Challenger SRT Hellcat

Make
Dodge
Segment
Coupe

America loves a good hot rod, and the craziest custom creations can be found on the Hot Wheels Legends tour. We've covered some crazy Hot Wheels Legends winners, including Michael Tran's 2007 Chevrolet Corvette named Soo Sik C6, and our favorite, the 1969 Volvo P1800 dubbed "Ain't No Saint." The latest Hot Wheels Legends Tour finalist is just as wacky: this 1931 Dodge Rat Rod is a far cry from a modern Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, and it's not even powered by a gas engine. Instead, it gets a powerful turbodiesel, but its muscle car DNA still shows, and we love it.

The Hot Wheels Legends Tour recently stopped in Detroit, the heartland of American car culture, to find some wild creations for its national competition, and boy did it find some. This 1931 Dodge Rat Rod was built by Detroit resident Jolene Smith, her husband, and her son in their residential garage, and features a hulking twin-turbo Cummins diesel engine. This car barely resembles the original, and has been slammed to the ground on a set of 20-inch Worx Off-Road wheels. The exterior features four rear-hinged doors, small side windows, and a set of LED spotlights. The off-white paint job hides a body that has been cobbled together from all sorts of body panels, and we think it looks fantastic.

The interior is just as wild, and features a steampunk theme that has been perfectly executed using finds from flea markets and hobby shops. That's true rat rod style. We dig the retro seatbacks and rusty patina on the interior panels, but wouldn't want to be inside this thing during a ahead-on collision. The main attraction here is the massive turbodiesel engine sticking out of the engine bay. This 5.9-liter Cummins straight-six diesel engine features two gigantic turbochargers, and although the power figures are unknown, this setup clearly works, as the Dodge has traveled over 18,000 miles since being finished. This crazy build will now move on to the Legend Tour's semi-final round in the fall of 2022, with the winning car being commemorated in 1/64 scale and sold around the world.