To capture the flavor of the original Challenger, Dodge designers focused on the basics: body shape, critical styling elements, and proportions. A true four-passenger car, the Challenger Concept retains the general profile of the 1970 model, but is equipped with a more rakish windshield, a faster backlight, smaller side windows, and a longer greenhouse. All of the glass is mounted flush to the body without moldings, and the belt line ramps up sharply at the rear quarter windows like the original. The Challenger Concept is also a genuine hardtop without a B-pillar, as it was in the good old days.

Sitting on a 116-inch wheelbase that is six inches longer than the original, the Challenger Concept is also two inches broader than the 1970 edition and is endowed with a wider track, making the concept’s proportions just right despite the growth in key measurements. The Challenger’s thrust line, the signature side-view accent line that usually marks the widest part of the body, sits higher than it did 35 years ago, yet evokes exactly the same flavor on this larger concept machine.

Designers also wanted to preserve the ultra-wide appearance of the first Challenger, so the front overhang was increased on the concept car to create a satisfactorily long, low, and broad hood. Car-width “cavities” front and rear mimic the look of the original and sculpted wheel wells recall the bulging lips of the classic Challenger. Though the concept rides on 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels* that sit flush with the body sides – a huge departure from the 1970 model’s skinny little tucked-under rims and tires – the result works to brilliant effect. Also, the concept has flush-mounted, body-color bumpers, but you hardly notice them. In fact, some people might have trouble telling the difference between the old car and the new one.

That’s because the devil is in the details, the things that instantly recall the flavor of the first Challenger even though they are entirely modern elements. In front, there’s the signature Dodge cross-hair grille, flanked by four round headlamps recessed into that car-wide front cavity. Look closer, and see that the inner lights are “six-shooter” style. The car-wide motif is repeated at the rear, where a single neon-illuminated taillight lens punctuated with DODGE block lettering spans the Challenger Concept from side to side, underscored by reverse lights flanking the license plate cutout in the fascia. Quad rectangular exhaust outlets, slim rectangular side marker lamps, circular turn signal indicators in front, and the classic “R/T” badge in the grille are all patterned after the look of the original. Even the scalloped door handles and the performance hood with its functional butterfly-valve intakes are knock-offs with a modern twist – that hood is carbon-fiber, and those stripes are the unpainted portion.

Exterior details that did not make the final cut on the Challenger Concept included a racing-style gas cap, hood tie-down pins, a louvered rear window, and bold bodyside stripes. I asked Castiglione if the Pacifica design team had considered creating the Challenger in the mold of the original SE model, complete with a white padded vinyl roof and fake wire wheel covers. Again, he clearly wondered what kind of idiot he was dealing with.

* Some photos of the Dodge Challenger Concept in this article show 20-inch wheels from a Dodge Magnum SRT-8, which were installed for test drives.