{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "NewsArticle", "@id": "https://badiyaa.com/noah-alexander-dodge-charger-sema/#article", "mainEntityOfPage": "https://badiyaa.com/noah-alexander-dodge-charger-sema/", "headline": "Noah Alexander’s 1968 Dodge Charger beat 171 other custom cars to win the Battle of the Builders", "description": "Noah Alexander's 1968 Dodge Charger, built by Classic Car Studio in St. Louis, beat 171 entries to win the 2024 SEMA Battle of the Builders.", "datePublished": "2026-11-15T05:04:00+00:00", "dateModified": "2026-11-15T05:04:00+00:00", "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Badiyaa Editorial Desk", "url": "https://badiyaa.com/author/editorial-desk/" }, "publisher": { "@type": "NewsMediaOrganization", "@id": "https://badiyaa.com/#organization", "name": "Badiyaa", "url": "https://badiyaa.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://badiyaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/badiyaa-logo-color-600x60-1.png", "width": 600, "height": 60 }, "email": "badiyaavideo@gmail.com", "publishingPrinciples": "https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/", "correctionsPolicy": "https://badiyaa.com/corrections/", "actionableFeedbackPolicy": "https://badiyaa.com/contact/", "ownershipFundingInfo": "https://badiyaa.com/about/#ownership", "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61595518283625", "https://www.instagram.com/badiyaa.com.ai/", "https://www.threads.net/@badiyaa.com.ai" ], "parentOrganization": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Rezilient Digital", "url": "https://www.rezilientdigital.com/", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Fl No 3, Nav Shyam Sadan, Plot No 38, Pestom Sagar, Chembur", "addressLocality": "Mumbai", "addressRegion": "Maharashtra", "postalCode": "400089", "addressCountry": "IN" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/rezilientdigital" ] } }, "isAccessibleForFree": true, "inLanguage": "en-US", "wordCount": 609, "image": [ "https://badiyaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/1968-dodge-charger-r-t-scaled.webp", "https://badiyaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/1968-dodge-charger-r-t-1024x581.webp" ], "articleSection": "Tech", "keywords": "Classic Car Studio, Dodge Charger, Noah Alexander, SEMA Show", "articleBody": "It started as a paint touch-up. It ended as the best custom car at the SEMA Show. Noah Alexander and his crew at Classic Car Studio in St. Louis, Missouri, turned a customer’s 1968 Dodge Charger into the overall winner of the SEMA Battle of the Builders, beating 171 other entries at the 2024 show. Photos of the black-walnut-trimmed Charger keep resurfacing online, and the story behind it is as good as the metalwork. A chance meeting in a checkout line The car belongs to Ed Ganzinotti, a Houston native who bought it in Bakersfield, California, about 20 years ago. Alexander met him while both were standing in the checkout line at a Barrett-Jackson auction, roughly six years before the win. A couple of years after that, Ganzinotti called the shop. The original plan was modest: fix some paint problems, refresh the interior and rebuild the engine. Alexander invited him to visit first and get to know the team. After that tour, Ganzinotti changed the brief and asked them to build him “the baddest Charger out there.” What changed on the car The shop kept the original sheetmetal but reworked nearly every surface of it. According to SEMA’s description of the build, the changes include: sharpened body lines, shaved drip rails and flush-mounted glass a relocated wheelbase on a Roadster Shop chassis, with every suspension part body-worked and painted custom hood and trunk skins and a one-off belly pan underneath the original 440-cubic-inch Dick Landy engine, now with eight-stack fuel injection and a smoothed, deburred block a custom dash with milled bezels, unique seats and door panels, and a package tray accented in Missouri black walnut Alexander said the aim was restraint. “We set out to modify as much as possible while being subtle and keeping it timeless,” he said. “It’s one of those cars where you have to step back to appreciate everything. There’s lots of crazy metalwork on there, but we wanted to keep it looking like a Charger. It’s a fully functional, nice driving car.” How the win played out The Charger first took the Hot Rod/Hot Rod Truck class, then went head to head with the other category champions for the overall title: Bruce Yarnell’s 1965 Aston Martin DB5 in Sport Compact/Import Performance, Rob Lindsay’s 1949 Willys pickup in 4-Wheel Drive and Off-Road, and Connor McElvain’s 1969 Datsun 2000 roadster in the Young Guns class. SEMA announced the result on Friday, November 8, 2024, on its outdoor stage in the Silver Lot outside Central Hall. With 172 cars entered, the Charger was a 1-in-172 shot on paper, or about 0.6 percent, before a single judge looked at it. “The competition from this year’s Battle of the Builders was intense, and to come away with a win is something our shop will never forget,” Alexander said in SEMA’s announcement. A timeline of one Charger 1968: the car leaves the factory with lines Alexander later called its best feature. About 2004: Ganzinotti buys it in Bakersfield. About 2018: a chance meeting at a Barrett-Jackson checkout line. November 2024: overall champion at the SEMA Show, which has run since 1967, one year before this Charger was built. For more on rare and record-setting cars, read about the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, still the most expensive car ever sold, and Toyota’s plan to revive Scion with a kei truck for the US. Browse more in our Lifestyle section. The win opened the competition’s second decade. Asked what stood out, Alexander pointed away from the car: “The best for us was the incredible people we met.” Further reading Wikipedia: Dodge Charger (B-body) Image: Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. 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