Lucas Bell 
In the United States, it could be argued that no aftermarket company has garnered a reputation of utter automotive lunacy quite like Hennessey Performance Engineering. The Texas-based tuners have been cranking out modified vehicles since the 1990s, and are known for insane power and incredibly quick cars. If you have an American car or truck, chances are Hennessey will do their damnedest to give you 1,000 horsepower one way or another. As one can imagine, the current crop of Hellcat V8-powered vehicles have become a popular launching pad for these sorts of builds. It appears they are now ready to take things a step further, however. That’s because they’ve gotten their hands on some Hellephant V8 crate engines, and plan to shove them into a Ram 1500 TRX and a Durango SRT Hellcat.
The news comes by way of Hennessey Performance Engineering themselves, who shared this plan via YouTube. The shop managed to acquire a few Hellephant V8 crate motors a while back, and now it seems they have a place to stick them. It was originally rumored that the company would be making a limited run of three 6×6 variants of their Ram TRX Mammoth, though that doesn’t appear to be the case at this point. Instead, it seems like the team wants to try their hand at sticking this 426 cubic-inch engine into everything that it fits into.
For those who are unfamiliar, the Hellephant V8 crate engine is the most extreme member of the Hellcat V8 familiar. Designed specifically for use in pre-1976 muscle cars, this limited production 7.0L V8 engine produces a ludicrous 1,000 horsepower and 995 lb-ft of torque right out of the box. We don’t know exactly how many of these monsters Mopar sold, but we do know that customers snapped up the whole lot in just 48 hours. Not bad for a $29,995 motor. John Hennessey was quick to note that he believes these motors are easily capable of over 1,200 horsepower, because well that is just how his brain works. Imagine how quick a Ram 1500 TRX or the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat could be with almost double the power. Because like, 700+ horsepower is so 2015.
Hennessey Performance Engineering is a busy company. They currently have over 50 orders for Ram TRX Mammoths, and are well into development of their 311+ mph Venom F5 hypercar. That said, the company is known for having a bit of fun. Why not shove a Hellephant V8 into the Ram 1500 TRX or the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat? Sure FCA never intended for these motors to wind up in modern cars, but that hasn’t seemed to stop anyone yet. Besides, it’s not like Texas is going to have anything to say about it.
