The American car market is very different than ours. We tend to not modify our vehicles, but in the USA it’s considered normal to fiddle with it.
The most extreme example of this is an engine swap. From what we understand, you can put a Chevrolet V8 into just about anything, including a Mazda MX-5.
That’s why crate engines are a big deal over there. You can buy a brand-new engine from various manufacturers without having to buy the whole car.
The most extreme example of this is the Mopar Hellephant Hemi Crate engine, which only went on sale as a crate engine. It’s not used in any standard production car, which is probably a good thing.
This 7.0-litre supercharged V8 engine produces 750kW and 1300Nm of torque. Mopar didn’t say how many it was building, but insiders reckon it was around 100, since it’s a hand-built unit.
According to Mopar, the Hellephant engine sold out within 48 hours.
We’re not surprised considering how cheap it actually is. It retailed for just under R430 000, which seems like a lot of money for an engine, but just imagine what kind of monster you can build with it.
It should be around one month before we read about the first once-off vehicle equipped with this monstrous engine.
