Body Swapped Dodge Challenger Is A Tesla Underneath And Is Here To Hurt Hellcat Feelings

Kyle Wade, the man behind the Boosted Boiz is back again with an all-new body-swapped creation he calls the CyberCat. Under the skin of this very normal-looking 2016 Dodge Challenger is the drivetrain from a Tesla Model S Plaid. That’s right, there is over 1000 horsepower resting under the hood and trunk of this American Muscle car, and they’re all electric.

How did we get here? Wade is somewhat famous for his Tesla antics. In fact, it’s the exact same Tesla drivetrain that helped him rise to fame. Originally a salvage car bought on Copart, Wade quickly dismantled the vehicle, built an exoskeleton for it, and went racing. That wasn’t his ultimate goal though.

Instead, he knew all along that he would give it a body, and the body he gave it made waves. Dubbed the Plaidessey, it was a 2001 Honda Odyssey. Wade described it as a win-win when he’d take it drag racing. “If you lose, you just lost to a Honda minivan. If you win, congratulations, you beat a minivan. It’s a win-win for us,” he said at the time. Things are changing though: the Odyssey is no more and the CyberCat sits where it once did.

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Why swap an already body-swapped car? The Plaideyssey technically fit, but due to the shape of the passenger compartment, the dash ended up being huge. The cabin wasn’t jiving even though the wheelbase was. Below you can see just how far back the front seats are in the Model S while the body of the Honda has the front doors far forward.

The Dodge Challenger, however, has a cabin that picks up what the Tesla Model S Plaid is putting down. The Challenger has a 116.2-inch wheelbase and the Tesla has a very close 116.5-inch wheelbase, but mating them up wasn’t wildly simple.

In fact, the wheelbases being so close to one another actually creates a new issue as several structural components share the same space. While we talk about body swaps relatively often, the manual labor involved sometimes goes unnoticed. In the video below you get a first-hand look at all of it.

The team had to cut and hack the floor, the firewall, the strut towers, and some of the structural support out of the Dodge before attempting the first test fit. By the time they’re ready, a very small child, or maybe a dog, could walk from the inside of the rear bumper out through the front of the car unobstructed.

Despite that, the team had several points of interference. The first challenge was that both cars had the A-pillar in the same spot so the Boosted Boiz had to decide between using the Tesla pillar or the Dodge pillar. Once that modification was out of the way, they found that the dash was interfering and that the rear frame rails on the Tesla were in the way as well.

All of that work paid off in terms of overall fitment, though. Things like the dash now fit almost as though they were built together. The team even managed to make the rear shock towers fit under the Challenger body with literally millimeters to spare. From there, it was time to put the car together with salvaged Hellcat body panels. From the outside, it’s impossible to tell that under the skin is just an everyday Tesla Model S chassis, motor setup, battery, and cabin.

At this stage, with an almost bare interior, the crew took the CyberCat to Cleetus McFarland who not only did some donuts in it but also gave it his blessing. Now, there is little left to do on the 1,020-horsepower Challenger; Wade and his crew just need to finish installing the interior.

That’ll include speakers, door cards, and perhaps a more performance-oriented driver’s seat. What’s best is that now, driving the car feels a lot more like driving a normal car, says Wade. “The van felt so weird. Getting in and out (of the Challenger) I don’t have a big old pillar right next to my shoulder.”

Once finished, there’s a good chance that this body swap stays mated for life due to how well it fits. Regardless, it’s an incredibly fast car that will likely cause some confusion for die-hard Mopar fans who have the pleasure of seeing it pass by on the road. No, it won’t ever have a supercharger whine coming from under the hood, but it’ll leave a red light like its supercharged twin, or even better.

So I found out a dodge challenger had the same wheelbase as a Tesla model s plaid and I built this. Calling it the CyberCat pic.twitter.com/TnJh8kfxjm

— Kyle Wade (@BoostedBoiKyle) December 3, 2024