Numbers Matching Investment Grade Charger Daytona

The NASCAR aero war equivalent of the shot heard 'round the world, the Charger 500 was the secret weapon Dodge would use to topple Ford's slipperier Torino. Testing proved the car to be 3-4mph faster than the standard car, and on banked ovals that's a ton. The car was better, but so was Ford's new Talladega, so Dodge went back to the drawing boards, and the aero war was on. 500's Were a force on short and medium length tracks, and Dodge factory Daytona teams used them along with the wing cars throughout the '69 season.

“Dodge went back to the drawing board” is a nice way to say that the Charger 500 was a flop on the superspeedways. Since Chrysler and Ford were investing heavily in the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” policy, this was unacceptable. Paraphrasing what was said to the aero team: “I don't care what it looks like—build me a car that'll beat those Fords!” A new wind cutting nose was added up front, but the real improvement over the 500 was the rear stabilizer. Not only did it provide hundreds of pounds of down force, the vertical sections provided immense stability in the corners by acting much as a rudder on a boat: If the car got out of shape, the wind resistance on the sides would “blow” the car straight again. This was a new field of exploration for a car company, culminating in wind tunnel testing full scale models in Lockheed Martin's wind tunnel in North Carolina and the development of air resistance test equipment. Plymouth also benefited greatly from the research by studying what did and did not work for Dodge, such as the elimination of the grille on the leading edge of the nose, the angle of attack of the nose's profile and the shape and size of the wing (Super Bird wing uprights are tilted inward slightly, have a greater rake and have a far greater surface area.) Daytonas were still marginally faster, however, as the Charger body is more aerodynamic, and the Daytona has a superior fastback backlight compared to the Plymouth.

Here is a crown jewel of any collection: A restored, clean, numbers matching, all original sheetmetal Dodge Charger Daytona. A product of the 1960's, the Daytona stands head and shoulders up on nearly every other car built in its time in stature, looks and desirability. “Blue chip” fails to account for the Daytona: This is a rock star wrapped in a spaceship—it's a superstar wherever it goes. And just in case you didn't blink your eyes over the last few years you may have seen our restored R6 4 speed Daytona, which sold for $240,000.00, and our Hemi Daytona, which sold for nearly $500K. In fact, take a look at our top 100 sales over the past five years and you will see the list is stuffed full of winged cars: http://www.rkmotorscharlotte.com/inventory/top_sales, a testament to rarity and desirability of these one of a kind Mopars.

Here is a break down of the original fender tag on this stunning Daytona:

* Y39 26 EN2
* G15 G33 M21 M31 R11 V88
* A11 A36 B41 B51 C16 C55
* V2 V2 C6X X9 605 926941
* E86 D32 XX29 L9B xxxxxx

* Y39 Special order (on all Daytona tags)
* 26 (width of radiator opening)
* EN2 (no additional fender tags to follow)
* G15 Tinted windshield
* G33 Driver side remote outside mirror
* M21 Drip rail moldings
* M31 Sill moldings
* R11 AM radio
* V88 Stripe delete (on all aero car fender tags—Creative applied the 500/Daytona stripes after conversion, while Clairpointe applied the Super Bird decals)
* A11 Charger 500/Daytona package (1969)
* A36 Performance Axle Package with 3.55 gears, 8 ¾ rear
* B41 Disc brakes
* B51 Power brakes
* C16 Center console
* C55 Bucket seats
* V2 Hemi Orange
* C6X Charger bucket seats, black vinyl
* X9 Black upper door frame paint
* 605 June 5, 1969 scheduled build date
* 926941 (sequence number)
* E86 440HP, 375hp 4 bbl
* D32 HD Torqueflite transmission
* XX29 Charger, Aero Special, sportsroof
* L9B 440HP, 1969 build, Hamtramck assembly

This investment grade Daytona has ALL of it's original sheet-metal, including quarter panels, trunk floor, floor pan, nose, wing, deck-lid and hood. Outside you'll find V2 Hemi Orange Poly in its correct shade, laid down expertly and rubbed out to a glass smooth finish. Like many other Chrysler colors, there's a luminescent quality thanks to very fine gold metal flake throughout, and it's dazzling. Inferior paint jobs and older restorations are more often dull and without the gold glow, and the difference is amazing. The stainless trim (including the 500/Daytona specific A pillar and rear window moldings) are polished to a better-than-new shine. The white stripe on the tail, and the correct, original road wheels and Goodyear reproduction F70x14 redlines give the car a very classy, sleek and unified look.

Roughly 900 careful miles have rolled up on the odometer since the car was completed, so all is fresh, yet completely sorted. The same applies to the numbers matching engine and transmission, which were gone through completely and work flawlessly. The engine sits in a restored bay with all of its original parts, as well as all new mechanicals and other wear items. That's the original wiper motor, air cleaner, 4618S carb, exhaust manifolds and more. There's a reproduction battery, new wire set, new reproduction heater and radiator hoses along with the original 054 radiator and new battery cables. There's an electronic ignition system and a reproduction ballast resistor on the firewall connected to a reproduction engine wiring harness. The car starts and runs better than new, shifts well and tracks straight.

The interior has a nice mix of new reproduction and original parts. New Legendary seat covers on the rebuilt seats, a new headliner and new carpeting augment the original, un-cracked dash pad and excellent original door pads and panels. New sill plates add shine along with new door handles and re-chromed armrest bases. The original center console shifter wears a new (and correct for Daytonas) fluted shift knob, the gauges were refaced with parts from Performance Car Graphics while new BE/A dash bezels run from one end to the other. We added a very cool restored wood grain sport steering wheel as a finishing touch. All switches and buttons work as they should, and the car's a pleasure to drive with the smooth, light power steering and reassuring brakes working with the high torque mill up front.

Open the trunk to confirm the trunk lid is the original, with the front edge bent down 90 degrees and not folded over (a common restoration mistake.) The original Charger-specific jack is in there along with a reproduction front scissors jack. A brand new F70x14 redline Goodyear, identical to the tires on the car, is in here as well.

The trunk floor is original and clean, and is covered by a new mat. Look underneath to find floor pans that were completely stripped and painted black during the restoration, along with new exhaust, fuel and brake systems. This is a car which drives as well as it looks.

We have a full visual inspection report from Galen Govier for this car. This isn't the $30 registry entry: This is where he shows up, spends a full day inspecting and verifying the car. He confirmed the casting numbers on the motor and transmission are original to the car by date code and VIN stamp. He also verified that the body, fender tag and VIN tag are original and belong together. All of this is not only documented in his appraisal and written report, but every important part of the car was photographed, printed out and delivered in a three ring binder. This was done at a cost of more than $1000, and we took his suggestions as a mandate. You'll see, comparing the small items he found were incorrect, to what the car looks like now, that we were able to remedy nearly every shortcoming before the photo shoot.

This Daytona has been shown just once since it was restored, finishing second in the Winged Car Class at the 2007 Columbus Chrysler Classic. It shows like a trailer queen and drives like a Daytona was meant to-stable at high speed, with enough swagger to stop traffic wherever it goes.

In the collector car market the Daytona needs no introduction: It's the millionaire playboy in the center of attention. It's the platinum bar on top of a pile of tarnished silver coins. Few cars are as popular as they are polarizing, and that simply adds to the car's cache. Beautiful in execution, numbers matching, original sheet metal, fully inspected, Galen documented and running flawlessly this car is a topper in nearly any collection on earth.