Image: Canepa
The first NASCAR racer to record a race lap at over 200 miles per hour, this Daytona veteran may not have the modern mastery that could take you to a win in this weekend’s race, but it’s way cooler than the cars which could!
In an effort to swing the balance of power back from Ford, for 1970 Chrysler developed a set of radical aerodynamics and one of the most distinctive shapes in NASCAR: the Dodge Daytona/Plymouth Super Bird. And it worked.
Spectacularly.
The Dodge Charger Daytona’s wedge nose and tall rear wing provided excellent aerodynamics, and the cars’ 426CID Hemis put out somewhere north of 475 horsepower, helping them reach massive speeds on the typically elliptical NASCAR circuits. The cars weren’t bad on the street circuits either, dominating the field and winning 38 of 48 races in 1970.
In fact, they may have been a little too fast, and the winged beasts were tied down with a 305 cubic inch engine size limit thanks to rule changes in ’71.
This car is part of that legend, and was run by Cotton Owens and the legendary Buddy Baker in 1970. Its race history includes that one-off over 200 mile per hour record lap, a win at the Darlington Southern 500 and second in the Firecracker 400.
Buddy Baker crashed out of his final race in the car at Charlotte. Having sustained just minor sheet metal damage it was repaired by the Owens team crew and, in 1971, displayed by Dodge at Cobo Hall in Detroit, then moved to the NASCAR museum at Darlington. In 2005 the museum gave the car back to Cotton Owens.
It’s unrestored, but detailed and inspected, meaning that it’s just as it was when it came out of the Cotton Owens garage in 1970.
It’s up for sale over at Canepa, and you can check out all the details at their website here.
Via Canepa
Images via Canepa
For sale: This 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.