For my 426th post I thought I would share a story written by one of my local club members on his unrestored 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona
Thanks,
Chris
MY GOLD DAYTONA
Carl Swanson
I first saw “Goldie” in April 1970 on the showroom floor of Hill-Kelly Dodge in Pensacola, Florida. As a newly commissioned Ensign in the US Navy, I was in Pensacola for flight training and wanted to get a new car to drive to my next duty station in Denver, Colorado. My wife Dee and I owned a 68 Pontiac LeMans and a 140 HP 65 Corvair Corsa, but I had new car fever, and wanted a few more horses under my throttle foot. I looked at the AMX and Corvette, but with my wife ready to deliver our first child these choices seemed to be a little less practical (roomy) than I needed. I was a NASCAR fan and had always admired the Dodge Charger and Chrysler’s racing history, so off to the Dodge dealer I went. There were two Daytona’s in Hill-Kelly Dodge’s showroom. One was black with a red wing and stripe, a Hemi and 4-speed. The other was gold, with a black tail stripe and green interior. Gold was a traditional color for cars in the Swanson family, and the gold Daytona caught my eye. The gold car was equipped with a 440 and automatic. Although I lusted after the Hemi (and still do), I realized that as a family car a 4-speed Hemi car might not be the best choice. Since I was trading in both my car and my wife’s LeMans (a move which I neglected to coordinate with her in advance), I went for the “family” version, and Goldie joined us for the next 38+ years. Despite this “sensible” decision, Goldie and I were not too popular when we rumbled into the carport for the first time, the rumble of 375 HP shaking the walls of our small duplex apartment. My wife Dee was not as enamored with my purchase, and was less happy when we moved to Hawaii and the only car we had ran hot on her every time she drove it. However she has gradually gotten used to it being around and has even attended a couple of events with me as a co-pilot.
Our first “event” was the 1970 July 4th “Firecracker 400” at the Daytona Speedway. Goldie, a neighbor (a Barracuda owner) and I drove to Daytona and parked in the infield. The sun was out and the race was great with the Daytona’s and Superbirds flying around the high-banked track, often in the lead. However, at the end it was a Ford that crossed the finish line first and we took more than a little ribbing from the Blue Oval boys and GM fans departing the track on our way back to Pensacola. After departing Pensacola later that month Goldie, our new daughter, Dee and I headed west on the first of several cross-country trips the car has made. Since then Goldie accompanied us through 31 years in the Navy, and has driven the roads of most of the 50 states, to include duty stations in Colorado, Hawaii, Washington State, Maryland, Virginia and Florida. The Daytona was our only car for the first 4 years of its life, and was not happy living in the warm climate of Hawaii where running the 440 at a warmer than optimum temperature and starter problems became a regular part of life (at least for my wife-I was deployed most of the time to Viet Nam). These problems were somewhat resolved when we moved to the cooler climate of Whidbey Island, Washington. When the gas crunch of 1973-74 hit and we received orders to England the car went into storage for what turned out to be a period of ten years. Goldie was finally resurrected in 1984 when I took her out of storage. Although I put her away carefully in 1974, I was only planning to be gone for 2-3 years, and I had more than a few things to do to get her road worthy when she rolled out into the clean air of Washington. After installing a new exhaust system, breaks, and tires and cleaning out the gas tank, we drove to our new home in Virginia. Ten years later in 1994 we were again transferred to Europe. This time I was a little smarter, and left the car in my mom’s garage in Florida, and my brother drove it enough to keep Goldie alive in between my visits home. We returned to Virginia in January 2005, and the car came north to its new garage in October that year. A couple of years later I found my way to TMC and joined the local club which both Goldie and I enjoy.
As the original and only owner, I know the car pretty well. Goldie remains essentially as I bought her, with the major exception being a Sears air conditioner, added in 1970 in consideration of my pregnant wife in Florida. The only other Gold Daytona I have seen was a Gold car in Canada back in the 70’s with a black interior.
I enjoy attending the Winged Warrior Club National meets, especially those that include doing pre-race parade laps on NASCAR tracks where the cars actually competed in 1970. We have done pre-race laps around Talladega (twice), Darlington, Pocono, and the Langley track in Hampton as a member of the then named Stateline Scat Pack Club. In August 2007 I attended a national meeting of the Winged Warriors Club in Charlotte, North Carolina and was able to meet such distinguished drivers of winged cars as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, car owner Harry Hyde and others. It was a dream come true as I remember seeing these guys drive the Winged Dodged and Plymouths in 1970.
Driving the car to shows and meets may increase the possibility of damage, and we both may need a wash when we arrive at our destination, however, the enjoyment I have on the road in Goldie is far more important to me than keeping it garaged in pristine condition. There are few experiences in life that are more pure fun and excitement than when you punch the pedal to the metal, see the speedometer and tachometer climb and hear the roar of the 440 as it ingests that expensive Amoco high test through all four barrels! That’s when Goldie becomes my “time machine” transporting me to the times when I had more hair and less waistline!
I expect that Goldie and I will continue together for a long time to come. Enough time may even pass so that my bride of almost 40 years will finally fully share my appreciation for my surprise purchase of April 1970. After all, both have added a lot of joy to my life and turned out to be “keepers”!
