They were so much fun to drive. We bought an 06 back then as an R&D car and I got to drive it pretty regularly. The 6.1 was a beast, especially for the time. Would light the tires up from any roll under 40 MPH, tons of fun.
FWIW these are MUST tune cars. The factory torque management is...
Dang, 03 is going back. Predates me at 17+ years. I miss Pete, hear from him occasionally. I can imagine some of the guys doing what you described, it was a different world back then!
Few more I missed...
Early Z, not sure of year, engineer drives it:
CTS-VSport, engineer owed:
Early MCSS with an M90 slapped on:
16 JK R&D Jeep:
And, someone set up a photo op for me, 22 Ram 5.7 (white, project manager), 23 Ram 5.7 (Black, R&D truck), 23 TRX (engineering manager) :