The mid-late-1970s isn’t everyone’s idea of nirvana as far as muscle cars go. Or, just cars, in general. This 1977 Dodge Charger Daytona is one great-looking car, at least condition-wise. Whether a person likes this era of Charger (or the new one) or not is the subject for a 1,200-page thesis. This car is posted on Craigslist in the Fraser Valley area of British Columbia, Canada with an asking price of $6,950.
I don’t like using the term Malaise Era because like Flux-Capacitor for DeLoreans or Fix It Again Tony for Fiats, it seems to be the go-to thing to say whenever a vehicle from this era is shown. I didn’t experience bad vehicles in this era, other than a 1976 Dodge Ramcharger that was the worst vehicle that I have ever owned. No, scratch that, a brand new 2011 Mini Cooper was thee worst, the Ramcharger wasn’t on the back of a tow truck several times like the Mini was.
The seller says about this Charger Daytona: “Original owner, excellent condition and runs well with all service records.” It doesn’t get much better than that, does it? One owner? Excellent condition? Nice. Even more good news is that it’s “Accident free, garage kept.” The Charger came roaring back, sort of, for the 1975 to 1977 model years as basically a rebadged Chrysler Cordoba. The Daytona package was all show and no go, even though a 190-hp 400 V8 would have been available.
There are no engine photos of this car, but it has a 318 cubic-inch V8 with somewhere around 140 hp, or what a slant-six would have had a few years before this era. The interior of this car looks great, from the two photos that are included in the listing. I have come to expect most online ads to not have enough photos, and it seems like things are getting worse, not better. You would think that with almost everyone having a smart phone in their pocket, that there would be almost too many photos in ads, not a lack of photos which is more often than not the case. If I only had a nickle for every time that I thought or said that, wow. But, even with a lack of photos, this ’77 Charger Daytona looks like a great example.
This is a disgrace to the Daytona name. Though still not as bad as the front drive Chargers. Dodge should have made the current Chargers two doors.
They do, it’s called Challenger.
No it’s not. The Challenger is Challenger. The Charger is a completely diifrrent car that should have been a two door hard top. Would have looked fantastic. You can see it in the lines.
How many two door Chargers would FCA sell? Far less than you think. The coupe market is a fraction of what it was 50 years ago and FCA is in business to sell cars.
I think you’re right on, EdselSteve. It’s the same reason why there are hardly any car makers that offer a manual transmission anymore (and, not a “manual automatic”) (I know, they shift 0.06 seconds faster…).. people don’t want them. People, in general, wouldn’t buy full-sized two-door cars anymore even if they were available. In general, of course – a few thousand would be sold but that’s not enough, unfortunately. We all talk a good fight when it comes to wanting two-doors and manual transmissions, but when it comes down to sales, they just don’t rack up the numbers anymore.
Spot on!
I have a good buddy that is really into off-road adventures in his Jeep. I once asked him, given that he is such a purist himself, what he thinks of the spat of Jeep models over the past decade or so that were not up to going off-road. He surprised me when he said he thought it was great. He then added: “If not for those profitable models, the company would never have been able to make me my Wrangler Rubicon.”
The banal proclivities of the faceless masses are what allow the enthusiasts to feast!
Hey Honey, I gave the kids too much Ritalin and let them paint your car.
Had a good friend that has a silver t-top one of these new. After having 2 Cordoba’s, not my go to car for sure but, decent cars in their day. My 78 had an additional dimmer switch on the floor for the seek on the stock radio.
Not the mussel car of yor, but these were nice driving cars. Granted the paint was kinda gimmicky, but this car is so nice, and the price so reasonable, I could easily over look that. I’d drive this car proudly.
As a good reason to order another beer and have a conversation: why has Chrysler kept reusing the once proud “Charger” name on so many crappy cars? This thing, the econo box and the current family sedan with a stripe package? They are all markedly different, with no connection to the legendary original. Just pondering….
The Camaro is another example. Stop the retro garbage. Hire some real desiners that can come up with modern day beauties. The Only Retro I like is the Mustang, and even that’s getting old.
I don’t think I’d call the Mustang retro at all. In fact Ford stayed away from that and has just let the design evolve whole keeping it recognizable as a Mustang over the last 50 years
I prefer the “retro garbage” over the “jelly bean” school of car design that seems to dominate nowadays.
That price is around $5,500 US at the current exchange rate.
In my humble opinion the Cordoba/Challengers of this year were actually quite good looking. Although I would admit that the blue/black combo is a tad more attractive.
https://gearheads.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/1977-Dodge-Charger-Daytona-Chrysler-Cordoba-3.jpg
At least it’s a two door.
These gosh darn kids and their 4 doors! In my day 50 years ago, real cars had 2 doors! (as a 4 door Charger HELLCAT blows your manly 2 door in the weeds!)
Been someone’s baby – regardless of what everyone ( including me ) thinks, it’s 40 YO and it’s got the condition we crave – sound find – HNY!
What a stunning vehicle compared with today’s garbage you can’t even disseminate what make they are. 400 CID could be hotted up easily if desired
This was the 1977 Dodge brochure car. Fell in love with it back in the day. I thought it looked so cool and muscular. Fortunately then, I was too young understand the concept of horsepower. Now, I realize you could not outrun a Chevy Aveo to get out of a parking ticket in this. That kind of takes away the allure.
I remember these cars. I was too young to drive at the time, I was only 4 yrs old in 1977, but I remember seeing cars like this. I found the Chrysler Cordoba more attractive than the Dodge Charger. One thing I do like about this particular car is its colour combination. I mean, who these days offer their cars with different colours on one car?
For 1978, Dodge somewhat corrected this by creating the Magnum. The Magnum was still based on this platform but was more visually distinct than the Cordoba due to concealed headlights and a different rear.
I like the color combo, and yes it was somebody’s baby. ( I do agree that if they make a car with a 100% different body, then give it a 100% different name.)
This does appear to be in rather good condition. What does seem to jar on me though is how dirty the carpet appears to be on the driver’s side. A little detailing there wouldn’t go astray, or am I being way too fussy?
the era of the lean burn mopars. the comp. when it got hot would retard the timing, cause of the no octane gas you put in it, that it would start popping back thru the carb setting them on fire or, on thermo quads warping the carbs so bad they wouldn’t run. converted a lot of them to point dis. or when I got better made the elec. stand alone ignition. Ran twice as good and got about twice the gas mileage
Very nice looking car, but as james states, the emission nightmare had begun, and these were miserable to keep running right. All the automakers struggled with it, but I think Chrysler was the worst.
Worst was the poor slant six. The old man bought the first Volare in our town in the fall of 75. That car stalled at stop lights, idled horribly. After the crummy 12 month warranty was gone, he got a carb and manifold from a 72 Dart, that did the trick, she ran flawlessly for 247000 miles, never was apart. Was still running when it was junked because of rust, not the slant six. Awesome engine, but not designed for the smog controls.
Remember these?
Awesome ride! I had a stiffly for these back in high school, but my 90 cent an hour job wasn’t going to buy me a new one. (Interesting fact, in the miserable 70s, teen workers were so plentiful, they could abuse them financially. In Wisconsin, the law said that if you worked in a hospital like me, you could pay them less then minimum wage!)
My dad had an orange roadrunner version. Loved it as a kid.
Anjd these?
It’s a Daytona. It needs a big wing…..
Some dig up recardo montalbon so he can slap this owner for painting this car ugly!
I think they owner was a fan of the patridge family bus !
Thats a factory option, not a custom job.
I had a 76 charger se , work the engine and trans a wee bit and I had a real sleeper, handled real good too
Hmm. Let me see, if I look at in just the right light, at a certain angle, and squinting real hard, might I be able to barely make out faint echoes of this car’s winged forebearer, the ’69 Charger Daytona?
Nope, didn’t think so.
You would be hard pressed to find a nicer example!
Put a nice sounding true dual exhaust system on it and it would be a very fun weekend cruise-in car with a low entry price and you would have something different from all the Mustang’s and Camaro’s!
Nice car
Great Price
If it did not take me 35 years to find another ’79 Dodge Magnum GT w/T-tops and E-58 (Police Pkg) I would consider it.
Wow! That is pretty sweet!
That’s a very cool car!
Like the Dodge/ Plymouth cars in the sixties but the styling on this is gaudy or just plain ugly and not even taking the paint into consideration on this one and other models. GM and Ford didn’t have much to brag about in a lot of those years either.
I prefer the “retro garbage” over the “jelly bean” school of car design that seems to dominate nowadays.
Had a 76 dodge magnum, was a comfortable driver
Did some one say Daytona ?
Even Magnum couldn’t make this car cool.
If he’d done the ad for the Dodge Magnum….now THAT would have been pretty cool!
This one looks real nice but they were a big boat for sure. I had a 318 lean burn in my 1978? Aspen I had and I pulled a 1970 Barracuda convertible home from Alabama to Ontario with it. Wish I still had the Barracuda not the Aspen but it made the trip okay.
I go to many cruise nights in my area. I walk past a lot of cars and 90% are the typical 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s cars. This is a car that I would take the time to stop and take a look at. I know it’s slow, not put together well, ( In a past life I owned a Cordoba and a Mirada). These cars are smooth cruisers that ride nice if you find one with t-tops you’ll enjoy it (My Mirada had T-tops). If you want fast……there isn’t anything made 40-50 years ago that competes with today’s cars. Even a new Honda Accord will out perform the average muscle car. Not everyone had a Hemi, LS6, or a Cobra Jet back then.
If the muscle car era had never occurred we would look at these cars completely differently. It’s an absolutely stunning piece of automotive design and sure, it doesn’t rip up the dragstrip like it’s predecessors but I think we sometimes forget about what we loved about cars before the performance era. Personally, style wise I’d take this over a 70 ‘Cuda. I hope we start to see 70s cars start to appreciate and be appreciated more.
Who ever owns the 2 tone 77 Dodge Charger email me back at eddiebelcher61@ iCloud.com
To whom it my belong to am looking for the 1977. Dodge. Daytona. Charger two tone and would like to buy it please contact me at eddiebelcher61@icloud.com thanks