Shart Cat is the name of Gas Monkey Garage’s 1967 Dodge Dart that was sent out to compete on a modified parking lot in Detroit, Michigan for an eighth mile drag race against Roadkill’s General Mayhem, a Dodge Charger. If you follow the Fast N’ Loud “Reality TV” show on Discovery, you know after some minor technical difficulties, the Dart driven by Aaron Kaufman beat Roadkill by over half a second. That’s time to make a cup of coffee in drag racing time speak.
Shart Cat Tensions
In true reality television tension, after rushing to meet the impossible deadline, the Gas Monkey Garage crew made it up for the grudge match against the maker’s of General Mayhem. Naturally there were some technical, last minute problems to create even more drama. But when the lights came on, Kaufman’s foot went down and so did Roadkill’s hope. Roadkill used a 1968 Dodge Charger, also with a Hellcat engine, but without the drag racing standard two-speed Powerglide or trans brake. That lack of engineering and the lighter weight of a Dart probably doomed the Roadkill crew from the starting lights.
Richard Rawlings didn’t waste any time deciding to sell the Shart Cat at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in January, 2016. The TV episodes made it very clear that NOBODY has slapped a new Hellcat engine into anything without transplanting the entire electronic controllers and brains with it. Check out the typed instructions the auction drivers needed to follow to make the Shart Cat play nice.
To be kind the body was rough, but I suspect that the bidders didn’t care about the exterior as much as being able to tout the car as coming from the Gas Monkey Garage stable. Heck Richard didn’t even pop for any expensive vinyl decals or wraps!
Shart Cat Sells
The buyer shelled out a final price with commissions of $74,800 to be able to place this Dodge in their garage. Would you have spent that much?
