West Coast Customs Takes Action

Southern California automotive customizer West Coast Customs (WCC) shares those “coupe” sentiments and chose to act on them by building a two-door Charger of its own by using—what else—a modern interpretation of the ever-popular General Lee theme from “Dukes of Hazzard.”

Radical Body Modifications

The WCC crew, led by Sean Mahaney, started by gutting the interior prior to cutting the car in half. Yes, the car was actually cut in two and 9 inches were removed from the center. To flow with the shorter lines, Mahaney and crew chopped the roof 3 inches, giving the Charger excellent proportions. Opting to avoid the easy way out, WCC lengthened the front doors rather than simply leaving the short, stubby factory doors on the coupe, again adding to the clean lines and proportions of the car. While the guys were working on the doors, they also shaved the exterior door handles and removed all side body moldings. Additional body modifications include removing the upper door pillars and giving the Charger a wider, more muscular ­B-pillar reminiscent of most late ’60s muscle cars. A chrome wire mesh grille replaces the horizontal bars found on factory Chargers.

Custom Paint and Subtle Graphics

Once the exterior bodywork was finalized, the WCC paint and body crew, led by Buck, mixed up a unique pearl orange paint. When laying down the orange they also ghosted darker shades to incorporate the General Lee-style “01” on the doors and the “Stars and Bars” flag on the roof. The subtle tones of the graphics allow them to stand out on the car without looking gaudy and messing up the flow. The team was also called on to paint areas of the car that are normally not painted; namely, the custom-molded trunk panels for the audio system. They also color-matched the factory rear brake calipers and installed larger, two-piece, cross-drilled rotor units with four-piston Brembo front calipers.

Handling and Performance Upgrades

From a performance standpoint, WCC owner Ryan Friedlinghaus was happy with the stock Mopar Hemi and chose instead to focus on handling and braking enhancements. He did allow the crew to wake up the exhaust note with a modified Gibson Performance Exhaust Systems after-cat dual exhaust with polished tips. To make sure the Charger would carve through the urban canyons and high-speed highways of Southern California, the crew lowered the chassis by about 3 inches (front and rear) and installed a 22-inch wheel and tire combination. In front, 22×9 AF122 Asanti wheels with graphite-painted centers and chrome rims are wrapped in 265/30ZR22 Pirelli PZero Nero tires, while 22×10 Asanti AF122s are wrapped in 295/25ZR22 Pirelli PZero Neros in back.

Audio/Video System Installation

Although the audio/video system is installed with a lot of flash, it is actually pretty simple. Chad Utt led the A/V install team, starting with a Sony XAV-A1 DVD/CD/ MP3 receiver, a 7-inch flip-out touch screen and an LCD head unit in the factory dash location. Audio signals are delivered to a pair of WCC (by Orion) amplifiers placed in the trunk before being passed to the speakers. The midrange and high frequencies use a WCC-6004 four-channel amplifier to drive the front and rear two-way component speaker systems, and for the bass a WCC-8001 mono amplifier powers the four 10-inch subs.

Custom Speaker Placement

Up front the WCC-652cs two-way component speakers are installed in the doors and the dash, with the 6.5-inch midbass woofer integrated into the door. The tweeter is installed behind the factory grille in the dash. The installation technique used in the door makes the speaker look as though it came from Dodge this way. The rear WCC-652cs system is integrated in the factory rear deck location to also provide a factory look. Bass is provided by the quartet of WCC-104s 10-inch subs installed in sealed enclosures in the trunk. Low frequencies are channeled from the trunk to the interior through a large vent in the center of the rear deck that is protected with punched metal grille material with orange accent lighting to give the trunk a glow.

Fiberglass Trunk Design and Interior Upholstery

The trunk interior is a molded fiberglass masterpiece truly worthy of this one-off two-door Dodge Charger. Using no less than seven independent panels, Utt fabricated interlocking pieces that fit together in a manner that yields no exposed fasteners. This is made all the more impressive by the exterior matching paint. Further inside, the WCC fabricated a new headliner and reupholstered the factory seats in charcoal-gray with orange accents. The door panels were one of the more difficult tasks for the upholstery department, yet they almost go unnoticed because the team did such a good job. Remember, the doors were lengthened, so the door panels had to be lengthened as well.

A Muscle Car Dream Come True

The crew at West Coast Customs built the car that most people wanted Dodge to build, and maybe even helped spur DaimlerChrysler to put the two-door Challenger into production. So thanks to WCC, we now get to see what a modern two-door Dodge muscle car might have been, and that gives us a great idea of what is possible on this platform.