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Talk
about BOLD! Chrysler blew everyone away with their ultimate NASCAR
warrior, the Charger Daytona. The Charger had been Dodge’s
NASCAR racer since ‘66 with the big-block Fords running very
close for years. Race car aerodynamics was exploding with new ideas in
the mid-to- late ‘60s and the designers at Chrysler were
paying close attention. They made a huge adjustable wing for the back
of the car and a new nose clip in the shape of a big wedge with rounded
off sides. Since car makers had to sell what they raced, there was a
street version that people either loved or hated.
There’s no doubt about it, this car was over the top! The
Charger Daytona was available with either a 440 Magnum or 426 Hemi
engine. For the street, either power plant was more than enough. But
the Hemis were notoriously hard on drive trains and many of the winged
Dodges were ordered with the less expensive, easier to live with 440
engine. The following year, Plymouth got into the game with their
winged warrior based on the Road Runner body, and called the
“Superbird.” Like the Dodge, it was a love-it or
hate-it kind of car.
But by ‘71 the party was over. Muscle cars quickly were
becoming socially unacceptable and NASCAR was pulling in the reins on
the winged machines with restrictor plates between the Hemi
engine’s intake manifold and big Holley carb. The net result
was the Mopar wing machines that weren’t competitive. Not
because of anything lacking in the Mopar designs, it was the
interference of NASCAR There was growing concern in NASCAR over the
200-plus miles-per-hour speeds the winged cars were reaching.
The Chrysler winged cars was a classic example of racing advancements
filtering down into production cars. Today, Eclipses, Celicas, and
Civics can be seen sporting big wings on their rear deck lids... shades
of NASCAR circa 1969-70.
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