Driving Line VOLUME VI ISSUE 1 | WINTER 2020 | Page 46
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Story and Photography by Cory Mader
Back in 2016, James Bradford was wrapping up high
school and growing to hate driving his Scion tC. Even
though it had slowly been molded into a fairly respectable
daily driver, it was small, slow and the act of folding the
front seats forward to let people into the back was getting
tiring. Skip ahead to a month after graduation and, after
much deliberation and research, he upgraded to a 2017
Charger Rallye. Of course, that isn’t either of the cars
featured in this article, but it’ll become important shortly.
Right around that time James’s father, also named
James, sold off the family Suburban and was in the market
for something a little more fun than his day-to-day work
truck. After driving his son’s Rallye around, dad was sold
and off searching for his own.
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WHAT THE HELL IS A HELLCAT?
After noticing that nothing was quite catching his but it just so happened there was another kitten waiting
father’s eye, James Jr. suggested his dad look into the to be taken home that day: a 2017 Charger Hellcat in a
Hellcat and was immediately met with, “A Hellcat? What matching Yellow Jacket colorway.
the hell is a Hellcat?” and then, “Why would anyone buy
that? What is anyone going to do with 707hp?”
At the time, the asking price for the Charger was
over $90,000 and way outside the budget of both father
But just like that, the seed had been planted. Slowly and son, but they were patient. As time passed, the price
but surely more Hellcats were brought under consideration dropped and James Jr. was eventually able to afford a
until finally, after months upon months of searching, James matching Hellcat to his father’s Challenger, thus creating
Sr. made a move a 2017 Dodge Challenger Hellcat. After the SRT Bees duo.
a test drive and some paperwork, they were on their way,