Although the exterior is identical to an original Charger, there’s a completely redesigned cabin with digital instrument clusters.
Ringbrothers is a master at building restomods. Their latest creation crams a Hellcat V8 inside a bright yellow 1969 Dodge Charger. The machine is called Captiv by the company, and it’s a muscle car that combines classic styling and modern power.
Captiv has a shaker-style roof where the Hellcat V8’s top is visible. Ringbrothers adds a front splitter to the nose, and side exit exhausts to the rear wheels. The exterior is accented by black stripes and the body color is the BASF shade Pile Up Yellow.
Ringbrothers also adds the Hellcat V8 engine crate engine and a MoTeC engine management software. The six-speed manual drives the powerplant. The Charger is equipped with a set HRE wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. The powerful machine is stopped by six-piston Baer brakes. Adjustable shocks allow the restomod to maneuver around corners.
Greg Murphy, a broadcaster and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner, asked Ringbrothers for Captiv. The car was disassembled and prepared in New Zealand, before it went to the builder in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
Captiv took Ringbrothers over 4,000 hours of work. It required a new unibody to integrate with the Flowmaster exhaust.
The exterior still bears a strong resemblance with a stock ’69 Charger but the interior is being completely redesigned. A carbon-fiber steering wheel is used by the driver with billet aluminum spokes. There’s also a cluster of digital instruments behind it. A second screen can be found on the upright connecting the dashboard to the center console.
Ringbrothers recently finished a machine that was a fascinating corollary of Captiv. It used a 1968 Mercury Cougar to put a modern Coyote V8 5.0-liter under the hood. This is similar to how a Hellcat would fit into a ’69 Charger. The Mercury maintained a cabin that was more similar to the original pony car, with some modern modifications.