The Dodge Challenger as we know it is about to die. Driving one reminded me how sad I'll be once it's gone.

• The current Dodge Charger and Challenger will end production after the 2023 model year.
• Their sendoff includes seven special-edition models like the $70,000 Challenger Shakedown, which we drove recently.

I love the Dodge Challenger, even if I shouldn't.

In its current form, the Challenger is a gas-guzzling dinosaur that hasn't had an overhaul since the last Bush administration. Even when it was "new" in 2008, its lineage traced back to the 1990s Mercedes-Benz E-Class. It's old technology — and the older it gets, the more fond I am.

But I've always known the Challenger would die someday, and that day is finally here.

Dodge will discontinue the current Charger and Challenger models after the 2023 model year, making room for new vehicles and electrified technology. Dodge's sendoff for the cars includes seven "Last Call" models, which are all special editions marking the end of the era. One of them is called the Challenger Shakedown, which I recently drove for a week.

Dodge built the Shakedown based on the Challenger Scat Pack, a mid-range performance model with a 485-horsepower V8 engine and rear-wheel drive. The Shakedown is limited to 1,000 units — 500 normal Challengers and 500 with Dodge's thick "widebody" fender flares — and it comes with specialty appearance features like racing stripes, red seat belts, Shakedown badges, and more. The normal Challengers come in a coat of chalky gray paint, while the widebody ones are black.

My Shakedown was a black widebody with red and gray stripes, and it came to $67,490 before destination charges and other fees.

The Shakedown is beautiful, which feels weird to say about a car design that hasn't changed much in a decade. But Dodge had it right back then, and the company still does now.

I don't love black cars, mainly because I believe colors exist and our roads deserve to be more than monochrome. But the Shakedown's understated off-center racing stripes, red seat belts, and permanent scowl charmed me.

The Shakedown is also huge, like all Challengers are. It sat in my driveway as a caricature of a car, spilling over from every angle.

Inside, the car gets even bigger. The massive, V8-housing hood protrudes into your line of sight out the windshield, while the rear sticks out so far that it might as well be a truck bed. To drive the Shakedown — and other Challengers like it — is to be a child in the cockpit of a rocket ship. The car swallows you, yet for some reason, it lets you be in control.

It's also a usable daily driver, with room for adults in the back seat and a trunk big enough to make your $300 grocery trip look tiny. (Well, even tinier than it already does these days.)

I've always been a fan of the Scat Pack model that the Shakedown is based on. It slots perfectly into the V8 Challenger lineup between the 375-horsepower R/T model and the 717-horsepower Hellcat, and I've always thought of it as enough.

That's because the Scat Pack has a lot of the appeal of a Hellcat — a Hemi V8 and more menacing looks than a normal Challenger — but dialed down many notches. In a Hellcat, a touch of the gas pedal always has the potential to be disastrous, because the amount of power the car feeds to the rear wheels can cause the back end to lose traction even in low-speed situations.

The Scat Pack is the tame version of that. It'll throw you (and your passengers) against the seat when you accelerate, but that speed never feels overwhelming or out of control. It may not have the Hellcat's signature supercharger whine, but it still produces a deep rumble at idle and a low scream at speed.

But I don't just love high-powered Challengers like the Shakedown because of their looks or speed (or the fact that they make me feel like a mid-50s man who owns a car dealership). I love them because when I was a kid, I associated big, expensive cars with comfort. Those cars are often the ones reserved for family road trips, and no matter whose family owned them, their plush, broken-in seats always felt well-used and well-loved. It was nice.

The Shakedown models — and Hellcats I've driven in the past — have squishy seats from the factory, putting me similarly at home as soon as I get in the car.

Challengers are also just cool. The Uconnect infotainment system — which is used across Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat, and other brands under the Stellantis umbrella — is easy to work and delightfully on brand, with a black and red display full of bold lettering and performance stats. The parking brake is a floor pedal under the driver's left foot instead of a handle or a button, and pushing it makes me feel oddly powerful, like a cowboy stabling their horse after a Wild West showdown.

Some parts of the interior are old or clunky or hollow, but that just adds to the charm. The Challenger isn't about being a perfect muscle car; it's about outlasting time, and it's always done that.

I had so much pure, nostalgic fun in the Shakedown. A college student who lives in my area stopped by one day during a walk, bouncing with joy while they told me how much they loved Challengers. They asked to take a few photos of the car, so I invited them along to my photoshoot for this story.

We pulled into parking lots with donut marks already on the ground; opened the doors, hood, and trunk for the classic "exploding" shots of the car; and when it started raining, my neighbor rolled all over the ground to get just the right angle of its reflection in the water. The best part was seeing how the car brought out their inner child, and having mine brought out with it.

That's the joy of a Challenger. It's timelessly cool, letting us forget — if only for a moment — that time leaves us all behind eventually.

All cars die. They arrive, they serve a purpose, and they go away. I knew the current-generation Challenger would too, but that doesn't make its death any easier.

There's no logical reason to buy the Shakedown. There are tons of new and used Challengers out there, from the V6 models at the bottom of the lineup to the Hellcats at the top. There are plenty of Scat Packs, too, if you want the same performance without the commemorative "Last Call" Shakedown badges. Dodge has been making this thing for 15 years, after all.

But the Challenger isn't a logical car. Its age, size, and sheer wastefulness should be enough to turn me off to it, yet every time I drive one, it's like reuniting with an old friend. It's one of my favorite cars on the market.

So no, I won't use logic to tell you whether to buy a Shakedown. I'll use my heart — and my heart says that "Last Call" means you still have time to learn what makes the Challenger so special.