Last week, after 19 years in production, the very last of the Chrysler/Dodge LX platform muscle cars rolled off the assembly line in Brampton, Ontario. After almost 4.4 million cars built, the legacy left by the automotive legends built on this platform will be felt for decades and generations to come. For car fans, the reasons to mourn the loss of these legends are obvious, but what their demise signals for working-class empowerment, freedom, and upward mobility, should concern all Americans.
So we’re all clear, the cars I’m talking about here are the mobster-looking Chrysler 300C, the muscle-wagon Dodge Magnum (which was made from 2005 to 2008), the badass Dodge Charger sedan, and perhaps the best modern interpretation of a classic retro car, the iconic Dodge Challenger. It’s not an overstatement to say that these vehicles changed the automotive landscape of this country,…
