The 1000HP Mean Machine

The man behind the Charger

To understand the whole project, it's important to get to know the guy who built/let the car be built. At a very young age, Patrick started his own car upholstery and quickly gained success due to the high quality of his work and his out-of-the-box thinking. For example, he and his work were featured in multiple TV series in Germany, which helped spread the word of his small Shop across Europe. To this day, he still is presented with opportunities that are not common for an upholster. More on that later. But more importantly, if it's loud, fast, and consumes fuel, Patrick will love it.

See you later Pony

Twenty-five years ago Patrick was the proud owner of a '67 Mustang and loved it with almost all his heart. There was just that one thing that wouldn't let him rest. It came from the guys next door and was called the Dodge Charger R/T Hemi. So as soon as Patrick found a 1968 model, he straight-away got it.

More Power baby

So at a very young age and with a lot of hard work, he now owned two of his dream cars. He cared for them and enjoyed them for a long time until, who'd a thought it, the 300 +/- HP were just not cutting it anymore for Patrick. And the reason he got the Charger in the first place, was because he loved the power. So without further ado, let's try and compress the seven-year build into a short summary of changes made to the Charger.

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The Build

How do you build a Charger that can be driven as a daily, but also raced on track? Well for Patrick it was quite clear. You start from the ground up. He wanted to do it once, but right. That meant he had to strip everything. Chassis and frame were separated, repaired, painted, and put back together. To get all the needed parts, he had to travel abroad a couple of times. The engine once was a stock 572 Hemi that had so much work done to it, Patrick can't remember half of it. It's safe to say, nothing was untouched and the engine is now a 10-liter monster, that has so much torque they had to take a brand new Viper ACR transmission and have Keisler rebuild it to withstand the forces. Mopar took it upon themselves to tune the engine so that it ran correctly. The exhaust also had to be custom-built by an Austrian company to withstand the pressure it was exposed to.

So the go-fast-in-a-straight-line parts were sorted. But Patrick wanted a car that could also stop and corner accordingly. So the Charger was also fitted with eight-piston brake calipers and rides on an XV Motorsport suspension. The passengers are held into place by a five-point Simpson harness and seated in an interior he himself made. So now the question remains: How is it to drive?

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Sheer brutality

I think that sums it up pretty well. The car just wants to scare you in every situation possible. The whole Alpineracer Team got the chance to ride along with Patrick but one of our filmers did not even want to get in it. The smell and sound can be a bit overwhelming for a none car guy at first. Then there is the cornering speed that does not make sense if you look at the shape of the car. There is definitely an unbelievable amount of power available to the driver. But it just can't get it onto the road. In fifth gear, the tires still light up. And by the time it can put down the power, you are going speeds that are, let's say, slightly fast. His wife swore she will never sit in that car again.

POWER isn't everything

Back when Patrick was in his late twenties and early thirties power was all he wanted. But nowadays it's the looks that get him. The huge hood, the width, the size, and the design in general. You just can't come across such a design nowadays. And knowing that the Charger was raced at Daytona 500 Experience and by Dick Landy, the guy who won so many races, just makes it even more special to him.

OPPORTUNITY UPON OPPORTUNITY

As I said in the beginning, Patrick is presented with interesting opportunities every now and then. For example FAST-GRIP, a special series of the television program GRIP, wanted to feature his built charger in their series, and race it against a Nissan Skyline GT-R. Det Müller, the presenter of the series had a lot of fun driving it and the whole series got over 60 Million views combined.

Quite recently he also was asked if he would like to create a short AD with his Charger that would be displayed in the cinemas that were playing the Fast and Furious 9 movie.

Summary

It's one hell of a car and one hell of an owner to build such a mean machine. Thanks, Patrick