Welcome to Part II of #ThrowbackThursday, our weekly tributes of cars from the past. Today, we’ll be taking a closer look at the Dodge Charger Daytona, and what makes it so special, even 44 years after it’s debut.
It was back in the late 1960s, more specifically, 1969, when Dodge debuted the Charger Daytona, specifically targeted for NASCAR racing, after the failure of the Dodge Charger 500. At that time, having a drag coefficient (cd) of just 0.28 was very impressive, even beating some 1990s cars! For comparison, the first generation Dodge Viper had a cd of 0.5, while the more recent Mercedes-Benz CLA250 has a cd of 0.28. The cd rating gave the Dodge Charger Daytona the aero car name, a name shared with another 3 more cars, namely the Plymouth Superbird, Ford Torino Talladega and the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II.
Unrivalled drag coefficient aside, the other notable feature of the Dodge Charger Daytona would be that huge wing that adorns much of the rear portion. That 23 inch tall (584 mm) tall rear wing, for almost 30 years, was though to be a Chrysler top-secret formula, but in the 1990s, a retired Chrysler engineer admitted it was that high to clear the rear boot. That aside, the huge wing helps to plant the rear wheels down at higher speeds, as air would go under the car and lift it at speed. The Dodge Charger Daytona was one of the earliest cars to break the 200 mph barrier, back in 1970. Humongous spoiler aside, the Dodge Charger Daytona also featured a nose cone that helped to achieve that cd of 0.28.
Specification wise, the Daytona model features uprated brakes and suspension to cope with the power that the 440 CID Magnum (7.2L) engine produces. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the 440 CID Magnum made anything from 370-390hp, and was pretty impressive already. The other engine is the famed 426 Hemi (7.0L) which produced, at that time, 425+hp engine build for racing.
Racing days for the Dodge Charger Daytona did not last long, as it was extraordinarily fast and had a huge advantage over other competitors. NASCAR proceeded to change the rules, which in turn made the Dodge Charger Daytona (And similar aero cars) illegal from racing.
Fine examples of the original Dodge Charger Daytona reaches well into the six-figure mark, and those powered by the 426 Hemi can be fetched as much as $300,000. And because of that, there are owners who go the extra mile to convert their regular Charger to the Daytona variant.
*All images belongs to their respective owners*
