In business, wherever you choose to be, marketing is among the most important factors that lead to future success. If you can't market yourself, your business, or your service, then any ideas of grandeur are dead before they even begin. It's a fact of life, which is something carmakers, like Dodge, have had down-pat for decades.
No matter how great your car may be, nobody's going to buy it if they don't know it exists, which is why these corporations toil day-and-night to come up with new advertising campaigns, slogans, badges, trims, etc. Even today, Dodge still keeps up this line of work; resulting in tons of awesome new cars (and some not so great ones, too).
For instance, there's the well-known Dodge Challenger & Charger. Off the bat, these two are already recognizable. However, to sell more of them at varying prices, power-levels, and rarity, Dodge needed to differentiate between the models. As a result, we have the R/T, SRT, Hellcat, Demon, and more. Today, though, our focus is on only one particular trim: the Scat Pack!
The terms "R/T' and "Demon" are fairly straight forward, but what about the Scat's logo? What could that be referencing?
Well, to answer that lingering question, we've researched the origin of the Scat Pack's name, what it means, and how successful it's been to this point...
"The Best Revenge Is Massive Success"
For those of you who consider yourself 'music-buffs,' you might already know who the quote above belongs to. Of course, it belongs to none other than the legendary Frank Sinatra's. Needless to say, Sinatra was incredibly popular; then and now. So popular, in fact, that his words made their way to Dodge executives in the '60s.
Along with Sinatra, Dodge was inspired by the informal group he was a part of at the time: the 'Rat Pack.' The band consisted of artists like Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and others, obviously including Sinatra.
Surely, you can see where this is going. The band name, 'Rat Pack', combined with the jazz phrase "Scat" (meaning to go away/leave very quickly), resulted in the amalgamation we are left with now: the Scat Pack. Pretty clever naming from Dodge, especially if you want to grab attention in the mid-20th century.
Concerning the Scat Pack logo itself, it was a redesign of the preexisting emblem for the Dodge Super Bee, albeit slightly altered. With all of the bee-themed muscle cars, Dodge added the Scat Pack to a collective known as 'The Hive.'
The Scat Pack & Everyone Else
In the mid-to-late-1960's, Dodge wasn't alone in their ideas for marketing a car. In fact, the Scat Pack isn't the only vehicle trim (at the time) to utilize pop-culture to sell their cars. Manufacturers like Ford, Plymouth, and Pontiac had also taken advantage of well-known sayings, phrases, or people, too!
Within Dodge themselves, the Scat Pack was up against their later 'Super Bee' models, as well as the limited Daytona package. From the outside, however, the Scat Pack was surrounded by far more opposition.
Notably, there's the Pontiac GTO 'Judge.' Similar to the Scat Pack, the Judge got its name from one of the Rat Pack members, Sammy Davis Jr. A skit named "Here Comes The Judge" was made more famous by Davis' performance of it. As such, Pontiac mimic'd the name, dubbing a select few of their GTOs as Judges
Other than the Judge, the Scat Pack was alone in its musical references. Still, the Judge, Super Bee, and Scat Packs did amazing in their respective areas. Though, the Scat Pack has withstood the test of time far better than those who attempted to beat Dodge at their own game.
A New Package For A New Era
Speaking of the Scat Pack's longevity, let's look at what they're like today (2020). For fifty-three years, the Scat Pack has lived on throughout various Dodge sports cars. Nowadays, the Scat Pack is only present on two models: the Charger and Challenger (not including the 2014 Dodge Dart Scat tribute).
Each of the two muscle cars have many alternative versions of their own Scat Packs, often varying in exterior components and overall power. For the Charger, there's the basic Scat Pack and the Scat Pack Widebody.
Before we go much further, it's also important to note that the Widebodys are more than just Dodge's with fender flares. Typically, the wider models have a stiffer suspension and better handling on-track. Hence, the larger price-tag.
Moving on, the Challenger has twice as many choices as its sedan sibling. The normal R/T Scat Pack and Scat Pack Widebody are the same, yet, the Challenger has two extra (arguably indistinguishable) trims: the 50th Anniversary editions.
With that, the Scat Pack Chargers and Challengers are the second fastest of all of Dodge's sports car lineup; bested only by the monstrous Hellcat/Hellcat Redeye. Because of their placement on Dodge's performance-hierarchy, the Scat serves as that perfect middle-ground between a car that "it isn't fast enough" and one "it's far too fast" (i.e. the basic R/T vs. a 700-hp Hellcat).
It's hard to imagine a world in which the Scat Pack isn't present on any of Dodge's cars, especially when you consider how successful they've been over the decades. Sure, a hiatus maybe, but not gone forever. All there is to do now is excitedly wait for newer, quicker versions.