Two years ago, Mopar pulled the gas engine out of a 1967 Plymouth GTX and fitted a battery-electric drivetrain. At the 2026 SEMA Show, it put a V8 back in. The new one is a supercharged Hemi rated at 885 hp.
Mopar didn’t present the switch as a neutral engineering choice. In the official release, Tim Kuniskis, who runs Stellantis’ American brands, SRT and Direct Connection, admits that the original owner was reportedly unhappy that the car had been converted to an EV. His summary: “We heard him. So this year, we fixed it.” www.prnewswire.com
From 335 electric horses to 885 supercharged ones
When the car debuted in 2024, Mopar’s e-Crate concept used a 400-volt, 250-kilowatt electric drive module driving the rear wheels through a 3:1 gear reducer, rated at about 335 hp. It ran off 73 kWh total, with 384 lithium-ion cells in four packs (about 230 lb each), for an estimated 250 miles. That’s roughly 900 pounds of battery in a car that was never designed to carry it. stellantisnorthamerica
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Now the GTX is the first build with the Hellcrate Redeye package and the TorqueFlite 8HP90 automatic. The engine displaces 376 cubic inches. It uses a 2.7-liter IHI twin-screw supercharger, a cast-iron block with four-bolt powder-metal main caps, a forged steel crank, 356 aluminum heads and 9.5:1 compression, and it revs to 6,500 rpm. Direct Connection rates it at up to 885 hp and 787 lb-ft of torque in High Octane Mode. The eight-speed gearbox has a 4.71:1 first gear and dual overdrive 7th and 8th gears, which means a short first gear for launches and tall top gears for highway cruising.
The look is mostly the same as in 2024: Frostbite Blue paint, lowered three-link suspension, 18-inch forged magnesium wheels, and a custom 2+2 cabin in IndiGo Blue leather.
Where the extra 78 hp comes from
The number to look at is 885. When Mopar launched the original Hellcrate Redeye crate engine in 2020, it was rated at 807 hp and 717 lb-ft on 91-octane pump gas. The new rating only applies in High Octane Mode, and the package includes a Hellephant 426 supercharger pulley. A smaller pulley spins the supercharger faster and makes more boost, and more boost needs better fuel. My read is that the extra 78 hp comes mostly from calibration and boost, not new internal parts. If you fill up at the corner station, don’t expect your dyno sheet to say 885. stellantisnorthamericawww.prnewswire.com
What the box includes, and what it doesn’t
This is the real news for builders. Each package is meant to be one purchase, with the electronics already matched. You get a crate engine wiring and power distribution center (PDC) kit, a flashed powertrain control module (PCM), O2 sensors, an accelerator pedal, a shifter and brake press switch (automatic only), plus a serialized fender tag. With modern engine swaps, bolting the engine in is rarely the hard part. Getting the engine computer to work with everything else is. Kuniskis calls this approach “one part, one solution.” www.prnewswire.com
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Read the parts list closely, though. The release doesn’t mention a fuel system, a heat exchanger for the supercharger’s intercooler, exhaust, engine mounts, a driveshaft or a rear axle. A 1967 fuel pump won’t keep up with this engine, and an original rear end may not survive 787 lb-ft. Budget for those parts before you budget for paint.
Warranty and timing
The engine packages come with a three-year / 100,000-mile warranty, which is long for a crate engine. The TorqueFlite 8HP90 transmission crates get only 12-month / 12,000-mile coverage. Packages arrive starting in Q1 2027, and pricing hasn’t been announced. Ordering details will appear at Direct Connection.
Legal and insurance considerations
When Mopar first sold the Redeye crate engine, it aimed it specifically at pre-1976 street and off-road vehicles. That cutoff matters because emissions rules for older vehicles differ from those for modern ones. A 1967 GTX is inside the line. A 2005 Magnum is a different and more complicated question, so check your state’s rules before you order. stellantisnorthamerica
Insurance is the step people forget. Classic-car policies usually pay out on an agreed value, and that value assumes your insurer knows what’s under the hood. An 885-hp swap you didn’t declare is an easy reason to deny a claim. Document the build, get it reappraised and update the policy.
What it says about the market
Electromod concepts were common at SEMA a few years ago. Now Mopar has swapped its own show car back to a V8 and named the original owner as the reason. A manufacturer doesn’t reverse a car this publicly unless it thinks the customers paying for restomods want a V8.
Images Via: Stellantis
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