Chrysler town and country

By Doron Levin, Bloomberg News Don’t be fooled by the auto industry’s obsession with cars powered by hydrogen, batteries, ethanol, sunlight or heaven knows what alternative fuel. Detroit car designers never stop dreaming of new muscle cars to sell to baby boomers. For boomers, the smell of gasoline fumes and screeching rubber will always rekindle the joys of youth. For them, Chrysler’s new Dodge Challenger, which reaches dealers this spring, might well be the next nostalgia toy they can’t resist.

“These cars were loud, they slid sideways and they were driven incredibly fast by our heroes,” said Dutch Mandel, editor of AutoWeek magazine. Soon to turn 50, Mandel grew up watching Peter Revson, Mark Donahue and Dan Gurney compete in Trans Am car races, which helped to promote muscle cars for what was then the Big Three. “Cars like the new Challenger and the new Camaro [coming in 2009 from General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet division] certainly won’t be mainstream,” he said.

“They’re for a segment, the guys I want to hang with.” And a few girls, too. Mr. Mandel says he intends to buy GM’s new Camaro for his wife when she turns 50. True, the carbon emissions of muscle cars such as the Challenger and the Camaro won’t win kudos from the Union of Concerned Scientists or the Audubon Society. But few, if any, hard-core gear heads are seeking that kind of approval.

The Dodge Challenger prototype that debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit two years ago did win high praise from collectors and racing fans — so much so that Chrysler (then still a unit of DaimlerChrysler AG) decided to build it. The idea was to modernize and update the body of the 1970 and 1971 two-door on the same mechanical underpinnings as the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum.