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Chrysler’s SR392, built for the 2007 SEMA convention to showcase the 392-cu.in. crate Hemi, will be auctioned off at Russo and Steele’s Monterey auction.
Finding a turnkey hot rod is no big deal nowadays. Plenty of shops across the country offer rods ready to go, bodied in fiberglass or steel, powered by pretty much any engine conceivable. Finding a turnkey hot rod built by an American automotive manufacturer, however, is a little less improbable.
But not impossible. The SR392, a fenderless hot rod with plenty of traditional hot rodding design cues that Chrysler built to show off its 392-cu.in. new Hemi crate engine at the 2007 SEMA show, will cross the auction block this weekend at Russo and Steele’s Monterey auction.
Chrysler’s Mark Allen and Ralph Gilles spearheaded the project within Chrysler through Chrysler’s Mopar Underground team, a group of in-house automotive enthusiasts who donate their time to SEMA project vehicles. The actual fabrication of the roadster, however, they tasked to Quality Metalcraft’s Michael Chetcuti.
“It was important to convey the car’s theme as an homage to Detroit — the cool Detroit with its unique artistic community, music and gritty vibe,” Allen said. “We used durable materials and let the mechanicals show to reflect the industrial backbone of the city. We wrapped it all up in a high-gloss black-and-chrome wrapper to evoke Detroit’s cool attitude.”
What it will sell for is anybody’s guess, but GM’s folks may want to keep an eye on the auction in case they ever get an itch to sell the E85 Ethanol Coupe, another traditionally styled fenderless hot rod that debuted at the 2007 SEMA show and that was built to showcase new engine technology.
(This post originally appeared in the August 14, 2008, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)