Manoli Katakis 
With their radical aerodynamic bodywork, the original 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona and 1970 Plymouth Superbird are some of the most instantly recognizable muscle cars to this day. And these high-winged Aero Warriors are also incredibly rare. Born out of NASCAR homologation rules that required a minimum number of 500 of these vehicles to be built and sold for the public, they were designed with the sole purpose of winning races around the circle track.
To the point: The ’69 Charger Daytona was the first car to go 200 miles per hour in NASCAR on March 24, 1970, at Talladega Speedway, with Buddy Baker behind the wheel. The Daytona ended up winning just two races in 1969, but took the checkered in four of them in the 1970 season. Another eight victories belonged to the Superbird, all in its only year of production: 1970.
It didn’t take very long before NASCAR ended up banning the radical aero technology, effectively restricting the winning formula in 1971. Sad. Yet the iconic design of the original Dodge Charger Daytona continues to haunt the minds of muscle car enthusiasts and designers alike. For example, a Kia Motors Europe exterior designer with the Instagram handle marcell_sebestyen took the signature wing from the Daytona, and applied it to a few vehicles: A C3 Corvette Stingray, and a new 2020 Porsche 911. Looking at the images, we can’t help but think how the C3 ever escaped its life span without a sheetmetal picnic table for a wing. And that Porsche is no slouch, either.
Dodge currently pays homage to the original Daytona with the 2020 Dodge Charger Hellcat Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition. The four-door Mopar mega muscle car separates itself from the rest of the lineup with unique colors and decals, as well as unique interior stitch work. More importantly, engineers managed to squeeze out another 10 horsepower from the 6.2L supercharged Hellcat V8 engine, bringing the grand total to 717 horsepower. If you want to know more, we were lucky enough to pilot the 2020 Dodge Charger Daytona Hellcat 50th Anniversary Edition around Sonoma Raceway last fall. You can read all about it here.
