Dodge Charger

Dodge Charger, originally uploaded by KDavidClark.

Is there any car currently manufactured that looks meaner than a Charger?

Maybe the Challenger; not surprising they come from the same company. But the Charger has the meanest angry-eyes front end treatment I've seen in a long time. Frankly, a car with this kind of charisma is a shoe-in for a cop car. Seattle and Redmond PD already agree.

I saw this car at Safeway this evening, parked near my truck. Since I had been on a photography kick - all day - I felt compelled to capture this monster too. But how, without drawing attention? I took my camera, made all the necessary settings, then placed it firmly on the front bumper of my truck and shot. Once. The result was so dead-on that I didn't have to take a second.

The edits done mostly in Windows Live Photo Gallery - extending the Panorama Challenge from yesterday - and included noise removal, contrast, color enhancement, slight straightening, and cropping. The only thing I couldn't do with Photo Gallery was to "patch" the license plate by covering up some of the real characters. That had to be done in Picasa. I think the result really captures the spirit of the car.

I'd own one in a heartbeat, if I had Charger money. When they were first introduced I was skeptical about a four-door Charger, but it's really grown on me. Sure, there are "purests" who think that a Charger was only manufactured between 1968 and 1970. Whatever. I've had plenty of cars in my lifetime, and after a while that kind of tight focus is just too lame. And look at it! It's a face more than a mother can love.

As I mentioned elsewhere, "If this car was human, it would be a high school athletic coach with a teen harem."