- Seller: Matt S
- Location: Factoryville, Pennsylvania
- Mileage: 100,000 Shown
- Chassis #: 1B3XG74A4KG175787
- Title Status: Clean
- Engine: 2.2 4-cylinder Turbo II
- Transmission: 5-Speed Manual
It’s hard to believe it’s been over 35 years since the Dodge Daytona Shelby hit the market and that they are now old enough for people to be performing full restoration on cars from this era. The seller of this 1989 Daytona Shelby rescued it from a Michigan garage where it had been sitting for roughly 25 years with a blown transmission. A lot of the hard work to get it back on the road has been done, but it needs a new owner to take it to the finish line. In the meantime, it’s a running and driving car.
K-Car jokes have been floating around for a long time, but the ’80s were actually an exciting time at the home of the Pentastar. It may never live down its front-drive architecture among performance enthusiasts, but the Dodge Daytona was one of several legitimate performance cars Mopar offered during a time when Lee Iacocca acted as company chairman AND commercial spokesperson. With a light platform and a 174-horsepower “Turbo II,” the Daytona Shelby would hold its own with IROC Camaros and 5.0 Mustangs.
Now in Pennsylvania, this car has been the recipient of a lot of hard work and new parts, including tires, fuel tank and pump, struts, and an entire digital dash. Of course, the transmission has been repaired. There are plenty of pictures and a video attached that portray the extent of the work that’s been done.
Anyone who has welded in floor patches knows what they’re looking at here. Any car from Michigan is likely to need some metalwork, and this Daytona was no exception. The seller removed all the rusty areas, welded in new metal and treated the floors to new paint.
New sound deadening will keep the noise where it belongs, and you may notice that the entire dashboard has been removed. Apparently, the digital gauges were no longer operational, so the seller replaced the cluster with a working unit; it’s worth watching the seller’s video to see it in all of its 1980s loveliness. Because it has a replacement gauge cluster, the odometer mileage is incorrect: It reads 143,000, but the seller claims the actual mileage is under 100,000.
It appears that much of the original interior was good enough to reuse once the floorpan work was complete. The video shows that there are a few issues around the T-Tops (no, T-Tops are not just for Camaros and Firebirds). Notice that this Daytona has a five speed, because driving a manual-transmission-equipped car is fun.
With some typical peeling ’80s clearcoat, this Daytona is not perfect, but it’s a good start on a car that you really don’t see on the roads anymore. Nostalgia for the ’80s and ’90s is big right now, so put those T-Tops in the trunk, pop in some hair metal, and let that turbo spool.
Bid On This Auction
MattC bid $750.00 2024-10-20 16:36:10
ABrink bid $500.00 2024-10-18 12:18:29
day1rt@yahoo.com bid $100.00 2024-10-15 13:41:36
A blown manual transmission? Was this car street raced beyond it’s capabilities?
You have it all figured out. The original owner let Paul walker drive it pre fast and the furious . He proceeded to tell the original owner that “he never had his car”
In fairness, the manual transmission on these cars were not a strong point. I had one and busted mine at 60k miles. I may or may not have been tougher on it than the average driver, but I’d have expected better.
My buddy bought one of these dodge Daytona I think an 90 with the v6 automatic. Car would move out bery nicely . One day we were racing lol and he had is grill glued to the back of camaros bumper for about 3 miles. When we got were we going and got out we heard some sizzling. We popped his hood and automatic tranny dip stick was pushed up and tranny fluid was bubbling out. I was lmao 🤣 he clearly overheated the tranny when it got no air to it.
Fun times lol. It only happened the one time. But a head scratcher for sure.
I know the owner of the car said he swapped the dash because the gauges didn’t work but he’s a got one that says diesel fuel only now for the gas? And what’s with the red line in the tach? Kind of low. I think I liked these but I liked the Plymouth Laser better, or was it the Chrysler? Have to say he did a pretty good job of restoration. Labor of love indeed.
Where does it say “diesel fuel only”? Are you talking about just under the gauges where it’s printed “unleaded fuel only”?
And the redline on these engines was 6000rpm which is typical for a lot of engines of that era, higher than some in fact. The tach shows the redline at 6000rpm. Might be time to get the glasses upgraded
It would be nice if there were pictures with the side skirts removed and exposed rails. We did quite a few of these and chargers. 89 ttop daytona has always been my favorite. Who knows might draw me out of retirement.
Aren’t those wheels unicorns?
These were respectable runners when new. Turbo IIs made good power and held up well for regular street use. Launch correctly because they do wheel hop.
K-car origins are as overused as Pinto fuel tank fires.
I remember the wheel hop and torque steer quite well.
100% Everything I know about launching FWD cars, I learned in one of these!
look like SHO wheels from 91-92
Those are correct Chrysler/Shelby wheels.
A lot of great work went into rescuing this one – thanks for doing that!
$4000 reserve . Don’t need to sell . Just lost interest .
Man, I hope someone buys this and picks up the restoration where you left off. For that price it will be worth it for someone to finish it. GLWTS
Leslie Martin – yes thank you . Never got around to painting it . Too many cars and no time .
I had the 88 Shelby Z with the T-tops. My god that was a fun car. And yeah, you could stay with Camaros easily. The odo went out on mine at about 120k and we drove it for another 8 years. Finally blew up two days after we sold it. Literally, blew up, the hood was melted and fluids covered the entire car.
If I had any spare space, I would bid on this. I know just the guys to restore it too.
Probably the cheapest Shelby car besides the Shelby Omni version. These turbo cars were expensive in the 1980s. Run of the mill Mustang GT & Z28s were $12-15k, so a $20-27k Shelby badged car was expensive.