all this power to the pavement with the help of a Wave-Track limited slip unit.



Undercarriage

Showroom new is the best way to describe the bottom of this car. Suspension is independent on both front and back and 4 wheel Brembo power disc brakes bring all the horses to a stop. Dual exhaust feed spent fossils to the rear after passing through a pair of JBA high flow cats and Magnaflow mufflers. All buttoned up and looking great.



Drive-Ability

It was time to draw straws to see who got the chance to drive this Camaro killer. Naturally I won as I kept a supply of cheater straws in my shirt pocket. A twist of the key and the HEMI roared to life. Slipping the shifter into D I was off to the Classic Auto Mall Test Track. Here the car had limitless acceleration, beyond stellar braking, and handling like that of a European sports sedan. I returned with all smiles and my cohort in the passenger seat looke

Read More

Read Less