After dyno-tuning engines capable of 2,400 horsepower, Tom Nelson, of Nelson Supercars, will take that same beast of an engine and stuff it into an equally radical custom car
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Walking into the Nelson Racing Engines shop in Chatsworth, California is like a step back in time, as well as leaping into the future, where old school machinery meets computer technology
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Walking into the Nelson Racing Engines shop in Chatsworth, California is like taking a step back in time, as well as leaping into the future. It’s a place where old school machinery and skill collides with new age computerized technology and advanced thinking. Tom Nelson, who took his passion for horsepower and turned it into a career, embodies the same blurred concept of time as the shop he opened in 1995. Tom seems as if he was born at least one generation too late. Had he been born earlier he would have stood shoulder to shoulder with legends of automotive aftermarket performance parts such as Ed Iskenderian or Vic Edelbrock. Tom’s work in the industry is certainly on-par with these early pioneers.
At the same time, Tom’s work with Nelson Supercars likens to other early automotive pioneers such as George Barris, creator of the Batmobile, or Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Nelson’s absurdly powerful twin-turbo, twin-intercooled, and twin-fuel injected engines look like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. After dyno-tuning engines capable of 2,400 horsepower, he’ll take that beast and stuff it into an equally radical custom car. Tom Nelson, like Barris or Roth before him, is somewhere between a mad scientist on par with Doctor Frankenstein, and a certifiable genius similar to Stephen Hawking.
Tom Nelson started with a 2,000 pound block of billet aluminum and eventually whittled it down to a two piece, dual octane, billet gas tank weighing in at approximately 180 lbs.
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The NRE Maximus 1968 Dodge Charger has been seen before at the SEMA show and will debut in the upcoming Fast and Furious 7 movie, but this year at SEMA Tom will have perfected it
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One of Tom Nelson’s latest creations is a 1968 Dodge Charger nicknamed “Maximus”. The Nelson Supercars Maximus 1968 Dodge Charger has been seen before at the SEMA show and will make hearts race during its big screen debut in the upcoming Fast and Furious 7 movie. Never content to leave well enough alone, Tom Nelson decided to tear down and rebuild the 1968 Dodge Charger for the 2014 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show coming up in the first week of November in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Noteworthy improvements being made to the NRE Maximus Charger include chassis upgrades said to give the Charger 400% more rigidity. Perhaps one of the most mind blowing enhancements being made is the billet aluminum machined custom fuel tank. Tom started with a 2,000 pound block of billet aluminum and eventually whittled it down to a two piece tank weighing in at approximately 180 lbs. This billet aluminum tank is designed to hold two separate grades of fuel allowing the NRE Maximus to be daily driven on 91 octane pump gas, or burn 116 octane race fuel when under boost.
The wheels on the Nelson Racing Engines 1968 Dodge Charger are blanks originally used for mockup; however, the car will retain these wheels due to their use in the Fast 7 movie
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The NRE Maximus is powered by a 2,000 horsepower, 9.4 liter Hemi V8 engine featuring twin NRE turbo chargers, twin water-to-air intercoolers, and a dual injection intake manifold
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The 2,000 horsepower, 9.4 liter Hemi V8 engine features all alloy construction, twin NRE designed mirrored turbo chargers, twin water-to-air intercoolers, and a dual injection intake manifold designed by Tom Nelson. At the touch of a cockpit mounted button the driver is able to switch Maximus from a 600 horsepower, 91-octane gulping, daily driver to a 2,000 horsepower, 116 octane devouring beast. Maximus is said to accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in just two seconds. It is certified to run the ¼ mile in 8 seconds at NHRA sanctioned events and will reach a top speed of over 200 MPH its current form. Add on the MAXIMUS-SB AeroKit and this car should be capable of speeds in excess of 260 miles per hour.
Of course no Supercar would be complete without an interior that is equally as impressive as the car’s performance. Maximus will feature an extraordinary sound system, interior and exterior video with Cloud uplink, the latest in security technologies, and world-class upholstery that will rival the finest German luxury cars. All this, including the 6” wider body, will be accomplished while still retaining the essence, and vintage appeal, of the original 1968 Dodge Charger.
The Nelson Supercars Maximus 1968 Dodge Charger will be featured in the K&N Air Filters 2014 SEMA show booth, number 22943. Do not miss the opportunity to come see this work of automotive art up close and in person at the K&N SEMA show booth. Plus, the mad scientist/certifiable genius behind Maximus shouldn’t be too far away.
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