The Saleen SMS Challenger 570 Was a 700-Horsepower Failure Before the Hellcat (FULL STORY 2009-2014)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Today we are taking a look at the story of the Challenger SMS 570 and 570X! Some 6 years before the release of the 2015 Challenger Hellcat with 707 horsepower, we saw Steve Saleen release his version of the Challenger, with a body kit, butterfly hood, new interior, and a supercharger! The 570 made 500 HP, while the 570X was rated at a whopping 700 HP! Unfortunately, very few ended up being made and not many people ever knew about them. Follow along for the full story of the SMS 570 Challenger!
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SKIP AHEAD!
1. Background Info + How the Car Came to Be: 01:15
2. Pricing: 03:05
3. Base Car Used: 03:45
4. Exterior Design + Features: 04:33
5. Interior Design + Features: 07:17
6. Performance: 08:00
7. Production: 13:25
8. Why the SMS Challenger Failed: 14:18
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#SMSChallenger #570Challenger #SaleenChallenger #570X
I just learned something new. I never knew about the SMS 570
Yeah this flew under the radar! Not many people know about it even in the Mopar community
Marspeed the first time I saw one was when one raced my cousin, at the track
my cousin has a Mercedes amg c55 and lost to the sms
TheBlack ScatPack there is a Mexican youtuber posted his last week first time seeing it
TheBlack ScatPack right!
Lol enjoy your scat pack the SMS 570 sucked
Another reason why they might have failed is that they came out around the same time as the recession of 2008
Manawy1050 great point!
Yeah that recession killed off many many cars
Which is why half of the dodge lineup fell off the charts
Facts
@@MarspeedCars including pontiac.
When you started naming the colors I thought I was buying weed
nibbzs15 lmao 😂 me too
Oml lol
MOPAR's normal color names are about just as crazy lol Plum Crazy Purple, Go Mango Orange, etc. Lol
It's not hard to see this car as the father of the Hellcat !
Really supercharging challengers and chargers has been happening forever
Oh yeah, hellcat from 2009 😎💪
It was definitely a beast! Wish they released the performance numbers for the 570X version too
@@MarspeedCars wish we a had a SMS 570 charger.
SMS: We take the whole car apart and rebuild it.
Customer: Why are there such big gaps in these body panels?
SMS: That’s a Dodge problem.
😭😭😂😂😂
I was not fortunate enough to get a 570x Challenger here in Illinois so I bought what was available in 2014 a 570 white label 6.1 no supercharger or hood. What would it cost to upgrade it to a 570x?
@@asusallen20 and search 570x
Lol lol
I have an sms 570x. I just got it a week ago. The hood looks to be hand sanded, the side moldings as well. The gaps in mine fit pretty good but def not perfect. But you can see a lot of this stuff wasnt molded. You have to get up really close to see issues. But the home made looks i swear brings charactor to that car. I like it to be honest. Shows hand made. My opinion. The seats are so comfortable. But trust me issues he did not bring up. my issues at the time im refraining on saying now while i figure out how to finish what saleen had been started. Pretune... Not fun to drive...after runs like a firrari. It will be what he envisioned when i am done. But sad to say some claims made were false. All of the parts are there. Just need a lot of tweeking. Not sure if he would have sold a ton if he had done it correctly? (Opinion) anyone who test dove one would have seen what i saw. Not sure if cali emmisions or sound ordinances had anything to do with it? My opinion and i own one. Def a head turner to say the least. Interior great. Body in saleen look (best aftermarket look of any car) opinion. Pretty good. Owning a 1 in 20 ish made. (Pick a number) Def piece of history. Thank god for my speed guy. Or car nearly not drivable and dangerous (opinion). But again. I plan on driving it. But i see why there are so many w 2000 miles on them sitting in a garage. Got mine 1000 miles away. Still love it. 2010 in 2021 w 4,000 miles after a 1000 mile drive home. But will love driving it very soon. Steve if u want my tuning guy let me know. Urs is terrible. (Opinion..not really...he really sux) drive mine before and after. Also. Big claims proven not to hold true. Dyno test to prove. I feel like a kid who got a hee man doll...when i brought it home doesnt talk. Lol but again. Car is there. 80,000 parts. Did u drive one steve before u sold one? Really? Def make me think twice about an s7. Lol but 2nd car of his tweeked. The other similar issues. Maybe im a stickler. Has to run like a rolex it can sit in the driveway.
Didnt know this existed. I thought saleen only did fords and mclarens
I believe sms also did a Camaro
cobrarsz1 Yep, for a little while they did Ford Explorers too.
@@chumbawaumbacumpa and f150s
As a challenger owner I never knew this. I see dodge used the front bumper design for the SRT line from 2015-up.
The dealership i worked at in 2009 had one in purple
WESTBURY dodge?
Manawy1050 Westbury dodge?
@@electricgreek Parkway Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Clinton Township Michigan
So cheap components, the whole car doesn’t line up together at all. All they added is some cheap plastic, decals and chrome covers how did Dodge allowed that?
Not really sure how they came together on this one. I know dodge provided the RTs but maybe Saleen had to buy them and then they just did what they wanted 🤷🏻♂️
That's Saleen: It's how they roll.
Saleen allowed it
Funny how people dont think before they put their poor opinion out in the world
Daywalker 2018 not even trying to be an asshole but the people i meet that talk the most shit usually have fords 💀 coincidence? I THINK N O T
I remember a car magazine was going to do a story about the Saleen Mustang, and Saleen was cooperating until they found out their car would be going head to head against a Roush car. Saleen backed out saying they didn’t want to dignify Roush by implying their “kit car” package is equivalent to Saleen.
Fun Fact: Steve Saleen built the first 5th gen running Camaro (bumblebee) for transformers.
Them hoods was clean as hell 😁👌🏾
1000% agree
I see what you did there at 3:53
Sneaky
HAHAHAHAHAH
Hoping a few would catch on 😂 I had to
@@MarspeedCars lol might as well take the opportunity while you can!!
Marspeed - man, this was the comment I was looking for.. Since you couldn't mention the Virus that causes the 2020 PANDEMIC RECESSION, you had to put a representation on screen when Corona was mentioned... SNEAKY!
I’ve seen them on eBay the hood is cool , not so much the extra other stuff on the exterior though.
Yeah that hood is sweet who doesn’t like that, but the rest is gimmicky to me
I am the proud owner of the very 1st one made the 2008 pre production in custom purple paint with the 6.1 litre supercharged hemi I love this car I do not drive it much but when I do I smile! I have many in my collection but this is one that was at a lower price point to buy as a collector car but one I truly enjoy. I am currently looking at another one a 2010 with 2k miles. I also have a 2019 red eye Hellcat. Thanks great informative video!!
Still own the 2008 one? I’ve seen it before it’s the purple SRT one
The sketch of the 570 looks so similar to how the challenger srt and above look today
Inspiration always comes from somewhere , look at the front design of the 2017-19 mustang , and then look at the Mustang Giugiaro concept , i think its from 2005-6
Would like to see him pull up next to a Demon👹and pull that butterfly thing...😂
Hahaha “back off” 😂 wonder what kind of performance times the 570X has though seems like nobody ever officially tested that one
I forgot about this car..this where the hellcat came from
Had a 570 at the dealership for repairs in 2012, all the quality issues mentioned are legit.
Still can't get over the hood butterflies operated by cable attached to the accelerator pedal, makes a vacuum operated air grabber seem hight tech.
I mean what’s wrong with a simple solution? I prefer a manual mechanical throttle cable over drive by wire
@@calebnation7797 the cable and springs caused a stiff and non linear feel to the pedal and the cable did not maintain adjustment.. Other than that...
A few reasons I think sms challengers failed
Saleen was a brand with over 30 years recognition. Not being able to call it a Saleen really hurt anything the new company SMS was going to do. Especially coming from the man who was involved with the Saleen S7.
A New Challenger RT(and SRT8) in the late '00s cost more than a Mustang GT and Camaro SS so the "Well I Can Just put $XXX amount into this (insert other new muscle car) and match or beat the sms performance wise" argument would've likely happened
A SMS Charger should've been made first. The charger had a 3-4 year headstart on the challenger and would've guaranteed more sales by just existing as a SMS version
Saleen/SMS was in a Weird space in the late 00s. Being to the Ford Mustang what Calloway was to the Corvette and seeing -Saleen- SMS Camaros, Mustangs And Challengers was surprising to say the least.
But with oems starting to approach performance different, SVT Cobra, GT500, SRT8, Z06, ZL1 and others, there wasn't much performance left to be had and more people were satisfied with the 400hp+ these vehicles were capable of putting out versus the earlier performance fuel injection years when u were lucky to get 200WHP from a V8 out the factory.
Yuck for those SMS Camaros and this might be the ancestor of our soon-to-be discontinued Hellcat Charger and Challenger
I'm learning from here more than i learn from school.
I remember the first time I saw a video about the Hellcat. Almost immediately I went "Hold on. This seems familiar."
I didn't even know about the 570x. Seems like they do a nice job on the interiors. And if thet improved the suspension to handle alot better that would be a plus. Great video as always! Thanks!
Thanks for watching! Definitely a cool car
It sounds glorious!!
Thanks for the vid, so interesting seeing this bizarre vehicle! Reminds me a lot of the 70s cudas! Sad to see that these Challengers weren’t successful!
Yeah it just looks a bit off to me I much prefer the retro styling of the regular challengers! Thanks for watching
Saw two of these years ago at a cars & coffee event in Wilmington NC driven by a husband and wife. I remember they looked impressive at the time and sure drew a crowd as nobody knew what they were.🙂
Very educational :) thanks so much! Can you do a short vid comparing old T/A and new T/A?
That’s a good idea I’ll try to do something for the T/A!
My dad bought a 570X for about 40k. And honestly i agree with the critics here. The engine is amazing, looks great, but the entire body just looks cheap once you get past the initial "wow" of it. Even parts on the inside were falling off, like the boost gage on top of the console. If i were a costumer is 2010 i would not have spent the money on this car. That being said, for less than half of what the car originally cost, 700 hp is no joke. It's an absolute blast to drive.
Some of the design elements of the new SRT Challengers look like they were inspired by this car, truely a good, understated car
I'd love to have a SMS Challenger 570X over the Hellcat
Like his 'Stangs and "most" of his modified vehicles including these Beauties ! However the Man got Greedy, just a Fact.
Oh man, l love SMS Challengers and are awesome. The butterfly induction is really cool and thought about setting it up in my SRT8, but heard that they sometimes have issues with them getting stuck. Yeah they look really cool, but I was mainly going to do it to feed more air into the engine bay and wasn't all about looks. For around the same price, speedlogix has a carbon fiber hellcat hood that I would probably go with over it, and extract heat a lot better. I think it's really awesome that Steve decided to do Challengers after all those years of working with Ford and was awesome that he gave some love to Mopar. Don't know why more enthusiast don't know about them, and was surprised that you said it actually
The fact that it was the strongest coupe in 2009 and the cheapest on that list is honestly as the Dodge bro's intended
There’s a Mexican youtuber has one looks real nice never knew saleen makes different other than Ford
When I was looking at 09's 1 of the dealers here in Il that was still a part of the Dodge racing program told me Saleen was building special edition Challengers designed to be better and faster than SRTs. Looking at the financial crisis Chrysler was going through at the time, I decided not to even bother with it. Mistake? Maybe, but I sure didn't have the $ for 1 anyways as it turns out! Thx for posting this car. Neat idea that was ahead of its time.
Funny how just yesterday I seen a short video on this car. Now I have dozens in my recommended vids. Lol
I wished people would have loved theses before the hellcat and dodge demon.... this are kinda unique challengers and would have been awesome to see now a days with all the high horsepower muscle cars. Great video by the way keep up the good work !
Yeah but at least the hellcats took over and we got to enjoy 700 horsepower dodges anyway! Thanks for watching appreciate the support 🙏🏼
I never knew about this Challenger. I definitely see how the price vs horsepower caused the car to not be a success.
Man everyone of them seem to have great bumper to hood gaps.
deez nuts yeah I noticed that as well, it’s bad if you can see that from just a picture 😬😬
Extra info : Some Saleens that were made for export were "made" in Mississippi.
Got to work on one in upstate NY at my previous employer (CJDR dealer) as a tech. Such an amazingly different car.
Was it a red one
@@gapszn no. It was black
Yet even more proof Dodge doesn't believe in appearance packages... They make REAL performance packages (and that puts them ahead of almost everyone).
Great video!
This special version of the Challenger, is INSSANE!!!!!!!!!
Why wouldn’t you use a srt product to begin with
He probably left Ford because his mustangs were out performed by Roush. They didn't need SVT, Saleen, and Roush. I still love Saleen vehicles.
That Front Grill Looks Like Is Falling Apart😂😂
I remember learning about SMS and their cars as they debuted from skimmimg conceptcarz as a kid. It confused the hell out of me to see the Saleen name being used on anything other than mustangs.
I would want 570x, very amazing
I’ve seen low mileage ones (2,000 miles) for sale between $58-74k US
15:32 that tail light alignment is going to drive me nuts forever
honestly, every shot of these cars, i can almost see all the misaligned panel gaps from a distance. it's kinda shocking how bad it is.
A popular Mexican singer has a sms challenger and even has a video of it! In my opinion it’s a monster and it’s just so exclusive not a lot made. Great video!
Saleen products are seriously priced far above what normal customers are willing to pay. I remember a dealership in New Hampshire was an exclusive distributor of the Saleen Mustang and one with the appearance package only with no more power adders or modifications was $45,000. The base Mustang could be had for under $20,000. When I asked the dealer why so much... he responded by saying it was a full custom with every bolt removed and put back together. Too much work on a base model Mustang for the $25,000 additional asking price. These Challengers... much the same. Cool as hell and fast at the time, but the base version was just too much money to justify.
I remember reading about the SMS Challengers, then info seemed to drop off.
They looked nice subtle simple distinct
Isiac Artison subtle ?
saw the purple one at the la auto show a while back, completely forgot about it till now .
Cosmetically looks like I could replicate it with one trip to autozone and a quick stop at the Sunday night swap meet.
On your fastest coupe from 2009 you forgot about the shelby mustang gt500 supersnake. That made 725hp in 2009 as a coupe
Not to mention the supersnake came out in 2007.. 2 years earlier.
I really like most of the design aspects of these over the the hellcat/demon/redeye designs, and i love that hood, grill and the way they changed up the rear end, besides the exhaust tips.
Bought an 09 SRT with the six speed. Best car I ever owned. Loved that beast. Didn't know about the SMS at that time but frankly the SRT came with so much goodness that no way would I have paid 2X for a blown R/T with body panels. You could put a blower on an SRT for about $9K at that time which seemed to make a lot of sense. Nitrous was available for a fraction of that.
Sorry to inform you that this RT has modified internals and is a 6.7 based 410 hemi that saleen did on the challengers. Adding a supercharger to that and you get a 750hp saleen supercharged challenger.
Yea you can add a supercharger to your SRT but you will only get about 100 horsepower until your engine blows. There’s a reason why these cars are MSRP the same as hellcats, they’re built engine cars. My saleen challenger made 630whp and 725tq stock, it’s as reliable as a hellcat lol
New drinking game every time he says sms take a shot
They made camaros and mustangs in sms trim like this. Fun fact, if you ever see #06 on sn95 and new edge mustangs they are clones, Saleen shipped the#06 with the aftermarket body kits and decals.
Not a fan of the mods ...glad fca decided to let In house teams take charge of the hellcat set ups
Great video brother. I was aware of the Saleen Challenger but not this much in depth
No matter what I want this 100 times more beautiful than the other that's the hood of them
I think they released these cars a little too early then what the car market was wanting at the time.
Coolest thing about this car is the Hood because it's a call back to the 60s road runners
Am i just seeing shit, when i say the car has a slight mustang look in the front, not a full look but one leaning towards it, like he crossed the two
Never noticed it when making the video but now I kinda see it when you say that 😂 definitely looks like it’s leaning and I think part of that is the weird camber they gave it on the rear wheels
I would like to say you have fantastic videos it’s not about your car like every other site you sir are a true Mopar person thanks a lot
The best handling challenger. Saleen probably had to put a lot of suspension upgrades for that big car.
Saleen filed for bankruptcy and everything was placed on hold. Prior to his financial issues. Saleen partnered with Ford, building the Saleen Mustang which was sold at license Ford dealerships. Shelby and Roush basically replaced Saleen. Steve Saleen then sunk a ton of money in the amazing $375,000 S7 Supercar without the ability to produce the car in numbers or set up a dealer network to sell and service the car. He attempted some Dodge performance vehicles without an outlet to sell them. Now you can purchase these factory performance cars directly from an FCA dealerships unless you want to pay extra for some decals and modified body panels. Another failed attempt. He spent loads of money in the S7 racing program. Back in October 2019. Steve Saleen was working on the replacement for the S7. It appears that's still an issue. The adage of champagne taste on a beer budget may apply here.
If they made a new challenger for the hellephant crate engine and added that hood to it(minus the gimmicky stuff) and make around 500-1000 as a limited edition I bet they'd sell pretty quick
A Super cool job! I knew about the Saleen mustang's but not SMS his newest endeavor!, So cool to know & I didn't know! Nice job on this vlog !✌
I totally agree with you about the hood intake it's just freaking awesome. And I totally agree with you about this grill. I think that it comes down to symmetry. Never put 3 of any design details in the grill. They should have used either 2 or 4. But really they should have gone with a completely different design.
I would love to find one of these hoods
SALEEN had the vision but it was 2 soon and the U.S. wasn't ready. THAT S/C WHINE THO! DODGE shoulda KEPT the BUTTERFLY hood, better effect than a SHAKER
Great video. I always wondered what happened about this car. With all that info you gave now I know why it failed. I do like the dual sided butterfly induction hood. I do have to give credit to SMS. They were the first to use the Hash mark's, (//), on the front sides of the quarter panels.
There was also a silver SRT8 570x conversion.
There’s usually one or two at Carlisle when I go. But I’m more bitter that SMS never did the Ram 1500, which someone did a render of
4:29 that’s basically the hellcat front bumper lol
Damn that sounds so electric ⚡️
That hood gap killing me
Ahhh that wine NEVER gets old
There is also the fact that dodge was ready to release a 600+ hp version of the car around 2014, however ford revealed the 662hp shelby gt500 and Dodge hit the brakes. The hellcat was supposed to releasr earlier than 2016-2017 but Ford hit them with that shelby and they went back to the drawing board to redesign the whole car to beat Ford.
Wonder if these could beat a Hellcat one on one
I fucking love this channel omg, I have been looking this cars since I was 10 years hahaha
Lmfao that corona reference 😂
Hey Mars i just bought a 2006 Daytona in Top Banana its #3095
Nice, How many miles on er?
@@MarspeedCars shes been around town once or twice 140k maybe 3 times haha
I do like the red butterfly hood it will definitely look good on the redeye though 😏..besides is the butterfly hood that I'm interested in.
I never heard of these rare cars, nice vid. Have you ever done a vid on the Hurst Challenger? That was supercharged as well around the same time period.
I know a guy that has a
2011 SMS 700x that makes 900hp
I has a manual transmission
1 of only 2 made for that year
You guys can see it here in youtube
They call him “El Fantasma”
He’s a Mexican singer and car enthusiast
He has a few rare cars & trucks.
I own a 5.7 and I didn't know you could even get a reliable 700 hp out of the things.
Good information on this Challenger Hellcat definitely
Why do you so many look like they've been in an accident... inside and out?! Like they don't fit right! Even at 7:47! What happened to that rear arm rest area?!
A car dealer has one for sale right now on Google that I was looking at yesterday think it was red no price which usually means too much
You should do a video on the rare chevy moute carlos
Basically a hellcat before it became a thing
I’m only here because of “El Fantasma” collection. I didn’t even know this was car was ever a thing.
I know imma get roasted for this but i would go for the 570x over the hellcat just because how rare they are. Granted the hellcat is bounds and leaps more advance then the 570x but as well they are pretty "common" now a days. Nothing like pulling up to the pump and someone saying "what's a 570x?"
Have you ever seen/heard of the front doors from a 2011-14 Dodge Charger on a 2006-10 Dodge Charger? I’m considering doing that for mine to get that C shaped body line but I’m not sure if it would work or not
I saw one of these at a mall when I went to californa what a cool car
Still got mine 2010 purple
Is it just me or do the body panels not line up right?
Yeah that was one major complaint customers and reviewers had. You can see it from the pictures so seems pretty bad 😬