With Love, Z From To You

A Transformed 2008 Dodge Charger R/T With Amazing New Modifications Awaits 
Staff Sergeant Jeremy McNichol Upon The End Of His Current Tour Of Duty In Iraq—Thanks To A Little Help From His Friends At Chargerforumz.Com.

Words: Darren Jacobs

Life at Camp Taji, Iraq, is far from a walk in the park for Staff Sergeant Jeremy McNichol. The 26-year-old California native labors thousands of miles away from home under constant threat of attack as a technical inspector of AH-64D Apache Longbow Attack Helicopters with the 1st Air Calvary Brigade, making certain his fellow soldiers fly into battle piloting flawless aircraft.

The job is tough, tense and unforgiving—everything you would expect of war. After a long 12-hour day, McNichol needs a distraction from the ever-looming danger, a mental oasis in the desert, so to speak. Where does he find his safe haven? The 2008 Dodge Charger R/T owner simply logs onto to ChargerForumZ.com, pouring out his passions in posts and sharing his ardor for the Charger with his many friends in the tight-knit online community.

McNichol’s career path was really never in doubt. Both his father and grandfather served in the Air Force. It was no surprise when less than a month after his graduation from high school in June 2001 he was seated on a plane on his way to basic training. “It was a decision I made back from when I was very young,” said McNichol.

Something McNichol also developed early on was an appreciation for classic Mopar muscle. “I always loved the old school muscle cars growing up—the Superbirds, the Road Runners, the Chargers,” recalled McNichol. “I thought they were amazing cars. I never thought I would own one. When the Charger was first re-introduced, I loved it from the start. I wanted to get one really bad, but it wasn’t the right time to do it then and there. I just had to be patient.”

The appropriate time arrived, oddly enough, when McNichol was deployed on a 15-month tour of Iraq, stationed out of Fort Hood, Texas. He custom-ordered his Charger while overseas, then picked 
“her” up in November 2007 after his first tour of duty was complete. In short order he signed up on ChargerForumZ.com and joined the Dallas Fort Worth LX Club (DFWLX), one of the largest LX clubs in the nation, immersing himself in the passionate Charger and LX platform community.

McNichol took to the road in his new Charger after returning home, logging 20,000 miles before leaving on his most recent deployment in April 2009. Before leaving for Iraq, McNichol, a huge comic book fan, modified his Charger using the skull emblem of the Marvel Comics character the Punisher. McNichol modified the front end emblem, shifter, and half covers for the engine with the Punisher skull. The side markers and tail lights also feature the painted Punisher emblem.

He has also logged hundreds of hours on ChargerForumZ.com, or the “Z,” as the forum is affectionately called by members. McNichol serves as a staff member and moderator on the forum even while away on his second deployment. He squeezes in screen time between his work day repairing Apaches and his online college courses as he works towards his goal of becoming a pilot. He edits posts, reviews the forums and keeps the message boards in general order.

“I work 12 hours a day and then I get right on the computer,” said McNichol, whose screen name is CamoCharger. “My biggest limiting factor isn’t time, it’s bandwidth.” McNichol has also spread the passion for the “Z” to his fellow soldiers serving in Iraq.

“I’ve got a good friend in another battalion who bought a ’08 HEMI® Orange Daytona Charger, and I got him on the ‘Z,’” said McNichol. “He became part of the staff as a member relations manager. He and I talk online on top of seeing each other out here. I’ve got at least one other guy I’m working on as well. There are a lot of guys here who see pictures of my car, or see the posters I have up of the Charger and Challenger, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I love that!’ There’s definitely a lot of Mopar fans here.”

Keeping up on the forums also enables McNichol to stay current on what’s new in the realm of modifications—after all, it’s hard to keep abreast of new chromed out grilles and rims popping up on the streets back home when you’re surrounded by desert and hostile insurgents! To that end, the forums also serve as a daily morale boost for McNichol.

“It most definitely helps. I’ve formed close friendships on the ‘Z,’” McNichol said. “Each time a new mod comes up and I get to see it, it kind of helps me think about what I want to do to my car. It takes my mind off of what’s going on over here. I’ve never been involved with a group of people like this before. It’s a group of people that care about the cars and also care about each other. Everyday it’s something new. Someone’s posting about their new mod, or what they accomplished. It’s a continually growing process. It’s been an awesome experience.”

McNichol’s online friends noticed he had a hankering for one specific modification—replacing his R/T hood with an OEM SRT® hood. A single thread posted by a forum member soon blossomed into a surprise modification project to thank the young soldier for his service overseas and on the forums.

“Jeremy had talked a lot about wanting to get a new hood for his Charger, specifically the OEM SRT hood,” said forum member Mark Peno (screen name 345HEMI), owner of a white 2007 Dodge Charger R/T. “I knew he was a soldier and had gotten deployed and had his car in storage. I saw a classified ad on our Web site for a brilliant black SRT OEM hood. I put up a post saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could all chip in and get this for Jeremy?’ The support just flooded in. It was really impressive to see everybody come together.”

Posts popped up rapidly with members donating money. In just nine hours $1,000 was raised. In fact, the overwhelming response resulted in more than enough money to cover the cost of the hood. The forum members decided to use the extra funds to install even more mods in McNichol’s Charger.

“There was money left over and we also had some pledges from Advanced Automotive Concepts (AAC). He really got hooked up,” Peno said of McNichol. Other mods purchased with funds raised by forum members included, among others, a DiabloSport Predator Tuner, replacement decals for the new hood, an AAC LED Interior/Trunk Kit, AAC UV Gauge Cluster Halos and a ’08 Switch Plate and Switches.

A group from the “Z” trekked to McNichol’s home to pitch in and install all the modifications in July 2009. The tricky part? Keeping what came to be known as “Project CamoCharger” a secret from McNichol. Fortuitously, he began his deployment in Kuwait and had trouble gaining Internet access, which helped keep the young soldier in the dark—aside from a few close calls.

“We can tell when someone is logged in or not,” Peno explained. “I got a message from someone saying he was online. We had to hurry up and hide the pledge thread.”

The install day was a team effort. Approximately 12 members took part in the install, including 
Glen Best, Stephen Hadley, Erich Friedner, Steve Phipps, Jeff Matthews, Jill Hadley, Tim Jones and Donna Le Saicherre. Fred Butler (screen name Onefast1), owner of two 2008 Dodge Charger Super Bees and vice-president of the DFWLX Club, photographed and videotaped the install to post 
on the forums.

“Jeremy helped me get into the club and into the modern Mopar scene,” said Butler. “Then down the road he got deployed. He’s overseas, he’s protecting our freedoms. Not only in his service has he given back to us, but also as a forum moderator and a club staff member for DFWLX. He’s very involved and highly motivated, and he looks out for people. He’s a much respected individual within the community. It was nothing for us to put that together and give back to him. This is just our way of showing our appreciation to him.”

When the day was done, the group posted the results for all to see—including the car’s owner.

“They posted a message online: ‘Hey Camo, this is for you,’” McNichol cheerfully recalled. “It was filled with video and pictures of the newly modified car. It brought tears to my eyes.”

McNichol can not only look forward to returning home to his son, Damien, at the end of his deployment in April but also to seeing his newly revamped Charger for the first time.

“My main motivation is Damien, but the car is my release,” said McNichol. “To know that so much has been done to it and that I have a pretty much brand-new car to go home to is amazing. They definitely touched my heart. The support I’ve received from the people on the forums is pretty insane—letters, care packages or e-mails saying, ‘Hey, how you doing, do you need anything?’ They are very supportive of me and the guys who are out here. The overall message I get is they love us and support us.”

Yep, that’s right. It’s a message of love, Jeremy, from the “Z” to you!