Texas Police Seize 1080bhp Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, Turn It Into Cop Car

A police force in Texas has a new unhinged weapon to catch criminals in the form of a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat with around 1080bhp.

The car, which comes with a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 pumping out around 700bhp from factory, was seized from a street racer who had modified it to produce over 300bhp more than that – let’s hope the Texan police force has a generous tyre budget…

According to reports, the Challenger SRT Hellcat was seized in April 2021 after police engaged in a high-speed pursuit with an erratic driver who reached speeds of up to 160mph on public roads. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) – Southeast Texas Region was awarded the Dodge Challenger by a judge after it was confiscated.

The department has kitted the SRT Hellcat out with a traditional black and white ‘panda car’ livery supplied by Black Diamond Customs, so it looks the part as a police cruiser. Unlike the Corvette which was seized by police in Florida and used for promotional purposes, it seems the police in Texas are serious about putting the Challenger to work for real, and will now serve the police department catching other criminals.

Over 1000bhp to the rear wheels could be overkill, so we’re hoping any officer who gets into the driver’s seat will be well equipped to wrangle all that power. The force hasn’t revealed what the previous owner did to give the Hellcat all that extra power, but we’d guess a larger supercharger and reinforced internals fitted to the engine are probably the most likely answer.

One thing’s for sure: we’d be much more scared of a Dodge Challenger with over 1000bhp than this cute Citroen Ami police car used by the Greek police.