Leader of the Pack: The 2020 Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack Plus

The 2020 Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack Plus.

More than 50 years ago, Dodge made one hell of a racket in the performance car world with what it called the "Scat Pack".

For those of you who have only heard the term on nature walks, "scat" has other meanings, including a form of jazz singing, and the slang usage that applies here, to go quickly.

Conversation Starter: The 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody

2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody.

I was in the parking lot of a motel in my wife's hometown of Ukiah.  It was the Sunday morning after a big family gathering and Mrs. TireKicker was in the room putting the finishing touches on her hair and makeup while I was loading the trunk of the 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody.  Suddenly, there was a voice.

"Ow's yer car?"---in a thick Irish brogue.

I looked to see a man, I suppose in his 50s, slender build, a bit shorter than I, walking toward me.

"Fine.  Fast.", I said.  It was early-ish and I hadn't had coffee yet.

He pointed to the five silver letters on the black panel between the taillights that read "DODGE".

"'Harry Chapin wrote a song about a Dodge, y'know.  "Learned about love in the back of a Dodge", he sang" (the song "Taxi", from 1972,  the late Chapin's first hit and perhaps his best-known after "Cat's in the Cradle", contains that lyric).

Further conversation revealed that my newfound friend was named John, that he was on his first visit to the States, just off the plane the day before after landing in San Francisco.  Given the brand's non-existent profile in Ireland, he may have thought a Dodge was a Dodge and that Harry and Sue in the song had learned about love in the back of something close to what he was examining, with great fascination, in this parking lot.

I gave him my business card, which has TireKicker's web address on it.  John, lad, if you're reading, the Dodge Harry was singing about probably looked something like this (click the link).

Still, the 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody manages to provoke cases of mistaken identity even among U.S. natives and especially car buffs.