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1969 Dodge Charger Daytona
The NASCAR races were one of the most important battle arenas of the muscle car wars. So, back in the late 60s, the superspeedways were places of many fierce clashes between Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Plymouth and Pontiac. The most interesting period was the late 60s when the NASCAR rules allowed some modifications to car bodies to make them more aerodynamic.
Of course, the condition was to apply those changes to regular production examples and sell a limited number of such cars to the public. Most manufacturers jumped at the opportunity and created Aero racers or specially designed cars they homologated for the races. And one of the most famous and influential was the 1969 Charger Daytona. They produced just 504 cars strictly as a homologation special.
Despite winning some races, the Charger 500 wasn’t fast enough, so Dodge decided to create a racing car with a special front end, flush rear glass and a big rear spoiler. The Charger Daytona was one of the first cars they developed in a wind tunnel. Also, they used new materials in its construction.
The Charger Daytona proved to be successful on the race tracks and even managed to do a record 217 mph run in almost stock configuration. This proved how good the design and engineering behind this project was. The standard engine was 440 V8, but only about 70 cars received the legendary 426 Hemi.