DUALLY NOTED

Pa u l Te r l o s k y ta ke s a v i n ta g e D o d g e h a u l e r to a H e l l - c a t o f a b u i l d

STORY AND PHOTOS BY GEOFF STUNKARD

USTOMIZING has been a way of life for

Cas long as people have owned machines. You can customize your car, your chopper, your lawn mower. You can customize your dogs or racehorses with selective breeding. Some guys with money even customize their wives, but I digress. When we saw this monster on display, we thought to ourselves, “now, that’s something you don’t see every day!” Truth be told, it’s not something anybody had seen before builder Paul Terlosky dreamed it up.

Our story begins with Paul, who runs a custom shop he calls House of Mouse, located in Macedonia, Ohio. We didn’t ask about the mice, as the truck was taking up all our attention. The other part of our story begins with people who can’t drive. That was how this 1978 once-440-powered Dodge D300 duallie ended up with a Hellcat under the hood. Seems Mr. Nodriva had totaled his fresh 2018 Challenger, which Paul scored to scavenge for goodies.

“I built the Hellcat Hauler to do the show circuit with Dodge in conjunction with their introduction of the new TRX Hellcat truck,” says Paul “Also, for the Hot Rod Power Tour and Motor Trend events, and places like here at Holley Moparty.”

Paul knows his truck is big, brings along his big Mopar chair to ensure people understand it. Biggie from ’78 now runs 12s thanks to careful build and stock 707-HP 6.2L engine from salvaged Chal-Cat.

Now, Paul coulda been like us and tried to pull a fast one by buying a new Ram for the swap job and beating Dodge at their own game, but instead he went chasing the past and came up with this solid, all-original, highly-optioned, rust-free D300 out of Arizona. The work to the clean machine began with disassembly and doing body and chassis changes, which he handled almost single-handedly in his 2-car garage, though his wife, Darcy Angell, was on hand for design collaboration as well.

“OK, first I custom-fabricated the new dually fenders. They are wide, tall, and long. I built the front and rear roll pans, molded the Hellcat side marker lights into the factory sheetmetal, and swapped in a dechromed ’75 grille. All exterior lighting is converted to LED, plus a ’17 Jeep fuel door with the ’19 Challenger fuel filler neck, and finally some slide-out towing mirrors.”

Pretty impressive but this big Bertha needed color. Instead of paint, Paul created the ideas that then went onto a full-body wrap done by a secret agent named Wrapped By SB (Twinsburg, Ohio). Actually, he may not be a secret agent—we made that up so you’d stay awake. The name Hellcat Hauler covers the Club Cab body sides, with streaks of color going in all directions.

Hellcat Challenger provided engine and peripheral parts. Engine is nearly stock with custom tune, MP harness, Jeep SRT exhaust, Milodon pan, Bouchillion Performance mounts. Inner fenders are reworked and wiring hidden. We did not ask how tailgate stamping ended up on hood underside…

The inside was not overly-redone, with leather buckets and center fold-down console being a boneyard item. Dash is redone with Dakota Digital and modern screenbased audio/visual unit, and Club Cab model provides ample storage behind seats.

The body was fully wrapped by Wrapped By SB, helps highlight retro rear quarters which were hand-fabricated. Tonneau cover hides gooseneck trailer hitch.

The stance comes from custom lower control arms and a 4-link / Watts link rear layout that Paul fabricated, and an air ride setup from AirBagIt.com, plus other suspension parts courtesy X2 Industries and Viking Performance shocks. Wheels are Cali Off-Road Brutal style 20x8.5 Dually models wearing Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 275/50ZR20 rubber, and, yo, just double that order for out back.

“The engine is all-stock from a wreck,” notes Paul. That statement is relative, as getting

it mated to its new home was more than a drop-in. It started with an Milodon oil pan and motor mounts from Bouchillion Performance, and a wiring harness from Ma Mopar. Tanks Inc., supplied fuel pumps that work with a tank that they supply, while SRT8 Jeep headers, 3˝ pipes, and Magnaflow mufflers get the fumes and sound out. "I was able to reuse parts from the donor ’18 Challenger—the intercooler, its pump and reservoir; the radiator and its reservoir; the engine oil and power steering coolers,” says Paul. "The fan shroud is modified to accept an electric fan and A/C condenser, and all of it is installed with wires and hoses hidden for the clean look. Oh, yeah, and I also modified and raised the inner fenders to clear the tires and keep the factory look of the engine compartment.”

Sure, if Hellcat motors were around in ’78, maybe…

Anyhow, so much for the wiseguy stuff. The tranny is a Gearstar-built 4L85E 4-speed automatic, coupled to the engine via the Gearstar Transmission tri-clutch 2500-stall converter. This is followed by a Henderson Driveline driveshaft and a big Dana 70 diff with 4.11 gears. Oh, the axles, stock… but quartermile testing put a 12.69 on the clocks despite the 5400-pound curb-weight. Hemi Tuner Performance did the engine computer, and a Compushift controller runs the Gearstar tranny.

It’s nice inside, too. “I used a set of ’14 Silverado leather buckets with the belts and fold-down console. I retained the stock column shifter and steering wheel, but after that it starts to get modern. The factory gauge cluster was modified to accept Dakota Digital gauges and a Touchscreen media center, so I have with Navigation, Bluetooth, Satellite radio and a back-up camera.” Other touches include Vintage Air, remote locks, power heated mirrors, and Bluetooth control of the transmission and of the air ride system. Behind the front seats is a padded custom deck for sitting or sleeping. One side of this deck houses the 1500-watt stereo system and the other raises up and slides back revealing a large storage compartment. Oh, and need to carry more stuff? Under that bed cover is a factory receiver and gooseneck hitch.

Paul tells us custom fittings and line sets came from Pirtek, all the little stock things were via Gust & Adolf, and all the custom things came from Summit Racing. And he thanks Darcy for, “feeding me, parts running, and putting up with my sh*!”

Don’t customize her, pal…

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