In some road tests, the video will start off with some basic driving, or maybe some clean beauty shots of the car parked up, perfectly polished, looking like you hope your potential dream machine should. Yeah, not here. I don’t recollect seeing this footage of a road test of a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona with a Hemi on board, because the opening scene I would remember well: start the car, rev it up, drop it into drive and mat the gas hard enough that the 1-2 upshift barks sharply. This footage comes out of Quebec, of all places, and while I slacked off on my French lessons two decades ago, you won’t need any real translation to what’s going on here. This is a driver who is beating the absolute stuffing out of this Daytona, shoving it through the corners, using every ounce of the 425 horsepower available on tap in between the corners.
In current times, these are investor cars, adored for their performance, their rarity, and the racing mystique that followed the wing cars around from the NASCAR superspeedways. Back then, it was looked at as an ugly Charger with a stupid nose, stupid wing and enough power to scare you straight. The wing and nose treatments, necessary for the homologation requirements, didn’t really resonate with the buying public at the time. But anyone who bought one got the kick of a lifetime as far as the powertrain went, as the driver is demonstrating. We don’t know which set of tires we pity more, the rears that he bakes off at will or the fronts that get punished on every corner!
Their final points: they loved the transmission, acceleration, and the top speed, but they didn’t like the size or the finish of the car, and they thought the Hemi was too finicky.
Thanks to Kevin Alexander for the tip!
He’s a very respected automotive journalist in Quebec, puts out a new car review book every spring. They tried to close the track down because people are moving closer to it because the area is becoming trendy and the new residents don’t like the noise.
I guarantee you that not a single current owner of hemi powered Daytona would have the balls to drive theirs like this. This video also shows how shitty these B bodies handled in stock trim back then. All the extra weight of a hemi and that nose just made things worse. Those front tires spent all their time on their white walls in every turn.
A car out of it\’s element.
Saw this video a few times over the years. I’d still like to get a word-for-word translation of it in English. Would be cool to see what he actually said.
Go Canadiens by the way!! Always been my team.
Awesome video!
Scott, I think that car handled extraordinary well for being wrung out on little G70-15 bias plys. He was pushing it very hard and it was moving FAST thru those corners! He came in too hot that one time, braked hard, and the result was that it pushed bad, but for the most part it looked pretty neutral, with a little push that could be controlled into a gentle drift by applying some of those 426+ horses.
Short of a Corvette, I’ll bet there’s not many American production cars of that era that could beat it around that track, especially of that size.
a mercury cyclone would
If you say so… This video proves that most Mopar’s were pigs. The GTO would come close to lapping that paper weight…https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=1394322933925950
Pretty much think any pony car would beat it around the track. Mustang, Camarillo, firebirds etc. Gm A bodies had pretty good suspensions and would best it too. GTO, 442 etc