Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
The modern Dodge Challenger muscle car and the closely related Dodge Charger four-door sedan are ending their long production runs next year. But Dodge, Stellantis's American performance car brand, has a few special items in store to mark the occasion as those models rumble off into the sunset.
For one thing, customers will finally be able to order a Dodge Challenger convertible. You've long been able buy a convertible version of the Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Camaro right off the lot. Now, after 14 years on the market, the Challenger, considered somewhat of a competitor to those two "pony cars," will finally be available as a convertible you can order straight from the dealership.
Both the Challenger and the Charger are being phased out after the upcoming model year as Dodge prepares to sell electric cars in the future.
Until now, if you wanted a convertible Dodge Challenge you had to find a custom shop to do the work of removing the roof and the additional work on the car's body and frame. Now, Dodge is streamlining the process. Dodge Challengers still won't be built as convertibles at the Ontario, Canada, factory where the cars — along with Chargers and Chrysler 300 sedans — are made. Instead, Dodge has contracted with a Florida car customizing shop called Drop Top Customs to turn the hardtop coupes into convertibles.
Despite its similarities to the Mustang and Camaro, the Challenger is a bigger, heavier car. It's about 10 inches longer than a Ford Mustang. The Challenger shares much of its basic engineering with the Charger and Chrysler 300 four-door sedans.
Making a hardtop car into a convertible involves much more than just cutting off the roof. In most modern cars, the roof provides some of the structural rigidity that keeps the vehicle's body from flexing and bending over bumps and during turns. When the roof is removed, additional bracing has to be provided in the rest of the body to prevent that unwanted twisting. Jeff Moran of Drop Top Customs said the company has been working with Dodge to make convertibles since 2008, but the new dealer-ordering process streamlines the purchase. The company can make up to 5,000 convertibles each year, said Moran.
These convertibles will not be cheap. The suggested price of the conversion work is about US$26,000. Prices for a base-model Dodge Challenger coupe with a V6 engine start about $30,000. V8-powered Challengers start at about $38,000. That means even the least expensive Challenger convertible will cost about as much as a Mercedes-Benz C-class convertible or $20,000 more than a convertible Ford Mustang which, comparing base models, produces similar horsepower. For the extra money, though, the Challenger buyer will have a car that is, at least, a far less common sight on the road.
In addition to the convertible conversions, Dodge will also make a series of "Last Call" special edition Charger and Challenger models available. Details on those cars will be revealed later. Also, Dodge will bring back the 710-horsepower Durango Hellcat high-performance SUV that had been offered for the 2021 model year but that Dodge had said would not be offered again after that.
Dodge, along with Chrysler and Jeep, is one of the 14 car brands operated by Stellantis, the company that formed when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with France's PSA in 2021.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.