It’s safe to say that the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is something of a cultural phenomenon. When it launched in 2018, it was the most powerful factory muscle car ever, pumping out up to 840 horsepower, featuring drag radial tires with just enough tread to be street-legal, and coming standard with only one seat. On a prepared surface and using the factory transbrake, it was capable of lifting its front tires on the way to an NHRA-certified quarter-mile time of 9.65 seconds at least once, and a big part of the magic was the optional Demon Crate.
If you were lucky enough to order a Challenger SRT Demon, you could spend an extra dollar and receive a big crate containing all sorts of goodies. We’re talking about a special computer to run 100-octane race gas and unlock the full 840 horsepower, a center stack insert with a button to activate race gas mode, a huge air filter, skinny front wheels, a block-off plate for the passenger side mirror, a serialized air vent, and all the Snap-On tools you’d need to bolt these parts on. Fantastic stuff for an original owner, but what happens when a car changes hands?
Spacer
Thanks to the simply enormous scale of the car industry, it’s pretty easy for traded-in cars to be transported around the country. We even have specialized trailers just for that purpose. However, a crate full of car parts and tools is a different story. It’s not so much that a Demon Crate would be a huge pain to ship, seeing as many companies offer less-than-load (LTL) shipping for bulky items, but that coordinating the shipment of a used Demon Crate to the same location as the car and on the same timeline is a logistics pain many used car dealers wouldn’t want to go through. At the same time, some Demon owners might just hold onto their crates as a keepsake, separating them from their cars. Maybe that’s why we’re starting to see a number of these crates pop up for sale, unattached to a car.
Take the Demon Crate above, for example. Originally spec’d for a car that sold at Mecum earlier this year, the crate itself ended up on Bring A Trailer, just missing a few contents. The race gas-related stuff and serialized air vent went on the car, but the tools, skinny front wheels, conical air filter, and the rest of the bits are here in this serialized crate. It ended up hammering for $4,000, and there’s a whole lot more where that came from. As the seller stated in the comments, “Over the past couple of years, I’ve bought and sold around 20 crates.” Considering Dodge only made around 3,300 Challenger SRT Demons, it stands to reason that a fair few are now missing their crates.
Indeed, above is another Demon Crate from a different seller that sold on Bring A Trailer last month. The difference? This crate appears to be 100 percent complete. The special powertrain control module, the center stack with the button for race gas, the mirror block-off plate, everything seems to be here. That only seems to have made a difference of $600, but interestingly, this isn’t the seller’s only Demon Crate. A commenter noticed another crate in the background, to which the seller responded, “That is correct. Good eye. I was lucky enough to acquire two.”
Keep in mind, this is just one selling platform. There are two more Demon Crates on eBay right now in various states, not to mention loose Demon Crate tools. Just want a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon-branded jack? Here’s one listed for $699.99. What happened to the rest of the crate? It stands to reason that it’s been parted out. If someone wants to put whichever crate this came from back together, it could be a proper ordeal.
It wouldn’t be surprising if, in a decade or two, there’s a huge search to reunite loose Demon Crates and crate contents with their matching Challengers. While they aren’t exactly needed for street-driven cars, they’re collectible. We likely aren’t getting more new cars like the Challenger SRT Demon, and while examples are currently trading for between $85,000 and $105,000, they’re still largely occupying the “neat used car” space. That’s likely to eventually change, and if that happens, we’re gonna need to figure out crate shipment. For now though, if you’ve always wanted a Challenger SRT Demon but can’t summon up the asking price, you can buy a crate.
Top graphic image: Dodge/Bring A Trailer
I’d buy that for a dollar!
Don’t forget any number of Demons that have been in crashes/fires/floods etc orphaning their crates. Given the power of the car, this is probably not an insignificant number!
So the obvious question is will future collectors be making reproduction yellow splitter covers?
My first read on the lede image’s title was “SleezeBox” and thought… That tracks since it’s a Challenger. I must now click and read the article…
And now my inner monologue is getting the better of me saying… “My algorithm broke and flagged it as Luscious Content”
LOL
In 2045, Demons with complete numbers-matching crates will fetch more at auction. There’s no way around it, it’s just part of the collector mindset.
The collector mindset is why I take all my Hot Wheels out of their packages. I don’t buy stuff to hide it away.
Yeah, you can mostly see the cars in the blisterpacks… but those are pretty bulky and I prefer other methods to display them. I don’t plan on selling them.
I got over the “collecting on spec” mindset in the 90’s after selling off my Magic cards and Spawn figures.
Right there with you on opening my diecast cars. Plus fidgeting with a blister pack in a boring conference call isn’t nearly as fun.
Are you me? I have a shelf of fidget-ready Hot Wheels cars that aren’t set up in a display… just to pick up and fiddle with during Teams calls at work (thankfully, we’re off camera most of the time).
Yeah, I need a case instead of blister packs. I collect cars,I want in real life and could care less about value. The exception would be stuff where the package is part of the cool like recent Matchbox cars in cardboard boxes or the old Corgi Paul Smith Mini in its matching striped box.
This is a different universe. These collectors just want the investment asset so they can borrow against it.
Money changers in the temple.
I don’t know that banks are accepting Hot Wheels cars as collateral….yet.
Depends on how much it’s worth. You can put up just about any asset to secure a sweetheart loan to finance your high-falutin’ lifestyle.
These should have been designed to fit in the trunk
If only there were Demon Magnums!
There’s at least one out there: ThatDudeInBlue on YouTube had one built for him.
I’m sure there there have been a few that were swapped. But not from the factory.
It would have been quite German of them to ONLY offer the Demon in long-roof form. Then no issue with the crate!
That would have been beautiful.
Also, they could have released an update Magnum with the newer Charger front fascia.
Right? This means that the crate must have been shipped separate from the car to the dealer in the first place which would have been extra cost. Why not design it in such a way that it all fits nice and easy on the factory-to-dealer transport truck? Dodge half-assery is why, I suppose.
I think it had to ship separately so the car was “street legal”. Otherwise they may have need to go GMs route with the COPO Camero.
Oh, fair point.
Alfa Romeo just threw all the aero kit parts in the trunk of the 155 SIlverstone (BTCC homologation model) and nobody questioned its ‘street-legal’ status
Welcome to America
It’s just so weird that in the only country in the civilized world that lets you modify your car to ungodly extremes (like put a Cummins in your slammed Prius) and doesn’t have any kind of road-worthy-ness standards or safety inspections, you cannot sell a bunch of performance accessories with a new car without them questioning its “street legal” status.
It’s hysterical.
When I bought my KTM I was given a bag with manuals and catalogs and told by the salesperson that I shouldn’t lose the bag because whenever I sell the bike people will ask for the bag as well. Man I really need to sell the bike this Spring.
Yeah, I got a nice little notebook binder / bag when I bought my 690 a few years back.
I got a 990 SMT. It’s just too damn tall for me.
You take everything out of your demon crate and all that’s left is hope.
Hope you can make some extra bucks off your “investment piece”
$700 for a $140 jack that has some demon stickers is absolutely insane, but then again, so are most MOPAR diehards.
I think that’s from harbor freight
Sure looks like that. 100 bucks plus 600 in stickers.
That was EXACTLY my first thought when I saw it. That’s a damn Pittsburgh!
…and they’re fine jacks, they last longer than you’d think, but they sure ain’t collector’s items without that sticker pack LOL
I was actually curious about the jack and searched for it. I think it’s from a brand called Cardwells and sells for about $350. There are a lot of really similar jacks, but the others I saw have a single front wheel instead of 2. I would guess it’s sold under some other brand names as well.