Let’s say you’ve just bought an Alfa Romeo Giulia, and you’ve saved $15,000 because dealerships are trying to get them off the lot. What are you going to do with all that money? If your new Italian sports sedan isn’t a risky enough buy, you could invest that cash in a car that will almost certainly try and kill you.
This tip came to us from a reader named Nathan, who spotted it on Craigslist. Down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, someone’s built a “Skeleton Challenger” that’s kind of like if you built a wireframe version of the car in the real world. The owner has clearly grown tired of it, because it’s up for sale for $14,900.
I’m going to just come out and say it. This thing looks really freaking cool. It’s also probably a riot to drive. And you should never, ever buy this car. Sorry, random Chattanoogan I will never meet. I have to tell the truth.
The car is kind of a bitsa—in Australian terminology, that means a car made out of the bits of multiple other vehicles. We’re told it started life as a 2009 Dodge Challenger. However, it’s got a 3.6-liter V6 along with an eight-speed automatic transmission from a 2018 model. That gives it a nice 305 horsepower and 268 pound-feet of torque. It’s worded ambiguously, but either the car itself or the drivetrain has 78,000 miles on it. It’s not really clear. Meanwhile, the interior and electronics were cribbed from a 2019 Challenger. Some of the trims are wrapped in bright yellow and purple which is great if you’re a Lakers fan.
Obviously, though, we’re dancing around the main thing, which is the fact that this car doesn’t have any conventional body panels at all. Instead, they’ve been replaced with a steel tube frame that actually does a pretty good job of approximating the original lines of the Challenger. Just about the only part of the original body that’s intact is the windscreen frame. Everything else, from the hood to the doors to the fenders, has been replaced with steel tubes.
It looks all the more amusing where original parts are hanging from the new tube body. For example, the front “bumper” has what appear to be adjustable splitters bolted on to no aerodynamic effect. At the rear, the Challenger lights sit beneath the spoiler, with the left tail dangling at a sad angle.
Now, I said you shouldn’t buy this, and I stand by that. Why? Because it simply isn’t safe. I know this isn’t cool to say, but these homebrew tube frame builds are known as “Death Karts” for a reason. That tubing is simply nowhere near the right size to offer any protection whatsoever. I promise you it’s not the proper spec, either. It’s also hard to determine exactly what’s been cut away and what hasn’t, but the structural rigidity of the body is likely seriously compromised. In basic terms, this thing will flex like crazy and crumple like a snotty Kleenex in a crash.
You’ll note that when Roadkill did this years ago with a Corvette, they got professionals involved and used the right materials to build a real, proper roll cage. That involves using the right grade of steel, the right size tubes, and properly assembling them with the right welding techniques. This Challenger is anything but that.
Roadkill made this concept popular but they also did it right.
Here’s the other thing. $14,900 is a lot of money. Especially for a 2009 Challenger. You can find plenty of newer examples in decent condition for that kind of money. If this thing was $3,000 and being sold as a farm car, I would understand. But it’s actually listed for more than a stock example. Bold, I’ll admit. Very bold.
Could you even drive this thing on public roads? Well, if you have a death wish, you could try. The owner says it “is tag and street legal.” I don’t think it is, somehow. I’m not going to snitch by reaching out to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Regardless, you should not be surprised if you end up with a police officer screaming at you to get this thing off the highway if you’re silly enough to take it out. The risks are very real.
As a car enthusiast site, posts like these are always a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s undeniable that hooning a roofless, doorless Challenger would be a great deal of fun. But we also have to be adults sometimes and tell you what’s naughty and not allowed. Forgive me for my maturity but occasionally I’m required to be the adult in the room. You heard your mother: no death karts!
Image credits: Craigslist
Just FYI: Ringgold is in Georgia, not Tennessee. 😛
This could be a fun mad max cosplay with some work. But it needs to be closer to 3 digits in price, not 5 digits. if you are making a whole body out of tube, why follow the original lines when the whole world of other shapes is available?
I could barely tell it was a challenger without the yellow splitter guards on the front.
Thanks for being the adult in the room. That means our quota is filled and I am under no obligation to act the part!
Looks road legal to me, at least in my state, seems to have all the stock lights, mirrors, un-cracked windshield with wipers.
Of course it isn’t anywhere near as safe as it was when it left the factory and likely goes down the road like a wet noodle. Pretty much only good as a parade car yard/garage art or parts car.
Thing is a sketch as any fiberglass kit car I’ve seen. The only thing structural in those is the vw pan. I agree with Lewin on this, don’t want to be anywhere near it when it’s under power.
Not sure how well they hold up in an accident, but the legit Meyers Manx dune buggies were designed to have structural fiberglass so they have THICK shells.
Apparently one of the ways to tell a legit one is to sit on the unsupported fender and it should support you easily.
Like I said, not sure if the fiberglass shell holds up in an accident, but the parts to the Manx SR that I’ve been (slowly) building are very stiff (as far as unsupported fiberglass goes) and the whole car got a lot stiffer once they were attached…
That’s a lot of words to say what we all know don’t buy another dudes project.
It bears mentioning that the Roadkille Vette Cart (like the ‘tribute’ I came across in a local parking lot this summer) was based on a body on frame C4 Corvette; the fiberglass body played a backing role to the steel frame rails from a structural integrity standpoint. This inherently leads to a “safer” death kart, even before you look at the roll cage that was welded in.
This Challenger…not so much.
File this one under “duh”.
the alignment on the taillights is only slightly worse then what I see on every one of them on the road or at the dealership.
Uh, these are unibody cars right? Which means this thing probably drives like it’s made out of damp spaghetti. Just as well they used a V6, a Hemi probably would have twisted the body into rotini.
Why am I suddenly craving pasta? 😉
I had a retortellini ready to go, but then it pasta from my mind.
It’s reminiscent of the wrought iron bodied VW bugs that turn up in Mexico from time to time.
https://www.oldbug.com/ironbug.htm
purely art, but, some people drive them.
Those are infinity better looking and stable, plus a few even have the OEM bumpers