Barrett-Jackson will host their second biggest auction event of 2024 on April 18-20 at the South Florida Fairgrounds, and the Palm Beach docket is packed with incredible Dodge brand vehicles. There are scores of Dodge muscle cars, dating all the way back to the 1950s and continuing through the 2023 model year, but there is also a nice spread of Vipers, vintage trucks and one of the coolest compact hatchbacks to ever come from an American automaker. Whether you want a Dodge racecar, show car, cruiser or truck – Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach has something for you.
The Barrett-Jackson website currently lists 30 Dodge brand vehicles on the Palm Beach docket and 13 of them are Challengers. Six of those are SRT® Demon 170 models and one is a convertible – yes, an SRT Demon 170 convertible – but there are also a couple 2018 SRT Demons in the mix as well as a Black Ghost. On the classic end of the spectrum, the mix of Dodge vehicles is far more diverse, with the old-school Dart being the most common classic nameplate on the list right now, but there are a handful of other models represented, including the Charger, Daytona, Super Bee, Royal Lancer, Polara, Omni and Viper.
Here is a closer look at some of the coolest Dodge products headed to the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach stage later this month.
Modern Dodge Muscle
There are several examples of the 1,025-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 on the docket for the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction, but there is only one like this. This supercharged muscle car has received the convertible treatment from Drop Top Customs, the company that did the open-air modifications for all of the 2023 Challenger convertibles for Dodge. Drop Top Customs owner Jeff Moran had his F8 Green SRT Demon 170 transformed into a convertible, so with this black car, there are at least two in existence, but we can’t imagine that there are many more of them out there – making this a very rare collectible.
Next, we have a pair of Dodge Challengers – a 2018 SRT Demon and a 2023 SRT Demon 170 – both of which are painted black and both of which have a VIN ending in 100685. These two monsters are being sold consecutively, so if the buyer wants to own VIN-matched 2018 and 2023 Challenger SRT Demons, they will easily be able to bid on these matching cars. In addition to the black exterior paint, each of these Dodge SRT Demons is equipped with black interior, but the 2018 SRT Demon has cloth seats while the 2023 SRT Demon 170 has leather-and-alcantara. The crate for the 2018 SRT Demon is included with the car, of course.
If you prefer to exercise your passion for the Brotherhood of Muscle in a more colorful, wagon-like way, this 2005 Dodge Magnum could be your dream car. This Magnum SXT is powered by the standard 3.5-liter V6, so it is not built for performance, but having been customized by the legendary King of Kustomizers – Mr. George Barris – this is a turnkey show car that will turn heads everywhere it goes. This car was built by Barris for the pilot of a television show back in 2009, with Barris Kustom Industries paperwork verifying its background. In addition to the custom paint job, this Magnum has vertical hinges on all four doors, a canvas sunroof, a custom grille and air suspension for an adjustable stance. The interior features custom upholstery and a custom sound system.
Finally, while there will be a handful of SRT Demon 170 models to bid on, Dodge built 3,000 examples of that 1,025-horsepower Challenger. On the other hand, Dodge built only 300 examples of the Challenger Black Ghost, making it the rarest of the Last Call special-edition packages, and one of them will roll across the block at Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach. The Black Ghost package was inspired by a Detroit street racer/police officer who had a HEMI® engine-powered 1970 Dodge Challenger, and this package is the only one to feature the classic DODGE lettering across the front end – combining with the silver wheels, chrome gas cap and silver tail stripe to create the old-school look on the modern muscle car.
Classic Dodge Performance
The first classic Dodge performance car that we want to highlight today was built before the term “muscle car” was used with any regularity. This 1955 Dodge Royal Lancer Custom is powered by a 400-cubic-inch big block and has been restored to classic form, with a few modern accents here and there. The gas door has been deleted and the filler port has been moved to inside of the trunk, a set of era-correct aftermarket wheels have been added and on the inside, there is a modern sound system, modern gauges and a “tuff wheel” that was popular on the muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s.
If you are looking to get into a classic Dodge performance car, but you want it to be among the quickest of its era, this 1964 Dodge Polara 330 will fit in at the track or at a car show. This is a factory lightweight drag car, originally ordered and delivered at Grand Spauling Dodge in 1964, where it became one of the cars campaigned by the legendary “Mr. Norm” Krause. This car is powered by the proper 426-cubic-inch HEMI engine, topped by dual four-barrel carburetors and mated to a 727 TorqueFlite® automatic transmission with a manual valve body – shifted via the push-button shifter area on the dashboard. This car is a time capsule for classic Super Stock racing and whoever owns this Polara will truly own a piece of Dodge racing history.
Dodge designed many of their classic muscle cars to get down the drag strip in a hurry, but none were quite as wicked as the 1968 Dodge Dart with the LO23 package – which added the 426 HEMI engine and an array of other performance parts to create a car that could get very close to the 9-second quarter-mile range in stock form. Only 80 examples of the LO23-equipped HEMI Super Stock Darts were built for 1968 and the description suggests that this was one of them, but it was crashed and fully rebuilt at some point in the past, so the body panels and engine are not original. However, for someone looking to go vintage Super Stock racing with an original HEMI Dart – this car could be perfect.
In the 2001 movie Joe Dirt, David Spade’s downtrodden character drives a very worn 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, and the tribute car being offered up at the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction is decorated to look like that raggedy movie car. It is actually a fully restored Dodge Charger, but the car has been “artificially painted and modified to appear rusty”. Everything is in proper working order and it is powered by a Dick Landy-tuned 440-cubic-inch big block V8. The car comes with a collection of items from the movie, including the wig, mustache and shoes worn by David Spade in the movie.
When the Dodge Hornet was introduced, the Direct Connection GLH Concept debuted alongside the production-ready GT and R/T models. The Hornet GLH Concept is based on the Omni GLH and one of those classic front-wheel-drive hot hatchbacks will hit the auction block at Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach. The high-performance Omni was offered in GLH and GLH-S form, which stood for Goes Like Hell and Goes Like Hell S’more. The GLH-S was the hotter and rarer of the two, with just 500 examples built for the 1986 model year with the 175-horsepower turbo-four. There is no mention of restoration and service records are included, so it seems that this car is original and this clean, making it the perfect cruiser for anyone who wants a clean Shelby-engineered Dodge Omni.
Again, the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction is held April 18-20, with all of the action being broadcast on the FYI and History television channels, along with the Barrett-Jackson website.