Ringbrother's "Infected" Build Proves Pink Can Be Manly, Jim Ring Himself Explains at SEMA

To get the inside scoop on what makes the Infected build one of the most unique in the history of Ringbrothers, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jim Ring himself, part of the ownership group of the Ringbrothers' shop, to break down why this Cuda is far more than just another Hellcat swap. As it turns out, the team had to do far more than swap out old components for new ones. "The car was a complete basket case when we first purchased it," Jim said of the condition this Cuda was in the day it rolled into their shop.

"There's really nothing on it that we didn't replace or touch or modify." That said, whatever engine left the factory with this Cuda is gone. Under the engine bay now is a 6.2-liter Hellcat Redeye HEMI engine cranking out in the neighborhood of 810 horsepower to the tires. So is the very chassis that would've probably not been able to handle the load of the raging beast of an engine. In its place is a custom chassis from the Roadster Shop team in Mundelein, Illinois, and the transaxial out of a C6 Corvette. But the drivetrain isn't what sticks out the most on this build; rather, that prominent pink paint job that's responsible for its name is the real eye-catcher.

"We called the motor Pinkeye because it's got a Redeye engine, and we laughed about that for a while before we settled on the name Infected for the build," Jim said of the process behind finding this restomod its name. "The owner of the car is based out of Atlanta, Georgia, and he basically gave us free rein on the car. We never really had to ask him about anything regarding the build, including the color. My brother Mike was the one who came up with the whole pink thing. I wasn't fully on board at first, but it's nice to have something different."

In truth, there is at least some precedent for a 1970 Cuda sporting an exterior paint scheme similar to the one the Ringbrothers' shop applied to this example. As Jim was eager to point out, there was some clever work at play, tweaking the color to make something very special indeed. "With the '70 Cuda, you could get a pink exterior color back then, so it kind of made sense to go in that direction. Though we did modify the color, on the original paint, they mixed in a little bit of a cream color to make a more creamy pink, if that makes any sense."

No sooner did Jim start singing the praises of Infected's banging stereo than some trap beats started booming from inside its interior. It's all a part of a white-on-black interior with LED accented mood lighting that's the perfect balance between classic looks and modern features. The gauge cluster comes from the industry leaders in the aftermarket in Dakota Digital, and a Vintage Air gen-IV climate control and HVAC system means the sweltering Georgia summers aren't too much to bear behind the wheel of this Cuda, unlike any built before it.

It goes without saying that assessing a "basketcase" rolling chassis, stripping it down to the bare body shell, and applying all new parts needs a quality control process and a cut above the rest. Thankfully, Jim and his team came prepared every step of the way. "We've heard it a million times, but it's easy to start a build. But it's very hard to finish one, the finishing is just what eats you alive. The customer's tired, you're tired, they're tired of paying. It's the end where it really piles on and adds up to get it right," said Jim

"The quality check is obviously the guys that do this stuff in and out. We've got almost 30 people there, they all have a passion for this. It's got to get through wiring, the plumping, the body and paint, the interior. We're always trying to step things up and make things better. We've done this a long time, and we've got to the point where I think we know what not to do. You always have struggles; we're definitely not building a Lexus."

"These cars are hot rods; they're all hand-built, and if anyone tells you they don't have trouble with these cars, they're lying to you. We're a bunch of people with passion, you do the best you can on every one of these, and you pray there isn't any trouble." Check out our coverage from the release of "Infected" right here if you want to learn more.