A couple of years ago, Dodge announced an official factory-approved convertible option for the final production run of the Dodge Challenger. The conversion was to be performed by a Florida outfit called Drop Top Customs, and despite the questionable wisdom of removing a major structural component from a 700+ hp muscle car, it was all in good fun. Now, Drop Top Customs is showing off an early rendition of a 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV convertible as the Chally’s electric successor is getting dragged in early reviews. What say you?
Presumably thanks to its relationship with Dodge, Drop Top Customs got ahold of a pre-production Charger Daytona earlier this fall and set about chopping off the roof. The few photos that the shop has shared on Facebook show a blue—is that B5 Blue?—model with a black soft top apparatus. The new Charger’s flat beltline and slab sides lend themselves well to a convertible profile, I will say that. But the top of the A-pillar is too curved, and as is often the case in aftermarket conversions, the whole soft top looks pretty tragic when it’s up as it tries to recreate the original fastback roofline.
Also tragic is the attempt to turn the hardtop’s liftback hatch into a true trunk. I almost thought this was a render, but no one would go out of their way to 3D model work that shoddy. It is a prototype build, and I don’t want to clown on it too much for that. But between the trunk and the misaligned driver’s side door… it’s hard to resist.
Thing is, there’s promise here. Convertibles are both the best and least represented body style in the electric car world—even an anti-EV diehard has to admit that silent, open-air cruising is a great experience. Having a fully-baked droptop option could help the Charger Daytona stand out, give it something the old car never had, and maybe make up for not being able to do a burnout. There are a number of technical and market forces that have stymied the growth of convertible EVs, and efforts like this, however rough, are important steps in the process of changing that.
We’re curious to know more about the engineering and production plans, and we’ll keep an eye on the project’s development to see if Dodge intends to make it an official option again. Converting a last-gen Challenger cost around $25,000, and I’d expect this to cost more. The cheapest Dodge Charger Daytona R/T with 456 horsepower, 404 lb-ft of torque, and a 100.5 kWh battery starts just under $60,000, meaning the OTD cost would likely push $90,000 before taxes and fees. I’ll tell you what: they’re gonna need to fix that trunk.
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