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Every once in a while, we get to put together a show that simply couldn’t happen sitting behind a microphone in the studio. Episode #656 of The Muscle Car Place is one of those shows. This week we have six interviews, all recorded on the road, starting in Graham, North Carolina, before heading north to the madness of RoadKill Nights 2026 in Pontiac, Michigan.
And while RoadKill Nights is certainly a major part of this episode, we have to start with something that should get the attention of just about every Mopar fan reading this:
How would you like to start your next 1968 or 1969 Dodge Charger project with a brand-new body?
Yes, really.
Ryan Renadette – US Car Tool / USCT Hot Rod Shop
Our first stop is US Car Tool in Graham, North Carolina, where Rob sits down with Ryan Renadette and gets an up-close look at something we’ve been waiting years to see: a completely new reproduction 1968-69 Dodge Charger body.
US Car Tool has long been known in the Mopar world for chassis-stiffening components, torque boxes, frame connectors, mini-tub kits, spring-relocation components and the tools necessary to build serious cars. Now Ryan and his team are taking things considerably further.
Ryan explains that AMD approached US Car Tool roughly two years ago with an interesting proposition. AMD was already producing essentially all of the individual sheet-metal panels necessary to create a 1968 or 1969 Charger. The question was simple: could US Car Tool assemble those pieces into an entire body?
The answer was yes.
The first body was built as a display car for AMD and eventually went to its facility in Taiwan. Since then, Ryan has built additional Charger bodies, and customers can now contact his operation directly to have one built. These are considered replacement bodies rather than complete new Dodge vehicles, with the legal VIN and registration requirements ultimately depending on the customer’s state.
The starting price is approximately $45,000 for the body, and that’s where things get interesting. You’re not simply buying a pile of reproduction sheet metal. Ryan has developed the tooling and jigs to assemble the bodies to factory dimensions, and most of the construction is performed using spot welds similar to the original manufacturing process.
From there, customers can decide how far they want to go. Mini-tubs? Chassis upgrades? Roadster Shop chassis? Improved panel gaps? Custom fabrication? Ryan can incorporate modifications while the body is being assembled instead of cutting apart a finished car later.
There’s also one major advantage that anyone who has restored an old Mopar understands immediately: you know what’s underneath the paint.
Finding a cheap Charger shell is one thing. Finding one that doesn’t require tens of thousands of dollars in rust repair is something else entirely. Ryan explains that hidden areas of these new bodies are treated for rust prevention before the exterior sheet metal goes on. Instead of wondering what is hiding inside an A-pillar or behind a quarter panel, you’re starting with new metal.
US Car Tool itself is also going through a transition, with the hot rod side of the operation becoming USCT Hot Rod Shop, while Ryan retains the tooling and ability to manufacture the Charger bodies.
For anyone contemplating a serious second-generation Charger build, this interview alone is worth the listen.
Then we head to Detroit.
RoadKill Nights 2026
Our own Scotty Stapp was turned loose at RoadKill Nights with a recorder, a credit card and apparently far too few rules.
RoadKill Nights once again brought the horsepower and tire smoke to the Detroit area, with M1 Concourse providing the backdrop for a massive gathering of racers, builders, manufacturers and fans. This year’s event wasn’t limited to straight-line action either, giving attendees a mix of drag racing and road-course excitement.
Rather than simply telling you what happened, Scotty went straight to the people making it happen.
And who better to start with than Mike Finnegan?
Mike Finnegan – Finnegan’s Garage
It’s difficult to talk about RoadKill Nights without talking about Mike Finnegan. As one of the original hosts of Roadkill, Finnegan helped create the kind of automotive chaos that ultimately made an event like RoadKill Nights possible in the first place.
The good news?
The Ratson failed to fail.
For once, one of Finnegan’s creations did exactly what it was supposed to do when it was supposed to do it.
Mike brought three former Roadkill cars to the event, including Stubby Bob, the Ratson and the Death Metal Charger. He also explains something Roadkill fans may find interesting: when the show ended, he was given the opportunity to purchase some of the cars. Mike ended up buying six of his favorites, meaning these aren’t simply retired television props sitting forgotten in a warehouse. They’re his cars now, and he’s still using them exactly the way you’d hope he would.
The Death Metal Charger remains one of the strangest combinations imaginable—a 1968 Charger with a turbocharged 2JZ sticking through the hood. As Mike points out, hearing a late-model car banging off the two-step makes sense. Hearing those noises coming from a ’68 Charger powered by an inline-six does not, which is precisely why everyone turns around to look at it.
Mike also fills Scotty in on what he’s been doing away from RoadKill Nights, including drag-and-drive events, drag boat racing and the continuing parade of projects coming through Finnegan’s Garage.
One of the big ones is his Cadillac project. The engine has been on the dyno at Nelson Racing Engines and made roughly 2,300 horsepower. Once the engine returns, Mike says it’s basically time to stop making excuses and put the car together.
Could we eventually see that one at RoadKill Nights too?
Mike seemed to like the idea.
David Kruk – Classic Dynamics and the Yellow Super Bee
If you’ve attended Holley MoParty or followed serious Mopar track builds, there’s a good chance you’ve seen David Kruk’s unmistakable yellow Super Bee.
David was at RoadKill Nights representing Holley MoParty, giving fans a preview of what they’ll find when the Mopar faithful gather again in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
But David doesn’t own a Super Bee that exists merely to sit behind velvet ropes.
The car gets used. Hard!
With road-course competition becoming part of the RoadKill Nights experience, David’s yellow Super Bee was right at home attacking the corners and demonstrating that classic American muscle doesn’t have to spend its entire life traveling 1,320 feet at a time.
The conversation covers the Super Bee, what David has been doing with the car and the upcoming MoParty event. It’s exactly the kind of car we love around here: recognizable enough to make a purist smile, but modified and driven hard enough to make that same purist slightly nervous.
That’s usually a pretty good combination.
Sam Barbeau – Dodge Director of Muscle UVs
Yes, you read that job title correctly.
Muscle UVs.
Sam Barbeau is Dodge’s Director of Muscle UVs, and his primary subject for this conversation is the Dodge Durango.
It’s easy to forget how long the Durango nameplate has been around, but Dodge certainly hasn’t forgotten how important it has become. Sam tells Scotty that calendar year 2025 was the Durango’s best total sales year in more than 20 years, and July marked 22 consecutive months of year-over-year growth.
Dodge has also leaned heavily into the thing its customers seem to want most: performance.
The Durango lineup continues to offer HEMI V8 power, including the 5.7-liter, 6.4-liter 392 and the completely unnecessary—and therefore completely wonderful—710-horsepower SRT Hellcat. Add the Tow N Go package and its 8,700-pound towing capability, and the Durango becomes a surprisingly compelling answer for someone who needs an SUV but still wants a muscle car.
Personalization is another major part of Dodge’s strategy. Sam says the Hellcat Jailbreak program can offer more than 14 million possible combinations, and RoadKill Nights provided Dodge with an opportunity to gauge enthusiast reaction to concepts, colors, graphics and other ideas that could influence future products.
It turns out the muscle-car mentality works pretty well when you give it three rows of seats.
Geoff Turk – Blackbird Performance Products
Next up is Geoff Turk from Blackbird Performance Products, and if you’re a traditional Mopar guy who has been resisting the Gen III HEMI revolution, Geoff might be the guy who finally convinces you.
The funny part is that Geoff understands the resistance because he’s one of those traditional Mopar guys himself.
His Mopar story goes all the way back to buying a 1969 Dodge Charger as a teenager and racing it while he was still in high school. Over the decades he’s built and raced big-block Mopars, small-block Mopars and Gen II Hemis before eventually experimenting with the Gen III platform.
Today, Blackbird Performance Products specializes in making modern HEMI horsepower easier to put into the cars enthusiasts actually want to drive and race. Geoff’s company also manufactures a growing range of components sold through Dodge’s Direct Connection program, including valve covers, supercharger belt tensioners and front covers.
Geoff makes a compelling argument for the modern engine. Making 500 or 600 horsepower isn’t particularly exotic anymore, and that power can come with drivability that would have been difficult to achieve with a traditional high-output big-block combination. His point isn’t that everyone should throw away their 440s and Gen II Hemis. Jeff loves those engines too. The Gen III simply gives today’s Mopar builder another very capable option.
And capable may be an understatement.
One of the projects Geoff discusses is a 1963 Fury being transformed into a Super Stock-style race car with a supercharged Gen III HEMI, a Liberty five-speed and an anticipated output around 1,500 horsepower at more than 10,000 RPM.
That should get the groceries home before the ice cream melts.
Chuck Sundstrom – Radford Racing School
We finish RoadKill Nights with Chuck Sundstrom, General Manager and drag-racing lead instructor at Radford Racing School.
Longtime performance enthusiasts may remember the facility by another famous name: Bondurant.
Today, Radford’s mission goes well beyond simply teaching people how to go around a racetrack faster. As Chuck puts it, if you drive something, they probably have something for you.
Programs range from defensive driving and teen driver training to high-performance driving, GT road racing, advanced road racing and drag racing. At one end of the spectrum, Radford can help families make a young driver safer on the street. At the other, they’re training serious racers to extract more performance on track.
Chuck has spent decades in motorsports as a racer, mechanic, race director, track manager and instructor, and that experience gives him a unique perspective on what performance-driving education is really about. Horsepower is great. Knowing what to do with it is considerably better.
That’s an appropriate place to wrap up a show filled with some very fast machinery.
Dallas Kibbe Racing Update
Before we hit the road interviews, Rob also checks in with the latest from Dallas Kibbe Racing.
With school approaching, the racing schedule is becoming a little more strategic. Dallas is hoping to get back into the Legends car for the final asphalt events at Hawkeye Downs, a track that’s preparing for a major change as the asphalt configuration gives way to dirt. After that, the plan includes additional late-model racing in Wisconsin with Casey Johnson Racing.
Follow Dallas Kibbe Racing for race results, stats, and behind-the-scenes racing action:
https://www.facebook.com/DallasKibbeRacing
https://www.instagram.com/dallaskibbe_13/
https://www.tiktok.com/@dallaskibbe_13
https://www.myracepass.com/drivers/178661
Save 15% on Tires with TURBO15
There’s also a deal for TMCP listeners that we’re especially excited about.
Through December 1, purchase a set of four qualifying Lexani, Lionhart or Rolling Big Power tires through SimpleTire and use promo code:
TURBO15
That will save you 15% on a set of four qualifying tires. Rob will also have Bridney Jordan on an upcoming episode to talk about the tire business, the brands themselves and some of the things consumers may not realize about how the tire industry actually works.
If you’re already shopping for tires, use the code. You’ll save some money and you’ll also help demonstrate the value of the TMCP community to the companies supporting the show.
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This interview sponsored by our friends at National Parts Depot – your premier source for muscle car restoration parts!
