Jimmy Shine’s ’68 Dodge Charger

Riding on the success of Shine’s Discovery Channel show, The Great Hot Rod Build-Off, Jimmy was approached by another production company to build an orange Dodge Charger to run 200 mph at the lakes.

The build time was a ridiculous 2-weeks max but Jimmy, ably assisted by Pauly Rivera, Ron Jenkins, Sam Pulari and the legendary “Dandy” Dick Landy pulled it off.

Starting with a $10K car found on eBay, the team ripped into the beast and installed a full roll cage, fire system, and all the necessary safety equipment required by the lakes racing sanctioning body the Southern California Timing Association.

The suspension was uprated in the front with a Magnum Force front clip which converts the stock torsion bar system to coil-overs with rack-and-pinion steering. In the rear, Jimmy installed one of Ron Jenkins’ Driveline Specialties 9-inch axle located with giant ladder bars and the fattest anti-roll bar you’ve aver seen.

The motor, a 528 cubic inch Hemi from Indy Cylinder Head, Inc., produces 843 horsepower on pump gas and with 4-inch pipes is one loud mutha. Behind the motor is a 727 Torque Flight built by Art Carr.

“Dandy” Dick, for his part, chewed down a box of stogies while working out gear ratios, tuning the carb and making a few other crucial modifications.

Right on schedule, the car was finished in about 8 days with just a weekend left for Abe Rodriguez and Luis Ramirez to apply the PPG orange paint

In just 2 weeks a race car was built but there was no where to run it. The traditional venue, El Mirage Dry Lake—2 hours north east of Los Angeles—was, well, flooded. Frantic phone calls found another suitable lake at Jean, half way to Las Vegas. The car and crew—40 people and a helicopter —went north but somehow ended up on Roach Lake. No big deal until half way through the shoot the cops arrived and stopped the filming. Only four runs were made, the best at 170 mph. Time to pack up and go home until next time…