2004 Dodge slingshot concept, this was a 2 door convertible targeted to younger audiences and had a rear-mounted 3 cylinder linked to a 5-speed manual pushing out 100 horsepower

Posted by Custombi@reddit | WeirdWheels | View on Reddit | 40 comments

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gamebow1@reddit

350 and a viper had a spethial baby lol

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Tankfulcrab@reddit

thought it was a nissan till i read the title

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BadSausageFactory@reddit

I remember these, sounded fun until 100hp.

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Novogobo@reddit

i love the idea but it's ugly as shit. it's so cringey how bad design was in that era.

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loquendo666@reddit

This would’ve swung me towards buying a dodge at some point in my life. Had no idea this existed. In America, the smart cars never had a manual - it had this awful automatic.

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AppendixN@reddit

Amazing how often Chrysler was able to take a fundamentally good idea and make it look like cheap ticky tack.

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SentientDust@reddit

100hp is nowhere near enough for a car like that

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Beeblebrox237@reddit

Given the 1750 lb weight of the Smart Roadster it's based on I'd say it plenty of power. That gives it a power to weight ratio roughly equivalent to an EP3 Civic Si.

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rpmerf@reddit

Why wouldn't they just go for the standard 2.0 / 2.4 which should've been like 150hp at the time, with a nice SRT package probably in the works at that time.

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cloudubious@reddit

Because it's way smaller and lighter than it looks.

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ContributionDapper84@reddit

Smart car parts bin discount in those DaimlerChrysler days

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megaWatson@reddit

The front is kinda giving baby ME Four-Twelve, which makes sense I guess

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Testsubject276@reddit

Convertible hatchbacks probably already exist but just saying it out loud feels alien to me.

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justaBB6@reddit

Better-looking Smart Roadster sold stateside 👍 I’ve always loved this thing

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wesleypaulwalker@reddit

these would be 200k nowadays cause there would be 3 non-clapped working examples but man theyd be sweet

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sinister_shoggoth@reddit

Looks like a smart roadster if designed by Nissan.

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That's because it is a Smart Roadster. This was back when Mercedes owned Dodge, so it would've been an attempt to reuse old Mercedes parts to sell things cheap. Like how the 300C was just an outdated C/E-Class underneath.

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FunSignificance3034@reddit

Brabus or someone made a Smart roadster with extra power

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hankjmoody@reddit

Correct, but Mercedes was robbing the parts bin like that fairly regularly for Chrysler/Dodge models too. The SRT6 Crossfire was just a defanged SLK AMG, for example.

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wesleypaulwalker@reddit

this tracks and is good info thanks hank. i knew there was overlap but the 300C is interesting

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Ace_Robots@reddit

This explains why my purple ‘04 Stratus was so damn classy.

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Sleep_adict@reddit

A man of culture I see.

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hackjob@reddit

Always thought the crossfire was derivative of the CLK class, not the SLK. Hard b an c pillars being the evidence.

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HarveySpevacuum@reddit

True but by in-person size it was definitely a SLK.

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NoInstruction2007@reddit

A touch underpowered, but..

Yes. Absolutely.

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platform_9@reddit

Honestly? I don’t hate it

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Hinloopen@reddit

Since this was Daimler-Chrysler back then, they should have put that 5-speed manual in the Smart Roadster. Assholes.

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tomato432@reddit

brabus did as part of a project to produce aftermarket upgrades such as full manual conversion and rear disc brakes to the roadster that didn't go anywhere because the roadster was discontinued after the prototype was completed, mercedes didn't do it because the point of the smart roadster was addressing concerns about the fortwo's handling and transmission

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herodesfalsk@reddit

This is a rebadged Smart Roadster. Fun to drive but smaller than a Miata and not even nearly as fun to drive

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mtnman336699@reddit

This would have been awesome!

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forgottensudo@reddit

That’d be cool if it wasn’t a Dodge…

I’ve had too many Chrysler products to own another.

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HACKW0RTH@reddit

Would.

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Freakishly_Tall@reddit

Absolutely.

But update it for today by turning it into an EV with a, oh, 100-150mi range for $25k and I'll put a deposit down on it tomorrow, as will a fair number of my friends.

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