Good to see you floating around Ron.

Cool car and hope to see you out at an event.

Nice ride Ron. Welcome back. My youngest is waiting for his ScatPack to show up any day now. It's not a Hellcat though.

Last year at Mats anyone with a HC got in free...... Maybe they'll do it again!

Very nice ride, stop in more often Ron.

Very nice Ron. Hope to see you at the MATS this year.

Dude, your addicted worst than I am Are you still working Ron? Will you be at the MATS race this year? I'm sort of planning on being there racing this year, if all goes well between now and then

Hi Ron, this is off topic but I have been hoping to get in touch with you as I lost your number. I bought the backup 904 transmission for the valiant from you a little over a year ago and have finally got the car moving under its own power. I seem to be having an issue with the transmission, it drips while running slowly and then after shutting it off will leave a small puddle under the car. I did already pull the trams back out and replaced the front seal to no change. It also seems to be making some metal when you inspect the fluid. I am not sure what direction to take with this problem as I thought it was a fresh rebuild from Dave. Any help trying to figure it out or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks Mike.

Hi Ron!! Sounds like all is well. Try and make it out to Spring Fling this year.....end of April. I would love to see you and chat.

Troy

Mike, sent you a PM with info and my number.

Cab I am planning on going to MATS. Just not sure if I want to drive over there on the Drag Radials or switch to the stock tires/wheels.

Troy I will definitely be at the Spring Fling if it falls on my day off. I work most weekends and save all my Vacation days for RACING!

I rarely come on here so I want to say good luck to all.

Ron, More than welcome to keep your stuff, tires, wheels etc in my pit space as well as use whatever tools you need.

Thank you Ron for the help and suggestions, enjoyed talking to you on the phone.

A very cool car Ron, good luck with it.

Bill Lamb

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Matt, this post is for you. I did not want to Hijack Dom's thread and I am not really going to start posting in here much if at all. But I did not want to be an A-Hole and ignore you.

I still remember being flamed over my embarrassingly slow 2009 SRT Challenger. Even though I have proved to myself and others over and over that car had issues. Not me.

This Hellcat is everything you would imagine it is and can be, as long as you are realistic. For instance some think it is going to have hand buffed show car paint because it costs $70,000.....No, it has the same paint as a V6.

It runs exactly what it should. My best Quarter mile was at Famoso with 1125 Ft DA : 10.906 @ 128.54 with a 1.604 sixty foot. But at Irwindale it has ran 6.916 @ 101.05 with a 1.549 sixty foot at 850 DA. That run at Famoso was a 6.993 @ 100.91 MPH. So based on all my time slips I estimate it could run 10.78-10.82 @ 129.5-130 at 0 DA.

The best credible stock time that I know of was run in -1000 ft DA and that was at 41 deg ambient. 10.620 @ 130.96 He had an aluminum Driveshaft and 10X28 Bias Ply Hoosier Slicks on a 17" rim (pretty light). He runs added air in the front tires and VP MS109 and his track is open 6 days a week so he can easily chase good DA. Stock gears but a shorter tire. Not sure if I could match this Guy at the same DA but it would be close. I know my car would literally haul at 41 deg.

My car ran all those times on nothing special 91 octane right from the Pump. My Motor is 100% stock. I still have the stock Driveshaft. I put the Scat Pack Differential in my car which changes the Ratio from 2.62 to 3.09. The BEST thing you could do to one of these cars. I run the ET Street "R" 305/45R18 Drag Radials.

My car has about 2700 miles on it with not one problem so far. It has 105 Passes on it and the oil level is exactly the same as when I got it. Amazing. It has a really bad AZZ stereo, comfy Black Laguna Leather, Nav etc. I have had 7 late model Challengers and I think I finally have one I can keep. I don't have any choice because I suddenly retired on a whim Feb 11th of this year (quit my Job).

Hopefully you`ll change your mind about not posting much cos others and myself really respect your skills and perfection level a bunch...........was great seeing ya again Ron................

Nice to see you posting again and I do hope you change your mind and post more often.
Really disappointed that you bought a hellcat. Lol Was hoping you were going to build something with a G3 in it.
Oh well you took the easy route and BOUGHT a package car.
Shame on you! Lol
Nice car and hope to see more of you on here.
Matt

Hi Ron, good to see some posts from you. I spoke with you at the MATS a few times when you were auto crossing your orange 5.7 Challenger R/T, and later a white 5.0 Mustang. How does the R/T Challenger and 5.0 Mustang compare to your new Hellcat Challenger overall? Bang for the buck who wins? Which have you enjoyed driving the most?

Well, all my Challengers up to last year when I bought a 2015 SRT 392 were Manuals. The 2010 SS Camaro and 2014 5.0 Mustang were Manuals. For driving around daily I really really love a Manual trans. But if you want to lay down a pass in one you better be willing to spend some money and time trying a lot of different things. I chose the easy way out when I moved to Pasadena and started going to Irwindale every week. "A8".

Probably one of the best deals out there is a Base Challenger 5.7 with the Super Track Pack. Base cars actually have some really good features. I am not sure what it would cost today with the other required options, but I would not buy another 5.7 without the STP. When I ran that Orange one on the Autocross it was 2 seconds slower than me driving my Buddies pure stock STP car of the same year. 2 Seconds. If you OWN a 5.7 I think you would like driving it and be happy with it. I always thought they were fun and it seems like there are some pretty fast stock ones out there.

I really liked the Camaro and the Mustang. The engines in ALL 3 are amazing. Seriously. The Mustang was pretty fast. 13.26 at Fontana. Camaro did a 13.66 there. Every one of the four 5.7's I had would do 13.9-14.1 there (STP was the slowest = bigger wheels/tires). And of course there is the 09 SRT that did 14.5 there and then promptly got banished from my life! LOL.

I put a MGW shifter in the Mustang and that was badd azz. They all are really cool in their own way I guess. But the #1 reason I always end up with a Challenger is the size and comfort of the interior and the STYLE. When I see a Camaro or a Mustang drive by I might not even notice.......M A Y B E if it is a special model. But if a V6 Challenger drives by I spin around on my heels to check it out.

Do I think the Hellcat is worth the money? Well, I would DEFINITELY buy one over modding/supercharging a 5.7 or 6.4. It was a lot of money and it does live up to it's name. Most of them will run the number in the right hands. But it "is" just a Car. I put it in the realm of a 1970 HEMI CUDA. I had the money and paid cash for mine ($77.500 out the door) and I was NOT going to miss out on this. I was too young to buy a Hemi Cuda. Oh, and I do think you could take this to the dealer if it does not run, because the expected performance is posted right on the SRT web site.

I spent $60,000 on the initial build of the Valiant with the crate motor and then another $25,000 on the 501. For comparison.

I am hopelessly in love with Cars so I guess I can sleep in this thing if I run out of Money. I thought about selling it when I quit my Job in Feb, . . . . . for about 1 day! Then I said no.

How does it compare to those other Cars I have had? HMMmm. Well it is a really nice car. So there is that. But it is really cool driving in something that you know can own it if you want. Something really fast with decent handling and amazing brakes. One thing I noticed driving back from Texas when I bought it, was it seems to be set on Kill. Just short half throttle blasts passing Trucks would get you 120. When you nail this thing at speed it KNOWS exactly where to be and there is no hesitation. But on the other hand you can drive it all day long dropping off Kids at school or taking your Mother to the Grocery store. You would NOT know this car is fast unless you throttle it.

I seem to remember a "mustang on freeway will beat the ever loving s##t out of you!" story as I was sitting there at MaTS when Tony was chatting with you a few years back. It's cool you've been able to "taste all the flavors" so to speak.... it's great that the automakers are even allowed to make cool shi7 like that!!!

(ok.... I was going to say "[censored] yourself out to the first "fast" car that comes along"... but I didn't want to ruffle any feathers...

the lil dealer I work at has sold 6 Hellcats and presently have three on the lot. Such cool cars!!!!

Is it me or am I really seeing alot of guys selling their old musclecars and buying new Challengers (and other brands). This could effect the musclecar market if true. Would have never guessed Ron would buy a 4400lb car. I did sit in a hellcat at local dealer, felt nice, it was nice looking inside and out.

I know it's sort of ancient history at this point, since it seems the big 501 was sold like 4 years ago, but I'm curious as to where that thing ended up.
Anyone know what it got stuffed into and how it went?