![]() When Max Nichols was planning the new build, he wanted his Magnum to be “a monster at the strip, but still street-capable”. It was around this time that Nichols decided that after four years of tuning, tweaking and perfecting the first build to get into the 9s, it was time for a new build. He then drove this Magnum over a thousand miles during the Race Week Drag and Drive event, stopping at Thunder Valley, Texas Motorplex, Tulsa Raceway Park and Mid-America Dragway to compete among many of the quickest street cars in the country. In 2021, Max Nichols broke into the 9s for the first time, getting into the 9.80s at Famoso. At that point, this Magnum was no longer used for daily driving duties with the kids in the back seat, but it was and still is licensed, insured and driven on the street today. To address that issue, Carlin Fabrications in Redlands, California, installed an 8.50-certified cage. While running in the 11s and 10s, this Magnum was still a daily-driven family hauler, but as he got near the 9-second range, safety became a concern. First time out with that setup, Nichols ran in the low-11s, but it didn’t take him long to work his way down into the 10-second range, racing at Famoso Dragstrip and Irwindale Dragstrip. The two discussed Nichols’ goals and they decided on a build that included increasing the engine displacement from 345 to 392 cubic inches along with adding a 2.9-liter Whipple supercharger. Although it was still a heavy car at 4,260 pounds, these improvements made it into a serious performer.When Nichols began the journey of modifying his 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT8, he met with Adam Montague of SpankinTime Motorsports – a shop which has produced many quick modern Mopar ® vehicles. According to Car And Driver, the SRT-8 can easily handle a drift "knowing all the time that the 14.2-inch-front and 13.8-inch-rear vented Brembo brakes have an amazing capacity to bring you down to grandpa slow in time for the next turn." Along with Brembo's big brake kit, stiffer suspension, and more aerodynamics, an aggressive front fascia was added. In addition to the massive 6.1-liter engine, the SRT-8 model also received handling and suspension upgrades. Most performance wagons had been focused on handling in Europe, and the muscle wagon had been absent from the market since the end of the classic muscle car era. Dodge had a massive power advantage over nearly everything in the market, with the next most powerful at the time being nearly 100 horsepower lower in the Volvo V70R. According to Consumer Reports, "V8s make throaty full-throttle growl–SRT8s sound like race cars–but are quiet enough in gentle cruising." ![]() With the debut of the 425 horsepower SRT-8, the performance wagon market faced a dynamic change. The Magnum was a power shift for the US wagon market. Although not massive sellers, wagons were more usable than sedans while being cheaper than SUVs and Dodge wanted in on the market. Wagons were available from Volkswagen, Audi, Subaru, Mercedes, BMW, Ford, and even Hyundai. While the other engines were adequately powered, the 6.1-liter Hemi in the SRT8 gave the car all the grunt it needed to shine.Īt the time, the wagon market was still doing well in the US. The new Magnum featured two different transmissions as well, using a 4-speed automatic for the entry-level models while the SRT8, RT, and all-wheel-drive SXT used a Mercedes-Benz sourced 5-speed gearbox. ![]() These engines included two V6 engines and two V8 engines and put out between 190 horsepower and 425 horsepower, respectively. Based on the Chrysler LX platform, the third generation offered four different powertrain options to remain relevant in the US market. The Magnum had been built for two generations before the wagon variant, once in the late 1970s some variations were built for Brazil and Mexico through the late 1980s. ![]()
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