Automotive World

After acquiring a Zakspeed Racing Dodge Viper GTS-R in 2010, the current owner of the 1998 model turned to Heurich Classics, a Germany company that specializes in the maintenance, repair and optimization of vintage and classic cars.

The owner had two very special requests for Heurich Classics: recreate the looks of the Hasseroder Viper GTS-R that won the 24 hours of Nürburgring endurance race in 1999 and at the same time, make it completely street legal.

The German firm started out by eliminating, replacing, adding or modifying certain components of the Viper GTS-R to allow it to achieve road-legal status in Europe.

As part of the firm's revised plan, Marchionne said at the time that the company would only offer a replacement for the Chrysler Town & Country discarding the Grand Caravan from Dodge's range.

And while that may be true for the U.S. market, the Detroit News is reporting today that the Dodge Grand Caravan will most likely live on in Canada, which would not get the next Town & Country.

While the company is keeping most of its cards close to its chest, Reid Biglund, head of the Dodge brand told the Detroit News we'll find out more in the coming weeks including the car's name which he says won't be Hornet as some media outlets suggested. "Hornet will not be the name," said Biglund.

In the past year or so, Dodge officials have been letting out bits and pieces of the puzzle that give us some idea of the direction that the company plans to follow with the first new model to be development under the ownership of the Fiat Group.

On the sidelines of this week's 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, Rick Kranz from Automotive News had the opportunity to talk to Dodge boss Reid Bigland about the new Viper SRT10.

Bigland told Kranz that the redesigned model "will appeal to a broader segment of the market" and that we should expect it next year but most likely not at the 2012 Detroit motor show.

The plant will be updated with an additional 260,000 square feet added to its body shop, a new quality lab and improvements to its paint shop and material handling facilities.

The Detroit-based carmaker will also add a 26,000-square-foot metrology center to improve fit and finish of the cars and plans to introduce a second shift in late 2013, creating more than 1,100 new jobs in the process.

The security cam footage shows 86-year-old Mary Lee Fine in a blue Plymouth/Dodge Neon as she crashed the fence and flew into the water.

Moments later, a man who happened to be walking close by, saw her and calmly (maybe too calmly…) removed his valuables and jumped into the pool to free Mrs. Fine from the car.

Inspired by the Super Bee series that was first introduced in 1968 as a member of Dodge’s Scat Pack performance group and was later on revived with the limited-edition Charger SRT8 in 2007, the new edition brings exclusive content inside and out to the 2012 Charger SRT8.

No prizes for guessing why the special Challenger is named like that. On the outside, Dodge designers combined a Stinger Yellow body color with a black grille surround and matching color profile stripes highlighted by the bespoke Yellow Jacket logo on the rear fender.

If you haven't done so already, you can watch a late 1970s – early 1980s Dodge Ramcharger doing an extreme burnout in the video after the break.

But (there's always a but, isn't there?) while there's no doubt that the clip is visually stimulating, it completely misses the point when it comes to making our ears happy. Watch the video after the break and you'll see/hear what we mean.