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.
Mecumâs 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 ...
Only 500 of these were sold to the public because of NASCAR regulations at the time, over 1900 Plymouth Superbirds were built when that reg changed in 1970 to a "one-car-per-every-two-dealerships" formula.
Joe Dirt happy.
Where will the Mice go now ?
” Not bad for something that cost $3,993 new”
I bought a Midnite-Blue 1964 Chevelle Malibu SS in November of 1963, just months after Chevelles were first introduced.
I bought it off the showroom floor, paid sticker price of $3290. A sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina pulled me over, walked around examining the car, then asked me how I liked it. I told him just fine. He got in his patrol car a drove off.
It was a good car, but a bolt came out of the flywheel and would somtimes get whipped around by the flywheel teeth, banging off the housing, sounding for all the world like a tommy gun firing. Eventually it blew a hole in the housing and egressed. Never had another problem.
We should raise some money for relocation expenses. ...and them pocket it, maybe by a Yes album like “Fragile”.
I never warmed to Mopar, but I hope the owner does well on this barn find.
That’s been sitting there a lot longer than four years. Check out the engine compartment pic at Fox.
What? No Super Bee?
Could have bought a 1970 Superbird with 426 hemi in orange in 1978 for $3k but parents wouldn’t co sign for loan. Worth $1M now? Wish I had that as a retirement fund now
Yes, “worth a ton.” Numerous people would love to clean it up, buff it out and rebuild every inch.
Probably, but I sold my Honda S2000 low mileage car that is now starting to be talked about as a collectable two years ago. You would have think I would have learned
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