69 Daytona Clone with Vega plug project pictures

[Daytona313]

Hi,
I'm starting to work on my Clone Daytona project car again after taking a couple year break and I thought I would show off some pictures of the Vega hatch plug on my car. These pictures are all a couple years old. There's 15 pictures total so it might take a while to load.

[Daytona313]

Looking good Larry........Keep on keepin' on!
Mark

Larry? My name is Dale. Thanks

[Troy]

Looking good Larry........Keep on keepin' on!
Mark

Larry? My name is Dale. Thanks

I think he had you confused with Daytonalo since it looks like you guys are in about the same spot in the build. Looks good though so keep posting pics!

Troy

[dads_69]

Wow, another Daytona guy here, right on. Sorry about the name mix up, I'm not even at the stage you guys are but I will be soon. I've been working on the rest of my parts for now. I'm using the Vega hatch also in mine.
Thanks for the photos.
Mark

[Mike DC]

That's some great metalwork going on there.  Looks solid & carefully done.

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I'm not trying to poop on anyone's parade here, but wouldn't that Vega rear window shape (at left) look more like the Charger plug (at right) if you mounted it upside down?



   

[PocketThunder]

That's some great metalwork going on there.  Looks solid & carefully done.

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I'm not trying to poop on anyone's parade here, but wouldn't that Vega rear window shape (at left) look more like the Charger plug (at right) if you mounted it upside down?

   I think it looks good the way it sits....

[Daytona313]

Looking good Larry........Keep on keepin' on!
Mark

Larry? My name is Dale. Thanks

I think he had you confused with Daytonalo since it looks like you guys are in about the same spot in the build. Looks good though so keep posting pics!

Troy

No Problem, I'm hoping more people show off their Daytona clones. It would be cool to see how everyone else is doing it.

[Daytona313]

That's some great metalwork going on there.  Looks solid & carefully done.

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I'm not trying to poop on anyone's parade here, but wouldn't that Vega rear window shape (at left) look more like the Charger plug (at right) if you mounted it upside down?

It's possible. I'm not trying to pass my car off as a Daytona just a Daytona clone otherwise I'd be using the fiberglass plug. We're trying to keep as much of the Vega hatch intact to preserve the integrety and strenth of the metal. In some ways the Vega hatch is a pretty cool way of doing it because it is rare and a lot of work went into it. When I started 3 years ago using the Vega hatch was almost just a rumor. I couldn't find anyone that actually did it. The "Joe Dirt" car was the first one I ever saw. Thanks for compliments.

[hotrod98]

Dale,
I don't know if you've been following along the last few months, but several of the guys on the forum have been working on various wing car projects. What I would like to see is more of the guys building various parts and offering them at reasonable prices to the other guys out there. I'm sure you realize what a hassle it is just to buy the repro parts from the current suppliers. I made 11 sets of the daytona wing braces last year and was able to sell them to the guys direct for $70 including shipping. The only profit in it for me was to end up with a couple of sets for less than what I would have had to pay for them from one of the suppliers. I'm not asking everyone to sell parts at cost, just a a reasonable price to make it worth their whlie to take the time to build them. If you could build those trunk hinges I'm sure there are several of us that would be interested in buying one or two sets.
I have collected a lot of the parts for my daytona clone, but right now I'm focusing on my wife's superbird clone. I'm buying some of my bird parts from Don Currie in Canada. He's builidng steel wings for the birds right now as well as noses, fender extensions, fender scoops, back glass fillers, air grabber hoods and superbird hood extensions. I believe that he is considering building some daytona parts in the future as well.
As for your project, keep those pics and updates coming. Us wing car cloners are starving for information about these projects. It certainly won't be long before the number of clones outnumber the real mccoys. Then maybe we can have a wingcar cloners national event somewhere out there in middle USA. We might even be able to join up with the wing car group that meets in St. Louis for the Monster Mopar Weekend each fall. I've notice a few clones there already.

Larry  (the other larry)
hotrod98

[BigBlockSam]

 

[BigBlockSam]

hey that bird wing looks real purdy 

[hotrod98]

Don seems to be a pretty good craftsman and I thought $1250 for a steel wing was a pretty good price. With his new price increases, Ted's fiberglass wing was going to be more expensive than this steel one. Now I have the aluminum wings for the daytona and the steel wings for the bird.

[BigBlockSam]

looks like you made aq good decision.

[wetfeetmi]

I too could use a set of wing support brackets. I will not pay $250 as some have advertised, and was planning to fab my own like I did the first time. They didn't look correct, but were funtional. I would like duplicates to originals if possible. Rick

[Crazy Larry]

What years did the Vega have that hatchback window style?

I take it it was the early 70's models - 1970-1973???

[hotrod98]

What years did the Vega have that hatchback window style?

I take it it was the early 70's models - 1970-1973???

You can use the hatchbacks from the 1971 to 1974 Chevrolet Vegas and Pontiac Astres. Some of the models had vents below the glass. While it would be a little more work, I guess you could fill in this area and use this style hatchback. The biggest problem I've seen in this part of the country is the back glass being scratched from people using something other than ice scrapers to remove ice and snow. I visited a salvage yard last year that had 7 or 8 vegas with rust free hatchbacks and only one of them had a glass good enough to use.
While we're on the subject of parts, if you're starting with a 68 or 69 charger, you will also need the hood and fenders from a 70 Charger. The 70 hoods are flat in the front area and the front edge doesn't roll over like the 68 and 69 hoods. The 70 fenders have a lip at the front, while the 68 and 69 fenders roll around the front edge. I always advise the guys looking for a car to build a daytona clone to just look for a 70 to begin with. They are generally a little cheaper than a 68 or 69, you already have the correct sheet metal and you don't take another charger off of the road just to build the clone. Then you have the choice of using the 70 interior and taillights or converting to the 69 stuff.

[daytonalo]

GLASS IS ONLY 225.00 BRAND NEW , SO GO BACK AND BUY THOSE HATCHES !

[Crazy Larry]

What years did the Vega have that hatchback window style?

I take it it was the early 70's models - 1970-1973???

You can use the hatchbacks from the 1971 to 1974 Chevrolet Vegas and Ponitac Astres. Some of the models had vents below the glass. While it would be a little more work, I guess you could fill in this area and use this style hatchback. The biggest problem I've seen in this part of the country is the back glass being scratched from people using something other than ice scrapers to remove ice and snow. I visited a salvage yard last year that had 7 or 8 vegas with rust free hatchbacks and only one of them had a glass good enough to use.
While we're on the subject of parts, if you're starting with a 68 or 69 charger, you will also need the hood and fenders from a 70 Charger. The 70 hoods are flat in the front area and the front edge doesn't roll over like the 68 and 69 hoods. The 70 fenders have a lip at the front, while the 68 and 69 fenders roll around the front edge. I always advise the guys looking for a car to build a daytona clone to just look for a 70 to begin with. They are generally a little cheaper than a 68 or 69, you already have the correct sheet metal and you don't take another charger off of the road just to build the clone. Then you have the choice of using the 70 interior and taillights or converting to the 69 stuff.

Thanks for the info - I do remember reading that even the 69 Daytonas had '70 Charger fenders (for they came out later in the year and the 70 fenders were already in production). That made it easy to attach the nose cone.

It made me think that the wrap around bumper of the 1970 Charger might have just been a biproduct of the fact that they wanted to get the Daytona design out into NASCAR. I doubt the 1969 engineers at Dodge's NASCAR facility said "Hey, look, they are putting out a Charger next year with a wrap around bumper, that would be a great place to attach the nose cone."

So, in another alternate universe, if Dodge didn't give a care about NASCAR, does that mean you would have had the 1970 Chargers with 1969 front ends? sorry to throw us off topic here......ooooops 

[hotrod98]

I made that same assumption about the front fenders as well. I was told by people that have been around these mopars for far longer than I have that they were already using the wrap around bumpers on other cars and that it was just coincidental that they were already planning to build charger fenders that just happened to work perfectly with the new daytona nose. Sure seems like a big coincidence to me.

[hemigeno]

Larry,

Good question about the fenders.  We did kick this topic around a few months back, although I haven't found that particular thread just yet.

When the Daytona was just a sketch on paper, the '70 Charger with its loop bumper was already designed.  Here is a quote from John Pointer, who along with Bob Marcel, actually designed the Daytona:

"Shortly before Christmas of '68, it turned out we [Pointer & Marcel] more or less sketched the same thing, basically taking the 1970 Charger front end which had a loop bumper, and replacing the bumper with a streamlined faring.  This made it a fairly simple process to put the fairing on because we would use the same mounts."(emphasis added)

And another quote, from the Product Planning Letter signed by Bob Rodger and C.W. Kelley dated 3/17/69, and outlining how the Charger Daytona was to be built:

3.  "F" Series front fenders, hood and hood latching system.

F-Series indicated the 1970 fenders, and it is implied that they were already designed - not a Daytona-derived part (see above)

Anywhoo, the Daytona used '70 Charger fenders, not the other way around.  Good question though - never hurts to go over these things again every now and then!

Geno

[hotrod98]

hemigeno,
As the new guys come in, they obviously will ask questions that we've already answered or at least attempted to answer in previous posts. As for me, I really don't mind going over some of these things again. I just like talking about wing cars.The funny thing is, somehow I've managed to get a lot of the mopar guys in this part of the country thinking about building wing cars and I expect them to be on here asking a lot of questions any time now. I'm going to look at, and probably buy, a 69 and a 70 charger this weekend, both future daytona clones.

[BigBlockSam]

hey larry, you've gone daytona crazy!

[hotrod98]

Rene,
I'm hoping that this 69 charger is solid enough to use for my daytona clone instead of using my R/T SE car. The 70 will be for my buddy here in Greenwood. He's restoring a 72 rallye charger and has now fallen in love with the daytonas. I'll let you know how they look. They look pretty good in the pics, but you know how that goes sometimes.

[BigBlockSam]

  i applaud your decision not to use the r/t for you clone

[Crazy Larry]

Ok, now I get it - it is a case of which came first the chicken or the egg......
In this case, which came first the 1970 Charger loop grille or the 1969 Daytona nose?
As HemiGeno pointed out it was the 1970 Charger grille first in 1969 - that the Dodge Nascar guys realized would fit a nose cone perfect.

Good research hemigeno, did you get that from the book "Supercars: The Story of the Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird"?
That is an OUTSTANDING book and is frequently pulled off my book shelf to just look again at the photos.

Here is a link to it on amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574270435/sr=8-1/qid=1141820293/ref=sr_1_1/102-1390622-0161713?%5Fencoding=UTF8

It looks like its recently out of print - but some used copies are still available. NOT to be missed if you are a Wing car fanatic!