Initial testing was successfully accomplished, with a wing assembly featuring struts mounted to the rear edge of the quarterpanels and spanned by a stabilizer. While this configuration worked perfectly, the decklid could only be opened a few inches-not a problem for the NASCAR track, but a big problem for the street cars needed to homologate the program. The solution, while exceedingly simple, would prove to be the hallmark of the new car. The vertical stabilizers, made of sand-cast aluminum, were extended to 24 inches in height, allowing the decklid to clear the wing.
Was this attack on aerodynamic efficiency successful? You bet. Driving the Daytona, Dodge's name for the revamped Charger, Charlie Glotzbach set a closed-lap speed record at the car's introductory race at Talladega in September 1969. The following spring, Bobby Isaac pulled down an even faster run at the same track in a Daytona, then took the car to Bonneville to set 28 additional records.
Colby Lynch of Brookfield, Connecticut, owns one of the limited-production street versions of the '69 Daytona wing cars. Best of all, it's a low-mileage original. He's the fifth owner of this particular Lite Yellow car, which sports a white wing, 440 engine, 727 auto tranny, and 3.55 rear gears. Originally purchased by an architect from Husker Dodge in Omaha, the Daytona spent most of its life out West, heading to Michigan for a short time before winding up in California, where Colby purchased the car from his friend, Jeff Post.
As an unrestored original, the Daytona is precluded from seeing a lot of highway miles, but with sterling racing accomplishments to back up its outrageous profile, this aerodynamic wonder has little else to prove-on the asphalt or the show field.