If you’re looking for a big wing car that’s got an interesting history plus nice documentation, then this 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona could be the ride for you. You can end the mystery about what it’s worth—to you, to the seller—with one click of the eBay Buy It Now button. You’ll be $269,000 dollars poorer for having done so. But just think about how good your garage is going to look with this car, currently in Indianapolis, in it.
What do you get for that money? A car with a numbers-matching 440-CID 4-barrel that starts right up, idles smoothly, and doesn’t heat up (because of adjustments to the fan-shroud-radiator, according to the ad—a point that might give you a bit of a nervous feeling, since it implies that it did heat up before the changes). The engine is backed up by an automatic transmission.
One feature of the car’s history is that the third owner, the one prior to this one, had the Daytona in his care for 44 years. During that time, he had the car painted, erasing its original livery as the pace car for Perry Speedway in upstate New York. Does that kind of history intrigue you? The fact that Greenlight Collectibles used this car in pace car configuration, with a checkered flag motif on the roof, wing, and nose, as a template for their die-cast miniature version perhaps stamps approval on the car. In 1981, it was returned to factory specs, more or less. Note that the wing and tail stripe are white, where they would have originally been black. So come to think of it, this car is not entirely original, nor in original configuration. What matters, then? The pace car version of it? The factory version? This version? This would, it seems, mitigate a little bit against the value of the car. Perhaps you Barn Finders can weigh in on whether the now-erased pace car livery, and use, means a lot or a little for the car’s value. Note the build sheet and other documentation including a magazine article. No doubt about the provenance on this one.
My first thought when I saw this ad was, “$269K? Someone’s trying to get out ahead of the coming auctions.” And indeed, this is confirmed later on in the copy, when the current owner says, “The Daytona market is about to take off, with 11 cars up for auction [in coming days].” I’m not an expert on this market, but it seems to me that it already took off, about a decade ago, though more amongst the Hemi-equipped models. It has since collapsed back to about half or so what it was at its frenzied peak, though recently the rise has begun again. The other thing that’s kind of striking about this ad is the statement that people shouldn’t try to snafu the auction by clicking the Buy It Now and then trying to negotiate. It just never occurred to me that someone would do this. And especially not someone with more than a quarter million bucks to spend on a toy. Does nobody care about their reputation in what is a relatively small coterie of people able to pay this kind of money for a collectible car? I hope the right new owner is found for this well-preserved winged warrior.
Lemme get this right: it’s had the fan shroud “readjusted” so it doesn’t overheat 😱 the original special markings were removed when it was repainted, it has an automatic transmission and we should jump on it before the other 11 possibly coming onto market soon?
Wowser.
This IMHO is an iconic model MoPar, and one that some of us could only dream of driving let alone ever owning. That being said, the hype the seller uses to justify the moonshot sales price may appeal to the rich and famous (or infamous) but it doesn’t work.
But wouldn’t it be cool driving up into the parking area at, say, the Daytona 500 with this blast from the past?
Certainly agree but they are still ugly.
I just don’t know, Nev, I mean, the publics view of these cars is “good ol’ boy, race car, throw beer cans at Jeff Gordon, Dukes of Hazzard, Joe Dirt mentality, and there’s nothing wrong with that, except, showing up in this says a couple things. A) you were stupid enough to spend Ft. Knox on it, and B) drive it around in amongst drivers who couldn’t care less and C), goofy specialty cars trips your trigger. Ugly, as mentioned, is a relative term, it was designed for the race track, and certainly wasn’t ugly there, but looks pretty silly on a highway. Can’t deny an attention getter, but I never saw the attraction in race cars for the street.
owned one about 80s? nose was shot.got it running i was gonna do a full tilt restore. Kawi bike accident put the kabosh on that!
Good way to put it, Howard. One of the Jones boys had a 70 Petty blue 440 Superbird and, even as a young teen I can remember thinking often whether it was cool looking or oddly out of place on the street. Meanwhile, up the block and around the corner Elder’s all black 69 Hemi Roadrunner left no question in our minds about what a true street racer should look like.
These things always made me think that perhaps an anteater and a giraffe had a baby!
I can still remember seeing one of these driving on the street about 40 years ago on Staten Island. It was Hemi Orange and it had the little Hemi callout on the fender (or was it the door). What an impression it made on me and this was long before the internet so I had no idea what it was until I started researching car mags. 69 Daytona and 71 Cuda are my favorite classic Mopars.
First time I saw a winged Mopar, (the perky little librarian at my elementary school had a blue Superbird) I assumed that within a year or two, all cars would be decked out in similar wild aero trim. Guessed that one wrong.
Our perky little librarian had a 1969 Z-28, black with red stripes. Thank heaven for perky little librarians.
Back when public servants were paid properly and could afford the American Dream. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but what would a little librarian buy a Superbird? Are not such people assumed to be practical? Maybe a slant six cart, but never a Superbird. By the 80s, there were many local legends about hidden cars from people like that, but most turned out to be urban myths.
Hi Grant, I don’t think we’re hearing the full story on that librarian. Oh the mind reels at what could’ve been.
Melton, but the kids put them tall wings on those noisy foreign jobs today. Be nice to roll up next to one with a throaty hemi under the hood.
My art teacher in 1987 drove a 63 Corvette to school every day!!
So wheres the best place to cut the rear wing to fit garage 😂
I am sure its a Mopar so someone will anne up the money 😉
Another find from the Gucci garage.
When I see ONE of these at a car show,I’m impressed.
But like Model A’s,when you see a row of them,you stop
& look at one,& pass the rest by.
Not the kind of car you’d daily drive (aside from the price),
as they’e very impractical with that wing & nose.
I remember seeing a new one in Visalia,CA at the dealers.
The rear wing wasn’t installed for some reason.
Don’t get me wrong guys, a Daytona is a mythical beast. Even the name itself is in the elite. Dodge, Ferrari, the Raceway. However you want to paraphrase it. 269K. That is a lot of coin that most of us will never have at one time. Even if I did, and as much as I love the Daytona, I would not own one, or any other automobile in this price range. I am not a trailer queen (or king) type of guy. I would drive it all over the place (weather permitting) and constantly be worrying about some idiot smacking into it because they were too busy on their cell phone, or someone liberating a part that they felt they were entitled to. No, I would find something much cheaper (50K would get something nice), do some traveling with my beautiful wife, put some money in the bank, and maybe put a down payment on a condo where the sun is always warm and the cost of living is cheap. The sweetness of life is defined by one’s definition of the things that are most important to them. Mine is with a smile on my face because I am lucky enough to know what really matters.
Why would you specify an automatic box in one of these?
Weird.
The “librarian” couldn’t push the clutch in,,,if I remember, these big block Chryslers had stiff clutch pedals. Kind of like that Mack I drove once :0
The rich kid in high-school got one of these for his birthday. While showing off, rapped the quarter panels and wing off on the parking lot light poles. No big thing, the following week he shows up with a 68 hemi Cuda. His dad owned the local garbage truck business.
I found the Greenlight Collectable In its pace car livery. This car would be even more wicked with that scheme.
Truth is at least in my neck of the woods San Jose is 68-69 none of our muscle gang would every consider this heap. Plymouth- Dodge dealers had these sitting on their lots so long, many were illegally wrecked for the insurance. Never saw any of these ugly winged creatures at Fremont Raceways. Today, lucky owners are spinning these uglies for big time cash, money for their grandson and daughters college tuitions. 200mph at Daytona about 200k average Auction price, incredible turnaround for this unpractical ugly as sin jalopy.
A kid in my high school owned one back in 1970… it may have been the only one I ever saw actually driving on the street. And I understand that he NEVER even took it down Van Nuys Blvd!
Our librarian had a 1969 barracuda yellow nice looking car, our music teacher however had a 65 black barracuda with a hipo 273 really fast the reason I know is because she had the auto shop class do a tuneup on it what a joyful test drive that was.
Give me a 68 – 70 Charger with a Hemi any day over a Daytona.
I agree JEV. These things were ugly when they were built and are still ugly in 2023. They would sit on dealer lots for months because nobody wanted one. After Hurricane Ian my neighbor, in Bonita Springs, FL, had two of these beasts upside down half buried in the sand in his front yard. The 14’ storm surge blew them right out of his garage. Kinda of sad. Took my 63’ NovaSS vert as well. I can’t say enough good things about Hagerty insurance. Paid me exactly what I insured it for and transferred the money to my checking account 5 days after the storm. Not worth restoring a 1963 steel car, with all new drivetrain (LS3) and electronics that has been under SALT WATER for 36 hours.
Can’t believe you guys and your classics didn’t pack up your classics and leave ! Once gone, they are forever gone.
No longer available.
Friend in Stratford CT, had a white ’70 Superbird, 440, 4sp back in ’78 till ’84 sold it for $35k to buy a brand new semi rig. Ironically, talking with him in ’04 then while he relocated to Henderson, NV, hehad to pick up a car to bring to a Barrett auction in Vegas. A white one like his, but mint, he saw it sold for $100k then.
My Dad was sponsored by wight Bare Dodge Dealership in Minneapolis MN. He received a phone call one day and was told to come get one of these ugly winged things off his lot to use for race parts. Well,, Dad took Mom with and she loved the car. Thank’s Ma for saving that car in the garage.
If you check the records, The Torino Talladega had a better record and won more races,
If somebody can show me one of these with a well fit nose cone I have a picture of BigFoot for you.