Dodge Daytona
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Dodge, an American automobile brand, has produced three separate vehicles with the name, Dodge Daytona. The name is taken from Daytona Beach, Florida, which was an early center for auto racing and still hosts the Daytona 500, one of NASCAR's premier events.
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1960s
The 1969 Dodge Daytona was a very high-performance, limited-edition of the Dodge Charger. It was produced in the summer of 1969 for the sole purpose of winning NASCAR races. And win it did: it won its first race out, the innaugural Talladega 500 in the fall, and with Bobby Isaac behind the wheel, captured the 1970 Grand National championship, NASCAR's highest honor. Special body modifications included a 23-inch-tall stabilizer wing on the rear deck, a flush rear backlight (rear window area), a special sheetmetal "nosecone" that replaced the traditional upright front grille, specific front fenders and hood that were modeled after the upcoming 1970 Charger model, stainless steel "a" pillar covers and fender mounted tire clearance/brake cooling scoops. The Daytona was built on the 1969 Charger's R/T trim specifications, meaning that it carried a heavy-duty suspension and brake setup and was equipped with a 440 Magnum engine as standard. Of special note to collectors is the optional 426 HEMI engine, which only 70 of the 503 Daytonas carried. It had a corporate cousin in the Plymouth Superbird. Both are now rare and valuable collectibles, with 440 powered Daytonas reaching into six-figure territory and 426-engined cars passing the $300,000 mark.
1970s
The name was later used in the 70's for a sporty submodel of the Dodge Charger (luxury versions were badged Charger SE). Both versions shared the bodyshell of the Chrysler Cordoba.
1983
In 1983, Dodge issued another Daytona model, a front wheel drive coupe based on the Chrysler K platform, along with a twin, the Chrysler Laser. The series was referred to as the G-Body because they use Chrysler's AG platform. This Daytona used the 2.2 liter Chrysler K engine in normally-aspirated (93hp) or turbocharged (142hp) form. The 96hp 2.5 liter K engine was added for 1986.
The Daytona Turbo was on Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list for 1984.
1987
In 1987, the Daytona was restyled externally, and featured pop-up headlights. New in 1987 was a Shelby Z trim level with an available Turbo II (175 hp) intercooled version of the 2.2 liter Chrysler K engine, as well as a heavy-duty A-555 transaxle manufactured by Getrag. The Shelby Z also featured numerous suspension upgrades, including larger diameter front and rear sway bars and rear disc brakes. A more luxury-oriented Pacifica trim line was also added, and the Chrysler Laser was dropped. In 1990, a 3.0 liter SOHC V6 from Mitsubishi was made available. 1991 saw the addition of an IROC model with the turbo 2.5 engine, and the 2.2 liter engine was dropped.
Note that, although there were Shelby options on Daytonas of this generation, there was no "Shelby Daytona". This is fortunate, since Shelby had created another vehicle of the same name in the 1960s.
1992
This restyling replaced the pop-up headlights with rounded ones, along with a new grille and tail. The IROC got the 3.0 liter Mitsubishi V6 as its standard engine, and a new IROC R/T version got a 224hp Turbo III version of the 2.5 liter Chrysler K engine. Production of the later Daytona model ended on March 17, 1993 at the Sterling Heights, Michigan assembly plant, and the new Dodge Avenger replaced it in the Dodge lineup.
See also
The other "aero cars" of 1967-71 NASCAR:
External links
- Musclecar Club Daytona page-original (http://www.musclecarclub.com/musclecars/dodge-daytona/dodge-daytona.shtml)
- Daytona/Superbird page (http://aerowarriors.com/index.html)
- Daytona/Laser enthusiast page-second model (http://www.allpar.com/model/daytona.html)