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'Barn find' 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona doesn't run, but is worth a ton
Fox News ^ | 12/14/15 | Gary Gastelu

Posted on 12/14/2015 7:20:48 PM PST by Impala64ssa

This "barn find" was actually discovered under a shed, but that doesn't make it any less of a diamond in the rough.

A rusty, but very original 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona that has seen much better days may be seeing them again soon, as it's set to cross the block at the upcoming Mecum Auctions event Kissimmee, Fla., in January.

According to Mopar Muscle magazine, the big-winged muscle car was purchased earlier this year from its second owner, an Alabama man who bought it for $1,800 in 1974 and promptly had a set of flames painted on its front fenders to turn things up to 11 for a spring break trip to Panama City.

He kept it running up until four years ago, parking it under an open side shed for good after a minor accident flattened its pointy nose. (The auction photos were clearly staged in a different location after the sale.) Nevertheless, the red coupe has just 20,553 miles on its numbers-matching 440 Magnum V8, and features the rare combination of bucket seats and a console-mounted 3-speed automatic transmission.

Even in its current condition, the payday at the end of a restoration is potentially huge. Only 503 Charger Daytonas were ever built, and values for top examples with the 440 engine have cracked the $250,000 barrier in recent days, while models fitted with a 426/425 HEMI V8 are closing in on the $1 million mark.

Mecum’s pre-auction estimate for the car is $150,000-$180,000. Not bad for something that cost $3,993 new and doesn't even run.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Hobbies; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: automotive
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To: Impala64ssa

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he’s got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.


21 posted on 12/14/2015 8:13:30 PM PST by bramps (It's the Islam, stupid!)
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To: bajabaja

Neither did I but I thank the poster! These pics bring back a lot of memories!


22 posted on 12/14/2015 8:14:26 PM PST by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid)
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To: ETL

OK, I take part of that back.

But my first experience with Chrysler/Dodge was the 1968 Chrysler Le Baron land tortoise.

It dimpled the concrete. Because it stood in one place all the time. Because it wouldn’t start.

But you did post some examples that make me reconsider — a smidgeon.


23 posted on 12/14/2015 8:14:46 PM PST by bajabaja (Too ugly to be scanned at the airports.)
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To: butlerweave

“Where will the Mice go now ?”

Probably under my hood.

They found it nice and cozy last winter——much to my utter horror.

Eek !!

.


24 posted on 12/14/2015 8:19:00 PM PST by Mears
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To: Impala64ssa

Buff ‘er up!


25 posted on 12/14/2015 8:19:05 PM PST by bigbob ("Victorious warriors win first and then go to war" Sun Tzu.)
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To: Mears

I checked the air filter in my truck last Spring, and found the air clear box about half full of empty acorn shells.


26 posted on 12/14/2015 8:23:11 PM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: bajabaja
my first experience with Chrysler/Dodge was the 1968 Chrysler Le Baron

1968 Chrysler Le Baron Imperial

1968 Chrysler Le Baron Imperial

1968 Chrysler Le Baron Imperial

1968 Chrysler Le Baron Imperial

27 posted on 12/14/2015 8:28:21 PM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: Impala64ssa

Anyone know if those headlights were electric or pneumatic?


28 posted on 12/14/2015 8:30:51 PM PST by moehoward
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To: Eddie01

So nobody will believe this but I swear it’s true. My first wife was from Norway. Trondhiem a hundred miles north of the article circle. A friend of her came over on a business visa and opened a body shop in Napa, Ca. Later a couple of his buddies showed up to work at the shop. They all overstayed there visas an stayed for a couple of years. What they were really doing here was buying American cars and shipping them all over the world. One Sunday the three showed up in my driveway in a red Datona 500. Had a little brass plate stating it had been a pace car at the Iny 500.They bought from a dentist in Fresno who had it on a corner of his office lot with a for sale sigh in the window. We lived in Stockton and they stopped (two cars) at my place on the way back to Napa.That one went to Germany as I recall.This was back in the early 80’s. You can’t believe the cars they bought and sold overseas from California barns, small town car lots and widows. I helped ship a 1959 Caddy Baritz convertible to Norway that back then he sold for 40k. These guys cleaned N.California (no rust) of dozens of classic muscule cars and made a bundle. These guys forgot more about American cars than any dozen American gear heads would hope to know. I could write a book about these three guys.


29 posted on 12/14/2015 8:32:01 PM PST by crabpott (' we are living in the strangest, most perilous, and unbelievable decade in modern memory' VDH)
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To: ETL

Rich Corinthian leather?


30 posted on 12/14/2015 8:38:10 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: crabpott

That is a great story and book many gearheads would buy.

I’ve been to Napa Valley 4 times in my life. Friends live there today, local Napa Valley vinyard reporter and his teacher wife.

Lived in San Diego for 10 years, 90s. Hang Glider pilot for 9 of them. Mountain pilot mostly but stored my glider at Torrey Pines glider port and flew the cliffs often. Bonafide “Torrey Rat”.


31 posted on 12/14/2015 8:39:34 PM PST by Eddie01 (uh oh)
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To: Rebelbase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsg97bxuJnc


32 posted on 12/14/2015 8:42:37 PM PST by Eddie01 (uh oh)
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To: Rebelbase

Ricardo Montalban - 1975 Chrysler Cordoba Commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsg97bxuJnc


33 posted on 12/14/2015 8:43:57 PM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: Eddie01

Wow! Same exact link!


34 posted on 12/14/2015 8:44:56 PM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: All

I knew a guy thats Dad owned a Ford dealership, Ford had a program at that time that allowed employees to buy any car Ford was selling for $30 a month. This guy was in high school and bought a 427 Cobra.

He had been stock car racing and also Sprint car racing (without hist parents knowledge) He said the Sprint Car he raced had NOTHING on the Cobra.

His Dad finally forced this guy to let the dad drive the car.. When he got home the Dad kept the keys and said
“You are selling that”


35 posted on 12/14/2015 8:45:51 PM PST by uncle fenders
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To: ETL

That’s the one, but the paperweight on cement that was my neighbor’s was a lighter, steely blue. This one looks like it found a home somewhere in Sweden or thereabouts. Maybe it swam there, because the one I knew couldn’t drive there (or much of anywhere).


36 posted on 12/14/2015 8:46:45 PM PST by bajabaja (Too ugly to be scanned at the airports.)
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To: Eddie01

Who es muy macho, Fernando Lamos or Ricardo Montalban.

Do you remember that Saturday Night Live skit with Bill Murray? I couldn’t find a clip of it on YouTube.


37 posted on 12/14/2015 8:49:44 PM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: tacticalogic

One morning I drove off and a few miles later pushed in the clutch for a stop sign. Engine stayed revved up. I found 4 pounds of dog food packed around the carb.


38 posted on 12/14/2015 8:49:53 PM PST by eartrumpet
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To: ETL

Is this a factory color? If so, what did they call it? "Fry Yer Eyeballs Green?"

39 posted on 12/14/2015 8:50:46 PM PST by Disambiguator
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To: ETL

Hot!!!


40 posted on 12/14/2015 8:53:16 PM PST by uncitizen (Pray for Donald Trump)
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