Last year at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Dodge released their “retro” SRT-8 Charger.  This Charger was displayed in brilliant Top Banana (bring yellow to those not familiar with vintage Mopar paint), and it wore a familiar vintage Mopar name, the Super Bee.  While this new Super Bee SRT-8 was not the budget performance car that its predecessor was, the new Super Bee boasted the same Hemi-made 425 horsepower (although Hemi Super Bees were very expensive, and rare).  This new Super Bee SRT-8 offers the power and nostalgic “flavor” of the original, but with all of the modern amenities which are packed into the SRT-8s, such as leather race-style seats, air condition, and a premium sound system, and unlike the original Super Bee which came with the option of a 14 or 15 inch Mopar Rallye wheel, this new Super Bee comes riding on a set of high gloss 20” Aluminum SRT Designed wheels.  Accompanying the Top Banana Super Bee SRT-8 was a TorRed Dodge Charger Daytona.

Fast forward to mid-December when Dodge issued an official statement on www.DodgeForum.com that there would be new vintage colors offered for 2008, and DCX was kind enough to provide a picture of a sexy new Sublime Dodge Charger Daytona.  The representative also hinted to additional vintage colors, but no other information was given.  However, those additional colors become crystal clear in a hurry to anyone who enters the 2007 NAIAS, as below the looming horns of the giant ram head are a pair of 2008 Dodge Chargers.  One, the new Super Bee SRT-8 finished in what would have been called B5 Blue in the 70s, and the other, a Dodge Charger Daytona finished in (one of my personal favorite vintage Mopar colors) Plum Crazy.

While the criticism by vintage Mopar faithful about the lack of retro styling of the new Dodge Charger was rampant at first, the Dodge front office seems to be trying to give this slick performance sedan some retro feel with the new colors and model names; such as the Super Bee and Daytona names.  These new colors serve nicely in introduction a vintage trimline to a modern muscle car, especially with the colors chosen, and with the new-old colors, the Dodge Charger will likely to continue to become more and more common on the street, and with the new Super Bee SRT-8 package, the Charger should continue to become more common at the track as well.