Dodge has produced many noteworthy cars. The Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger were its mainstays for the muscle car segment. The Dodge Ram SRT-10 was one of the few V10-powered pickup trucks ever created and arguably the best. Its 20th-century offerings were nothing to scoff at either.
In the ’80s, Dodge introduced a concept car that envisioned a high-performance sports car that, if it had gone into production, would have been the fastest four-cylinder car ever created
Dodge
Like many automakers, Dodge evolved from being a machine shop that supplied parts and assemblies in the early 1900s to a fully-fledged automaker. The Dodge brothers started building cars in 1914 under the ‘Dodge Brothers’ brand – the company was sold to Chrysler in 1928, originally producing trucks, full-sized passenger cars and compact cars. These days, the brand is known for performance cars like the iconic Charger and Challenger, sold under the Stellantis banner.
- Founded
-
December 14, 1900
- Founder
-
John Francis Dodge & Horace Elgin Dodge
- Headquarters
-
Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S.A
- Owned By
-
Stellantis North America
- Current CEO
-
Carlos Tavares
This article focuses on the Dodge M4S concept.
The “Mid-Engine, 4-Cylinder, Sport” Concept
The PPG/IndyCar World Series was lauded as the world’s richest automotive racing series. PPG is an acronym for Pitsburgh Plate Glass, an American Fortune 500 company that is a global leader in supplying paints, coatings, and specialty materials. However, it was also one of the biggest sponsors in motorsport, specifically the IndyCar World Series. Between 1980 and 1992, it was the main sponsor for the racing series. Interestingly, for the running of the series, each year, PPG would work alongside several high-profile and leading US car manufacturers to develop one-of-a-kind cars that would serve as pace cars for the IndyCar World Series.
There were many PPG Pace Cars, the earliest of which was a concept version of the Ford Mustang, followed by a heavily modified Chevrolet Corvette. The PPG Pace cars from the 1980s included a modified Dodge Daytona, Buick’s Wildcat concept, and a Ford Mustang concept. Fun fact: Buick was the first company to build a concept car. Decades later, PPG introduced a concept car that was not only earmarked as a PPG Pace Car but also to showcase automakers’ engineering ideas and capabilities. This concept was called the Dodge M4S, an acronym for “Mid-Engine, 4-Cylinder, Sport,” and is a reference to the core aspects of the Dodge M4S concept car.
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The Dodge M4S was a prototype of a high-performance sports coupe envisioned in 1981. It was engineered, designed, and built in 1981 and developed in collaboration with PPG Industries in the ’80s. It was the brainchild of Bob Ackerman, Dodge’s chief engineer at the time, and, unlike other concept cars we’ve covered, it was built from the onset to develop a running prototype meant to be an IndyCar World Series pace car, which meant that it was far from a standard concept car with odd styling and nothing of substance beneath.
Faster Than Any Other Four-Cylinder-Powered Car
|
Engine |
2.2-liter twin-turbocharged inline-four |
|---|---|
|
Horsepower |
440 hp |
|
Torque |
400 lb-ft |
|
0-60 |
4.1 seconds |
|
Top speed |
194.8 mph |
The fastest production car powered by a four-cylinder engine is the Porsche 718 Cayman GTS, with a top speed of 182 mph. It is an impressive feat, but it would not be considered the fastest four-cylinder-powered car if the Dodge M4S had ever gone into production. At the core of the concept car was a twin-turbocharged, inline four-cylinder engine built by Special Vehicle Inc., including the roll cage. Legendary engine engineering and design company Cosworth settled and refined the engine.
This engine featured two T25 Garrett turbochargers, coaxing a 16-valve DOHC four-cylinder engine that produced more power than even the most powerful modern four-cylinder-powered cars. It was unlike anything from Dodge then and rings true even today. While Chrysler is credited as the creator of the Dodge M4S, the car’s construction was handled by subcontractors.
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A company called 3-D Industries was responsible for modeling the curvy physique of the Dodge M4S and providing molds for the concept car and its interior. Body panels were cast by another company called Special Projects, Inc. from Michigan, which would assemble the interior and be responsible for the Dodge M4S’ root beer brown color using several coats of pearl on top of a black base coat. The semi-monocoque race car chassis was sourced from California-based Huffaker Motorsports.
Specialized Vehicles, Inc., based in Troy, Michigan, was the final stop for the Dodge M4S and was responsible for the final assembly and maintenance of the completed car. Interestingly, because of the extensive use of wind tunnel testing to hone its physique, the Dodge M4S had a drag coefficient of 0.23. For some perspective, the Bugatti Chrion Super Sport 300+ has a drag coefficient of 0.35 in its Top Speed mode.
Dodge’s Sleek Indy 500 Pace Car
While the Dodge M4S was developed to near-production readiness, this concept car would never be greenlit for mass production. The Dodge M4S was an unbelievable offering. A car with its styling and performance sourced from a four-cylinder engine would have been a unicorn in the 1980s.
While it would not be sold to the public, the Dodge M4S was not another concept car that would simply be used as a showcase. It actually worked quite hard. Speaking of, the Dodge M4S was intended as an IndyCar World Series pace car. At the same time it was being developed and debuted, two other PPG Pace Cars were introduced. One was a heavily modified Ford Mustang powered by a big block V8 engine. The other was a heavily modified Chevrolet Corvette.
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Interestingly, the Dodge M4S’s most popular appearance was not in the IndyCar World Series but on film. Reportedly, after it was showcased at the 186 Detroit Auto Show, the four-cylinder-powered concept car was ferried to Arizona to be used in the sci-fi action film The Wraith. This film appearance was as a star alongside Charlie Sheen and would be renamed, adopting the moniker “Tubo Interceptor”. After its movie appearance and how many races it served as a pace car sporadically throughout 1984 and 1987, the Dodge M4S concept car would find its way to the Chrysler Museum.
Sources: Dodge, PPG Pace Cars
