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History of the Dodge car and truck brand
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John Francis Dodge was born
Born on October 25, 1864, in Niles, Michigan -
Horace Elgin Dodge was born
Born in Niles, Michigan, on May 17, 1868 -
Dodge and Ford alliance
Dodge brothers agree to supply Ford Motor Company with 650 chassis, which include engines, transmissions, and axles, at $250 for the chassis. -
John Dodge dies
January 14, 1920, John Dodge dies in New York City, New York. -
Horace Dodge dies
Horace Dodge dies on December 10, 1920, in Palm Beach, Florida -
Walter Chrysler buys Dodge
When Walter P. Chrysler bought Dodge in 1928, he bought a failing company that was barely making payrolls. He also added the lower priced Plymouth and DeSoto later in 1928 which made Chrysler the third largest automaker. -
First Dodge pickups were made
Dodge introduced their first poickup in 1929. It was a half ton with three engines availible, which 2 were Dodge engines, 63 HP and 78 HP, and the other availible engine was a Maxwell 4 cylinder engine that produced 45 HP. Another feature is it had four wheel hydraulic brakes that was a signaficant safety feature that only Chrysler had. -
The HEMI engine is introduced
In 1951, Chrysler/Dodge is to blame that would start the horsepower wars between Ford, Chrysler, and GM that would last for the next 30 years by introducing the Hemi engine. There have been 3 different Hemi engines, the first one was 1951, then 1964, and the latest in 2003. -
First car to have 300 HP
In January 1955, the Chrysler 300 was the first car to have 300 horsepower. To achieve that much horse power at that time, the engine had high flow heads with cleaner valves, a special camshaft, bumped up compression to 8.5:1, two 4 barrel carburetors, and dual exhaust. -
Cummins Diesel engines are put into Dodge trucks
Dodge needed something in their trucks that could compete with Ford and Chevy. They answered that by putting the Cummins TurboDiesel engine in their trucks. In 1996, it exceeded 200 HP, in 2001 surpassed 500 pound feet of torque. In 2007 the 6.7 L engine was introduced, and now gets an astounding 900 pound feet of torque and 385 HP. -
Dodge introduces the Hellcat engine
The Dodge Challenger, Charger, and soon the Jeep Grand Cherokee have the 6.2 L Supercharged HEMI that produces 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. With a 3.3 second 0-60 track time, it is the most powerful muscle car to date. The Challenger has 10 different packages, with the least expensive being the SXT, and the highest end being the Hellcat.