Super trucks. The breed has only been around in earnest since the Nineties, but Chrysler Corp. can stretch its roots in the ranks back a little further than that. In 1978/79, Dodge had a pickup called the Li’l Red Express Truck. A modified version of their off the rack Adventurer D150, the Li’l Red was the fastest American production vehicle of its day. The reasons why that truck was able to make that claim had to do with a good motor and bad competition. In the late Seventies, there was precious little around that could get out of its own way. These days, the roads are thick with fast cars and trucks. It’s high tech and high priced compared to old school iron, but high performance is everywhere, including the muscle truck segment. Since the early Nineties, the Ford F150 Lightning has been a perennial powerhouse in this class. Its reign as king was interrupted this year by the rollout of the new Dodge Ram SRT-10. Modern muscle is light years ahead of classic muscle in terms of sticking and stopping, but the bottom line is still motor. The engine that got it done for the 70’s Express was the 360 V-8. The motor in charge this time is in a different class entirely. SRT-10 the truck borrows its motor from SRT-10 the car. Fitted with a Viper V-10, coupled to a six speed manual transmission, the top Ram deals a hand where fives are wild: 505 cubic inches, 500 horsepower, 525 lb. ft. of torque, a 500 watt sound system and 0-60 times in the low five second range.
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