‘HIGHWAY STAR’:

A DIFFERENT KIND OF A HYBRID

Come November, American outfits Hemi Autoworks and Ellsworth Racing will debut a hybrid that we can get behind. Forget electric engines and gadgets up the wazoo, we’re talking about a hybrid between some of the greatest models ever made. And it will debut at the SEMA Show at the end of 2020. Dubbed the ‘Highway Star’, named after Deep Purple’s 1972 song, the unique build is a cross between Dodge’s Challenger, Viper, and Hellcat examples. The chassis has been sourced from a Viper wrecked by fire, and now stretched by a good 13 inches to accept the 1970 Challenger body. That body was, not surprisingly, badly rusted and poorly restored. It’s currently being rejuvenated and widened by more than 1.5 inches, with beefier fenders to increase the total added width by nearly four inches.

It will use an adaptation of an R/T hood to make room in the engine bay to clear room for the new heart, a “mostly stocky” supercharged 6.2-litre HEMI V8 Hellcat engine. Power will be sent through a Viper-sec transmission.

The remaining pieces will be a mash-up of parts taken from the donor vehicles, including Viper suspension geometry, with upgraded coilovers, brakes, and cooling. Inside the cabin, they’ve gone for a less-is-more approach, stripping anything unnecessary out and installing a full roll cage, six-point harnesses, and a custom factory dash.

The teams building it state that it won’t be another SEMA-only vehicle but one that is a “real street driven race car” and intend to enter it into a range of national-level events across the country.