Dodge produced three separate vehicles with the name Dodge Charger Daytona, all of which were modified Dodge Chargers. 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. The first use of the Daytona name on a car was on a version of the Studebaker Lark. The Daytona was the performance model of the compact Lark and it was produced from 1963–1966. The Dodge Charger was made to beat the competition in NASCAR, Americas Premier Racing Series.
1969
With the racing failure of the previous limited edition 1969 Dodge Charger 500 in NASCAR and Plymouth's superstar Richard Petty leaving them for Ford, the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona was created. It was intended to be a high-performance, limited-edition version of the Dodge Charger produced in the summer of 1969 for the sole purpose of winning high-profile NASCAR races. It won its first race, the inaugural Talladega 500, in the fall, although the top names had left the track on Saturday in a boycott of the race. Buddy Baker, in the No. 88 Chrysler Engineering Dodge Charger Daytona, was the first driver in NASCAR history to break the 200 mph (322 km/h) mark, on March 24, 1970, at Talladega. The 1969 Dodge Daytona won two races in 1969 and another four in 1970 for a total of six. Its successor, the 1970 Plymouth Superbird, won eight races - all in 1970. Dodge Daytona's also won on the USAC and ARCA race circuits. They set numerous race and pole records.
One of the four famous aero-cars, the Dodge Daytona had featured special body modifications that included a 23-inch-tall (584 mm) stabilizer wing on the rear deck, a special sheet-metal "nose cone" that replaced the traditional upright front grille, a flush rear backlight (rear window area), a 'window cap' to cover the original Charger's recessed rear window, specific front fenders and hood that were modeled after the upcoming 1970 Charger, stainless steel A-pillar covers and fender mounted 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 cu in (7.2 L) Magnum engine as standard. Of special note to collectors is the optional 426 cu in (7.0 L) Hemi V8 engine, which only 70 of the 503 Daytonas carried. It had a corporate cousin in the "one year-only" 1970 Plymouth Superbird and with help of Chrysler's missile engineers, the Charger Daytona was born.
Source: Wikipedia
Dodge Charger threads:
Dodge Charger Roadster Concept 1963
Dodge Charger II Concept 1965
Dodge Charger (B-body) 1st gen 1966–1967
Dodge Charger III Concept 1968
Dodge Charger (B-body) 2nd gen 1968–1970
Dodge Charger Daytona (B-Body) 1969
Dodge Charger (B-body) 3rd gen 1971–1974
Dodge Charger (B-body) 4th gen 1975–1978
Dodge Charger Turbo 2.2 Pace Car Concept 1982
Dodge Charger (L-body) 1983-1987
Dodge Charger Concept 1999
Dodge Charger (LX) 2005-2010
Dodge Charger (LX) 2011-2014
Dodge Charger 2015-
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