Ringbrothers cars are showstoppers during SEMA week, tending toward fairly radical takes on whatever vehicle Jim and Mike Ring have set their sights on. Witness the ?66 Chevrolet Chevelle that put them on the map a few years ago, or last year?s ridiculous blown-LS-powered Winnebago. But what do you do with a 1969 Dodge Charger, a car with a body style seared into the consciousness of gearheads over decades via its appearances in Bullitt, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The Fast and the Furious" Why not make it look as if you?ve done next to nothing at all" That?s the brief behind Defector, a 4700-hour project during which most everything was touched, but very little actually looks changed.

Deciding that the Charger?s monstrous rear overhang could use a little shortening, the Rings bobbed the rear of the car by two inches, then added three inches to the Charger?s wheelbase. To do that, despite having hacked length out of the rear, they had to extend the quarters forward to meet the doors. The steelie-look rolling stock come courtesy of HRE wheels, wearing Ringbrothers-produced Mopar-style hubcaps. Tires are 285/35R-19s up front and 345/35R-19s in the rear. Both the wheels and the body are swathed in a custom-mix Glasurit hue called Greener on the Other Side.
Under the subtly massaged body, a hydroformed Detroit Speed front subframe carries rack-and-pinion steering, as well as a modern 6.4-liter Hemi built by Wegner Motorsports. Out back, another Detroit Speed subfra...