Hot Wheels Collectors: 2008 NM Challenger SRT8

The production version of the new Challenger looks reasonably close to the concept, so you might not have expected Hot Wheels to make a new version for 2008. But they did a completely new tool. I couldn’t tell the difference between the two from these pics taken by my Moparts buddy Paul Balze, so here’s the breakdown Paul provided:

The ’07s are body-color all the way to the bottom of the rockers/bumpers, while the 08s have the blackout paint on the lower body.
The ’07s have seams cast in where the front and rear fascia meet the body on the concept car, the ’08s don’t.
The ’07s have the Challenger nameplate tampo’d on the quarters, the ’08s don’t.
The ’07s have the full-width red taillight bar, while the ’08s have the backup light in the center.
The ’08s have seams on the roof and a sunroof, the ’07s don’t.
The ’08s have the decklid spoiler cast in.
The ’08s have the chin spoiler.
The side marker lights are in different locations, as on the actual cars.
The roofline and window openings look different on the ‘08 than on the ‘07.
The ’08s have quarter windows, the ’07s don’t.
The stripe tampo on the hood of the ‘08 appears to include a tiny Dodge ram logo, the ‘07 doesn’t.
Since I haven’t taken either out of the blister, I can’t say whether the interiors are different.
Both have Dodge tampo’d in the center of the taillight bar.
The bases, on the other hand, appear pretty much identical except for lettering.

I have a Hot Wheels model of the concept (I did, anyway–my daughter was playing with it–I think it may be under the couch) but now I’m gonna have to go out and get the 2008. More pics after the jump, along with the official definition for the word "tampo," also provided by Paul. Thanks Paul!

"Tampo" is short for "tampoprint," also known as "pad printing" or "transfer pad printing." There’s a whole Wikipedia entry on it. It involves an image being transferred from a flat metal plate to a contoured object, using a silicone rubber pad to pick up the ink from the plate and print it onto the object. I actually had to look this up to get a definition. I’ve seen "tampo" used so frequently to describe the process that I was kind of surprised to find that it wasn’t the primary term for the process. The Wikipedia article specifically mentions "decorative designs/graphics appearing on Hot Wheels or Matchbox toy cars" as one of the applications. One of the first HW cars to use it (if not the first–I don’t have the book here at work) was the redline Police Cruiser.