Vehicle Description
When the Chrysler 300 hit the streets, it was a new dawn in
American luxury sedans. Rear-wheel drive, a fantastic look that was
dripping high-end style, and road manners that rivaled Europe's
best, thanks to Europe's best taking part in its design. But if the
standard 300 wasn't enough, the SRT guys came through by adding a
couple tweaks, creating a distinctive luxury sedan with the heart
of a muscle car with the 300 SRT8. And for the
pros/geniuses/daredevils at Hennessey Performance, that was finally
the perfect backdrop for their science experiment: this 2012
Chrysler 300 SRT8 Hennessey HPE650. Packing a 6.4L Supercharged
HEMI engine, a full fuel system upgrade, and the requisite
Hennessey branding/appearance package, this is not your mother's
4-door grocery getter.
Maybe it's no longer a grocery-getter, but it's certainly still a
sleeper. Typically, Hennessey Performance isn't one to be shy, but
other than a few carefully placed badges and a pair of oversized
exhaust pipes, this super-clean sedan looks pretty much like
standard 300 SRT8. But underneath, it' anything but standard. In
fact, this is probably the closest thing you'll ever get to a
Chrysler Hellcat, although the rumored 2023 Chrysler 300C SRT is
allegedly going to come close. Nevertheless, until that happens,
this is the only 4-door sedan than will give the Dodge Hellcat a
run for its money, and as the Serial #1 car built by Hennessey,
it's an incredibly special build. The original, 2nd generation 300
design still looks best dressed in SRT Design garb, with its deep
chin spoiler, blacked-out mesh grilles, and aggressive rear fascia,
which combine with those oversized tires to make it look WAY
longer, lower, and meaner than a garden-variety 300. The Ivory
Tri-Coat Pearl paint helps tame the car's intimidating presence,
giving it a more formal look instead, like a heavyweight
prizefighter in a tuxedo. And with the low miles and low ownership,
it remains in outstanding condition. There are probably a few
incredibly minor signs of what might be called "shelf wear"
(although if we're honest, we've seen NOTHING to complain about),
but you know that it's had an incredibly easy time of it over the
past ten years. Other SRT8 tricks include a subtle deck lid spoiler
and tough-looking lower rear valance with trumpeted dual exhaust,
while the special Hennessey HPE650 badging on the fenders and
decklid let everyone know this sedan can throw down with the
best.
The black leather-and-suede interior shows off its sports car DNA
with deeply contoured bucket seats and a driver-oriented
environment. There's almost no wear on any of the seating surfaces
despite the deep bolsters and you'll note beautiful white SRT logos
on the seatbacks. An SRT-spec leather-wrapped steering wheel
transmits everything the front wheels are doing directly to your
palms, yet the 300 doesn't forget it's a luxury car designed in
Europe, so there are beautiful, bright-trimmed SRT gauges with
elegant markings, white stitching throughout all the elegant soft
stuff, an elegant center-mounted timepiece, and carbon-fiber
accents on the dash and center console. Everything you can think of
was standard, including power windows, locks, and seats, climate
control, push-button start, adaptive cruise control, etc., and with
the added Customer Preferred Package 21X, you also get a 900-watt
amplified, 19-premium speaker system, multi-function folding
mirrors with supplemental signals, and a dual-plane panoramic
sunroof up top, just to a name few. Bottom line, it's loaded.
Hennessey added embroidered headrests, floormats, and a
serial-numbered dash plaque that proudly boasts this is the #1 car.
The back seat is upholstered in matching leather and suede and
provides plenty of room for passengers, and there's enough room in
the massive trunk for all their gear. And did I mention that it's
all in essentially new condition?
The 6.4-liter Supercharged HEMI V8 is one of the most powerful
production engines in the US, with 580 horsepower on tap. The
TVS2300 Supercharger system was professionally installed by
Hennessey at their Texas facilities, along with a custom HPE pulley
(7-8 PSI boost), a custom HPE thermostat, HPE engine management
calibration, ported factory cylinder heads, and chassis dyno-tuning
to hone it all in. In all honesty, this thing is absolutely bonkers
in every way. It's too much power, too much speed, too much being
too much. It's the ultimate Mopar muscle car, and the thing just
flat-out scoots. Hit the push-button ignition and it fires
instantly, breathes perfectly with the help of a Hennessey HPE
air-induction system, burbles through Hennessey stainless-steel
long-tube headers matched up with high-flow cats, and happily
swills 93-octane pump gas thanks to an upgraded fuel system. A 580
horsepower vehicle does all this! I can barely get my head around
it. It's linked to a 5-speed automatic transmission, which may seem
like the easy way out until you realize that the car is faster with
a computer handling the shifts and you'll be too busy holding on
with two hands and screaming like a little girl for it to matter.
Thankfully, it's not just some brute that can't handle itself in
the corners (both on the track and off), as the reworked SRT8
suspension is beefed up to notably reduce body roll, the Brembo
brakes are as big as manhole covers, and it gets special SRT
20-inch aluminum wheels shod with 245/45/20 radials that are
rumored to have the most fragrant tire smoke.
A sure-fire future collectable and a flat-out blast to drive today,
there are very few vehicles more outrageous than this "Chrysler
Hellcat". Call today!