1980...
...thru the seventies I was into old Vettes, all I owned were Vettes, all I dreamed about were Vettes....I knew every detail about every year made, and on, and on, and on....Vettes, Vettes, Vettes ( I still have 3)...
...one day I left work early, I was going to buy an L82 78 "Indy Pace Car" Vette...I had looked at the Vette several times and had made up my mind to go get the $$$ and drive to the dealership and buy it....for some reason, I pulled out of the warehouse I worked at and turned the wrong direction heading me down streets I rarely traveled...sitting there in plain sight in a small narrow driveway a few blocks from my place of employment was a 69 Dodge Daytona....it was F6 Bright Green with white interior, 4spd, rusty chrome wheels and very tired paint...It was a local one owner car, but it was rarely, if ever, seen in the daylight explaining the 10,427 miles on the odometer...the owner stored it for most of the 10 years since he bought it new and was just cleaning out his garage the day I passed....I sorta knew the guy, but not well and I knew where he worked a few blocks away....I drove to his barbershop and asked what he was going to do with the Daytona, sell it or keep it....he told me he was going to sell it when the money was right, and the best offer he had had was $6K from a guy about 50 miles away...I asked him what it would take to buy the big ugly green Dodge and he told me $9K.....looked like a bargain to me, the Vette was $14K, so I bought it on the spot...
...so, now I am trying to get home before he delivered the scruffy looking Daytona, and break the news to my wife.....I was just entering the kitchen when he comes roaring down the street and she looked out the kitchen window and said, "you didn't buy that ugly thing did you???"
...over the next year, the car was treated to new tires, new exhaust and finally new paint....the Daytona was 100% rust free, matching numbers, and I was told years later the only one of that color combo with a 4spd...
...I showed the car for years at local events, took it to the first MOPAR Nationals event I attended(Indy 500 Speedway-83/84?)....all my buddys laughed at the car....many called it "Monkey Puke Green" and my kids called it the "Green Weenie"...
...during the years, I drove it on a regular basis, weather permitting....I used it as a service vehicle when I was a fountain repairman for Coca Cola USA....all my tools and fountain parts were in the car all the time except when attending shows....I finally woke up one day and the green Dodge had 25K miles on it(see, I didn't always keep them in bubbles)...
...I was attending the James Dean Memorial Run in Fairmount Indiana with a buddy of mine and his yelo HEMI Superbird.....a guy I had never seen before walks up to me and wants to buy my Daytona....I felt the Daytona was probably worth about $15K at the best, this was 1988 and the market was just starting to rev up....he offered me $18K for the car and I just about crapped my drawers, but said no...then he wanted to buy my friends HEMI Bird....my buddy wasn't there at the time and I just told the potential buyer I would pass along the info....my buddy returns and I tell him the story about the guy wanting to buy both of our winged cars....so Rick, the owner of the Bird and I decided to price his HEMI Superbird at $52K, an unheard of price at the time....the buyer returns and I spit out the inflated price, and he reaches in his pocket and gives me $5k to hold the car till the owner returns again....long story short(finally) the HEMI Bird found a new owner that day and the $$$ were all exchanged a few days later....
...79 days later the Daytona found a new home in Tampa Florida....$47K, believed to be a world record at the time...
...this was the first MOPAR price boom, prices were going nuts and I sold the Daytona to buy a 70 HEMI Challenger RT/SE (pilot car/first one ever made) the day before Christmas, 1988.....
...during the years I owned the Daytona I showed it, drove it 15,000 miles, and in general just had a great time with it....it was in numerous magazines and books...it was turned into a toy by several different companies....probably the most published Daytona in history...it still shows up in new books just about every year, many times with me still listed as the owner...every once in a while I run into the old "Green Weenie" at the MOPAR Nationals, the current 4th owner lives in Cleveland Oh...
Topic: my first "Muscle MOPAR", the "Green Weenie"....a long, boring story...pix (Read 5203 times)
