Fiat 500 Beach Cruiser — 2012 concept car ← Dodge Dart Carbon Fire • Chrysler 300 Luxury → On the other side of the Charger Juiced was the Fiat 500 Beach Cruiser, was designed after the rat rod designs of the American West Coast, starting with a matte black paint job with louvers on the hood and trunk, some old school style red wheels and – of course – a roof rack fitted with a surf board. Starting with the 500 Convertible, Mopar added 8 inches to the width to give this car a wicked stance with nice fat tires filling out those flared wheel wells. Across the front end, Mopar has attached a unique brushed aluminum chin spoiler with matching bumper trim and “whiskers.” Aside from the ridiculous roof rack, this is one of the coolest Fiat 500 Convertibles that I’ve ever seen and I would love nothing more from the Fiat brand than to see a 500 with this body shape on showrooms someday soon. Honestly, if you removed the old school style red wheels and replaced them with something a little more modern, the 500 Beach Cruiser would look more like a race-ready rally car with that short wheelbase and wide track.

I’m a big fan of the new Fiat 500 and this is assuredly one vehicle that will draw a ton of attention at the 2012 SEMA Show. A playful take on the West Coast car customizer vibe, the unique charcoal, matte-finish grey Fiat 500 has a widened body (by a foot for both the front and rear) with old school-style fender flares that cover aluminum Mopar prototype wheels. Red paint brightens the rims, as well as satin and brushed center caps that give a clean look while hiding the lug nuts.best air purifiers for mcs The exterior metal work receives a satin, brushed finish on the door handles, mirrors and Mopar fascia accents, including the front chin spoiler, and Mopar roof rack surfboard carrier. peace lily as an air purifierTouching all points on the vehicle, headlamps are tinted, and cues from vintage hot rod culture are found on the prototype Mopar hood and Mopar rear deck lid, which boast louvers that are both functional and also aesthetically appealing. air duct cleaning marion indiana

Teak woodwork on the slats of the roof rack, which carries a custom surfboard painted to match the body, add a unique touch. Themes on the exterior make their way to the interior, with trim bezels that also carry the satin brushed finish. As with the roof rack carrier, the creative “boardwalk” inspired floor slats are finished with teak woodwork. The dark grey naugahyde high-gloss vinyl seats receive a wild touch with red-and-white “beach towel” seat inserts. An extended shifter, capped off by a white ball, completes the interior. Performance upgrades include a Mopar exhaust and Mopar cold-air intake to provide horsepower boosts, while the Mopar strut tower brace improves handling. Concept cars are often made so a car’s feel can be evaluated, problems can be foreseen, and reactions of the public can be judged. Some concepts test specific ideas, colors, controls, or materials — either subtle or out of proportion, to hide what’s being tested. Some are created to help designers think “out of the box.”

The Challenger, Prowler, PT Cruiser, and Viper were all tested as production-based concepts dressed up to hide the production intent. This page is in-image-ad-free, 50% of the time. Support Allpar by using our Amazon link We make no guarantees regarding validity, accuracy, or applicability of information, predictions, or advice. Please read the terms of use and privacy policy. Copyright © 1994-2000, David Zatz; copyright © 2001-2016, Allpar LLC (except as noted, and press/publicity materials); Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Ram, and Mopar are trademarks of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Dodge pickup trucks, 1961-71The second Mopar tuned model on its way to the 2012 Chicago Auto Show, which takes place during the second week of February, is the 2012 Fiat 500 Stinger. Mopar's American take on the Italian city car integrates two stage kits along with a special Giallo (yellow) exterior paint. The first package begins with black racing decals on the Fiat 500's profile and roof graphics in black checker followed by a set of larger 17-inch Abarth Hyper Black alloy wheels with wider 205/40 R17 performance tires, tinted lights and a new exhaust tailpipe.

For the interior, Mopar continued the yellow and black color theme with the seats featured with Alcantara centers and black leather bolsters with yellow accent stitching. The look is complimented by a Mopar carbon-fiber instrument panel decal and a new gloss black shifter ball. On the performance front, the second stage kit adds a cold-air intake and free-flowing cat-back exhaust along with performance brakes featuring cross-drilled rotors. Mopar said that all parts will be available for sale in the States this fall.The SEMA Show has always been about pushing things a little further, which leaves Mopar in an interesting predicament this year: How do you compete with the 6.2-liters of supercharged goodness under the hoods of the Challenger and Charger Hellcats? 707 hp might be fairly middle-of-the-road by SEMA standards, but for production cars (with warranties!) costing comfortably under $100,000…well, those specs put a lot of implausibly hyper-tuned imports to shame.So apparently, the Fiat-Chrysler in-house aftermarket shop has decided against engaging in a horsepower war with itself.

Save for cold air intakes, none of the following cars -- set for a grand public debut at SEMA in just a few weeks  -- have any stated underhood modifications. That means no 1,000-hp Dodge Darts, at least not this year (sorry). But here's some of what you will see: The Dodge Viper ACR concept will attempt to improve on a sports car with already impressive performance, and will feature plenty of carbon fiber. We’ve seen the ACR -- for American Club Racer -- moniker attached to the Viper before: The designation was used for a stripped-down snake in 1999, and then again in 2008. Well, it’s back with a downforce-maximizing body kit that includes a carbon fiber front splitter and a beefy rear wing. 15.4-inch carbon-ceramic rotors and Brembo six-piston brakes sit behind a set of very Hellcat-like split-spoke forged 19-inch wheels. There’s no radio, speakers or even carpet inside -- you can actually see how the car is welded together. Carbon fiber replaces heavier, less track-worthy materials wherever possible in the minimalistic cockpit.

We like it, though we think that rear wing could be maybe just a little bit bigger. It’s purely a concept, at least for the moment, but Mopar folks like to mention that they take careful note of public reaction when they put one of these things together. Maybe a future Mopar catalog will include a build-your-own Viper ACR kit? The Dodge Challenger T/A concept doesn't have a rear seat (there's a roll cage back there instead), but it does get a front splitter, a rear diffuser and "air catcher" intake headlights. The T/A is back! At least as a concept -- 2014 seems to be a good year to resurrect hallowed nameplates for Dodge SEMA concepts with uncertain production futures. This particular Dodge Challenger pays tribute to its 1970 homologation-special roots from its front splitter to its gurney-lip spoiler (which cleverly houses a back-up camera). Hood pins hold down the lid for the car's naturally aspirated 392 Hemi V8, which breaths a little easier thanks to a pair of "air catcher" headlamps.

Inside, a roll cage and a flat sheet of aluminum stand in for the deleted rear seat; lightweight front seats borrowed from the Viper sit on aluminum risers lightened up with speed holes. None of this makes the Challenger a featherweight, exactly, but it's a nice package rounded out by those prominent T/A decals running across the car's flanks -- just above the side exhaust tips. Like the Challenger Hellcat, this is a mean but surprisingly restrained interpretation of modern muscle. It's not exactly subtle, though, with its sublime green paint. The Dodge Charger R/T Mopar concept is a rolling showcase for the company's aftermarket products. Because every flashy new Challenger must always be paired with a massaged Charger (it’s company policy, we’ve heard), the Charger T/A gets its four-door complement in the Charger R/T Mopar Concept. Unlike the T/A, it's not a tribute to Chargers of days past. Instead, it's a sort of rolling showcase of Mopar's bolt-on accessories. That includes a front splitter and taller-than-stock rear spoiler, side sills, lightweight 20-by-9-inch wheels and an aftermarket rear valance.

And, of course, there's that ever-present cold-air intake. We gather that Mopar is nuts about those. Dodge will also present a modified Dart R/T at SEMA Show this year, with custom touches inside and out. Before you get your hopes up, no, this is not the Dodge Dart SRT4 we've all been hoping for. Save for that ever-present cold-air intake fed through a functional vented hood, the Dart R/T Concept is untouched from a powertrain perspective. The car does get the Mopar big brake kit and an adjustable coilover suspension; we could see these features doing a lot to improve the Alfa-derived car's handling. Its rear spoiler isn't going to do much to to keep this front-driver glued to the track. It doesn't show up well in photographs, but the Dart R/T's paint is a sparkling metallic orange. It's not as flaky as, say, a bass boat (the Mopar guys implied that looking like a bass boat is a bad thing), but it is a striking contrast to the mattes and glossy solid paints that have dominated the production and aftermarket scenes of late.

The Jeep Renegade Riptide concept will feature a surfing theme, and will be finished in Vibrance Grandeur Blue. With Dodge asserting itself as Fiat-Chrysler’s American performance brand, the Dodge-heavy SEMA lineup is hardly surprising. But aftermarket favorite Jeep will also be well-represented; the pint-sized Jeep Renegade gets two different concept treatments. The Riptide, which gets a Mopar carrying rack for the surfboard, and the Frostbite, which has another roof rack for skis or snowboards. The fomer car gets a set of teak floor mats that, while unlikely to make it to production, are a really clever nautical-themed touch.And lest we forget about Mopar’s wide range of aftermarket parts for other FCA brands, there’s a Chrysler 200S Mopar show car on display (it gets coilovers, bronze-finish 19-inch wheels, a cold-air intake and a cat-back exhaust) alongside a Fiat 500L Custom, the Fiat 500 Abarth Scorpion (both Fiats get cat-back exhausts and leather-trimmed interiors) plus a partially Mossy Oak-camouflaged Ram 2500 Outdoorsman.