Many heavily modified show cars are designed with certain inspiration, typically some aspect of the automotive world – be it a car the designer grew up with, a classic racecar, a movie car or some other piece of automobilia. For the 2020 Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack show car owned and designed by De’Andre Davis, his inspiration was the late, great Kobe Bryant. At first, Davis’ Charger was lightly modified with some Bryant-esque cues, but after the Hall-of-Fame shooting guard tragically lost his life in a helicopter crash, this HEMI^® engine-powered sedan was transformed into this strikingly unique show car.

While the majority of the upgrades to Davis’ Dodge Charger are aesthetic, this R/T Scat Pack is not stock mechanically. Like many modern HEMI engine-powered vehicle owners, he has had the mid-mufflers removed for a bit more exhaust volume and to help the 392-cubic-inch V8 breathe, he added a custom powder coated Bwoody cold air intake. Finally, he added an engine tune making more than the standard 485 horsepower. This car isn’t all show – it has some decent horsepower to back up the bad-ass looks.

As for the appearance of De’Andre Davis’ Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack, there have been three phases of the overall design. At first, it was a fairly simple design with a marble/lightning design in purple on the hood and Kobe Bryant’s Mamba logo in purple on the fenders, all over the factory black paint. It was during this variation of the vehicle design that Bryant lost his life in the helicopter crash, at which point Davis moved to the far more elaborate second format on the car that he calls Kobeisha.

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This second iteration, which debuted in 2021, began by covering the majority of the body in Diamond Amber, while the hood, roof, trunk, mirrors and door handles were finished in black – some matte, some gloss. In addition to some images of Kobe Bryant and a quote on his Mamba Mentality, Davis added custom LED lighting to the “snorkels” in the grille and around the headlights, with individual controllers that allow each section of lighting to operate on its own.

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Finally, in 2022, De’Andre Davis began to implement the latest design on his Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack and that time, he truly went all-out, leading to the most elaborate design shown here. The key feature of the current look is, of course, the full-body design that features the combination of light blue and purple, with a marble/lightning format that was similar to the hood of version one.

Along the eye-catching body design, Davis added Kobe’s Mamba logo on the front doors, Kobe’s pro game jersey numbers on the rear doors, Kobe’s autograph on the rear quarter panels. On the face of the trunk lid, there is a picture of two of his jerseys from the Lakers, along with his famous quote “Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.”

In addition to the flashy livery of the most recent version of Davis’ Dodge Charger Scat Pack, he added dive planes up front and a rear wickerbill that features more Mamba logos and Kobe’s jersey numbers. The car at this stage also showcases an aftermarket rear diffuser, a rear window spoiler, blacked-out tail lights, light blue-painted brake calipers, custom badging across the grille and custom etched headlights.

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As elaborate as the exterior design of De’Andre Davis’ Dodge Charger is in its current form, the outside is just the beginning. The engine bay features an array of purple trim items, including the strut tower caps, the fuse box cover, the coolant tank cover, the windshield washer fluid tank cover and injector covers, which also feature some yellow trim to drive home the Lakers look. The underhood area also features a custom strut brace with the Mamba script logo and Mamba badges in purple, while the underside of the hood showcases a huge mural with the Mamba logo, Kobe’s numbers and a mix of the light blue and purple from the body design.

The interior of Davis’ custom Scat Pack sedan begins with a custom carbon fiber steering wheel with purple and blue trim, the Mamba logo and “Drizzy”, which is Davis’ nickname (and part of his Instagram handle – Drizzy_392). The faces of his gauges are purple and the trim around the gauge cluster and infotainment system screen is finished in Lakers’ colors, with the Mamba logo and script. As you move down to the center stack, the area around the HVAC and radio control panel is finished in the same blue and purple marble/lightning design as the exterior, and that extends through the shift console to the center arm rest.

Each of the front seat headrests has one of Kobe’s jersey numbers embroidered into them and the support posts (finished in purple) each carry a Mamba script logo. Each of the front inner door panels features a mural that shows Kobe Bryant’s likeness, with his nickname on the lower portion of the driver’s door and his name on the lower portion of the passenger’s door.

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The rear inner door panels are painted as well, with more purple-and-gold trim, the Mamba logo with a snake wrapped around it and the Mamba script logo surrounded by lightning – which also glow in the dark. Even the front floormats are customized, with each being painted to resemble one of Kobe’s jerseys from the front and rear.

Finally, the inside of the trunk of De’Andre Davis’ Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack has a mural of Kobe Bryant standing before the gates of Heaven with the words “Mamba Out” on the underside of the trunk lid.

While De’Andre Davis lives in Maryland, he travels all over the East Coast for car shows and he has done quite a bit of winning with this latest design, with 17 trophies in 2023 alone. This includes a Top 20 award at Atlanta Pork and Torque and a Top 30 award at Atlanta Keys to the City, a Top 5 Best Overall in North Carolina and both Best Wrap and Best Mopar_® in Washington, D.C. He has also won awards for best engine bay and best interior at various shows, and the car has been displayed at DJ Envy’s Carchella for each of the past three years.

There is no question as to where Davis draws the inspiration for his Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack show car, so we asked him what it was about Kobe Bryant that inspires him so much.

“There are certain aspects of Kobe’s life that molded me into the fan I am. His drive, his passion to be better than he was the day before, the ability to command the floor and the opposing team knew you couldn’t stop him. He was going to get his points, he was going to WIN regardless of who was guarding him. I live by his quote which is ‘Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.’ Through all of his injuries and adversities, he gave it his all night in and night out. He fought through pain and pushed through for the fans and kids, so after his passing, I put the pedal to the medal to honor my favorite player.”

Davis credits his artist The Mysterious Osyrus for the extensive paint work, stating that “I bring him my visions and he executes them to the T,” but he isn’t done yet.

“Visions for the future design will be early 2024 – I’m taking everything to the next level design-wise. The goal is to go from wrap to a custom 1-of-1 paint job. I won’t disclose any details … the world will have to stay tuned for the 2024 Kobeisha Takeover!”