Anyone Remember the Aussie Daytona???

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

Heres a screen cap from the aussie movie ''running on empty'' man that car looks sweet, anyone got anymore pics of that bad boy???-MATT

Also anyone have any idea how big those rear tires are?

[Jon Smith]

doesn't that car now belong to onebadsuperbird off moparts?
and doesn't he come on here occasionally as well?
or am i getting mixed up

[Ghoste]

Don't know if it's the same one or not but John definitely has a right hand drive Australian Daytona.  It's dark blue.  If you dredge up one of his posts, it's in his sig pic.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

Yes its his car this is it back in the day when it was customized and was in a movie called ''running on empty'' or it was released here under''Fast Lane Fever''-MATT

[DC_1]

any other pics?

[nascarxx29]

Its one bad superbirds car .It was in Austrailia.But now in the US and still in the right hand drive conversion

[Charger_Fan]

any other pics?

Yep...1,155 of them. http://www.onebadsuperbird.com/estore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=315

[Old Moparz]

I snagged some pics of the car at the Mopar Nationals a few years ago, 2003 I think. It was 1152 less though. 

[DC_1]

I am not familiar with the story......is it a really XX car or modified after the fact. Was it originally ordered right hand drive?

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

Real Ev2 440 auto car , and i found more pics

[PocketThunder]

Are you able to find any other* ..... pics, Punky    

* hint  hint..

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

yesi have them they are done i am gettin scnanner installed soon, the pic is from the front right side primer nose cone,noticeable surface rust on fenders

[69_500]

I have a CD John sent me with a little over 1,200 photo's of the car. From his drive accross country with the car after it was shipped into California.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

got 2 more pics of the car from john himself

[OneBadSuperbird]

OK, so I'm a little late to tha party! 

Here's the Cliff's Notes version of the car's history...

Born right here in Detroit on the first day of Daytona production, April 27, 1969 as XX29L9B355122 and sold new at independence Dodge in Indepenedence, Missouri.  EV2 Hemi Orange with black tail and interior.  440 automatic.

By 1973, the car had migrated to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Bloke from OzLand comes to the States, sees the car sitting under a tree in someone's yard, buys the car, also buys a '32 Ford, has a trailer hitch installed on the "Tone, drags the '32 Ford from OK to CA, loads em both on a boat and ships em back home to OzLand.

Once there, car is converted to Australian specs which include RHD conversion and other slightly more subtle mods.  Bloke owns street rod building shop (hence the '32 Ford) and uses the Daytona to tow his street rod creations around OzLand.  Bloke lets wife use the car in the '80's to transport son to school.  Son soon becomes envy of the entire school.  Car is used in ROE/FLF movie and then pretty much parked although constantly maintained by bloke's employees at street rod shop. 

Fast forward to 1998, son is now an adult and purchases 'Tona from dad.  Son completely disassembles car to bare shell and removes flares, puts grille opening back to stock and brings the car down from it's sky-high stance and lowers the car two inches lower than stock.  Son decides he wants to paint the car 1998 Ford Taurus Moonlight Blue Mist and huge fight ensues with former owner AKA dad.  Son wins fight and car gets painted 1998 Ford Taurus Moonlight Blue Mist with white tail.  Color combo is striking. 

Son shows the car from 1998 to 2003 and gets it in a few Aussie car magazines.  Son gets married and decides him and wifey need a nice new home and Daytona goes up for sale.  Several looooong dsitance phone calls later, $65K gets wired to OzLand to purchase Daytona sight unseen.  Him and wifey drive the car 800 miles to the shipping port where a mate of mine is awaiting the arrival of the car.  Car gets loaded into container and sets sail right as the Iraq War gets started.  No one is shipping anything so boat goes to Hong Kong to get more cargo.  Boat sits in Hong Kong for over a month awaiting more cargo before finally setting sail again.  Boat finally arrives in L.A. nearly three months after it left OzLand.  Me and two accomplices fly to L.A., unload Daytona from shipping container and begin cross-country journey in Daytona and '76 Australian Ford Falcon 351GT that I bought for a support vehicle.  Falcon went on ebay as soon as we got back and now resides in western Canada.  Daytona now resides 15 minutes from where it was born after spending thirty years on the other side of the globe.  Car now has 80,000 original miles, is all matching numbers drivetrain and retains all sheetmetal it was born with.  It is still right hand drive and will always be right hand drive til they pry my cold dead hands off of it.  I have caught grief from the purist twits for not putting it back to left hand drive.  Like I would go through everything I went through to get this car and ruin thirty years of history just to make it just like every other EV2 orange/black Daytona.  Yeah right!

As posted in the link above and also mentioned by Danny, there is a CD with all the pics from the road trip and that have been taken since then.  CD also contains text file of the non-Cliff's Notes version of the car's story and the road trip.  Price is $6.99 and shipping is free.  Below is one of the more "memorable" pics from the road trip. 

[jonw29]

See.I told ya that the cars were super cool.But they dont't hold a candle to the stories that they tell

[Ghoste]

Now that's a Chick on a Charger photo.

[tan top]

 intresting story ( OneBadSuperbird )  good read

[OneBadSuperbird]

Now that's a Chick on a Charger photo.

Here's another.  Note the Aussie Falcon 351GT can be seen in the background of this one...

[hotrod98]

I'm repeating a story that I told you over at DSAC, but when we first saw your car at the hotel next to ours on Brice Road a few years ago, I instantly recognized the car from one of the magazines. I asked my wife if she noticed anything different about the car. She kept guessing incorrectly, color, wheels, etc. When I pointed out the steering wheel, she had this strange look on her face. She was kind of shocked by the right hand drive. My son and I had a good laugh at that one. I think leaving it alone was the best thing that you could have done. Otherwise, it would be just another Daytona. Can't wait to see the car again. I'll take more time to look it over a little closer.

[OneBadSuperbird]

I'm repeating a story that I told you over at DSAC, but when we first saw your car at the hotel next to ours on Brice Road a few years ago, I instantly recognized the car from one of the magazines. I asked my wife if she noticed anything different about the car. She kept guessing incorrectly, color, wheels, etc. When I pointed out the steering wheel, she had this strange look on her face. She was kind of shocked by the right hand drive. My son and I had a good laugh at that one. I think leaving it alone was the best thing that you could have done. Otherwise, it would be just another Daytona. Can't wait to see the car again. I'll take more time to look it over a little closer.

Larry, cool story!  I remember you telling that one!  Next time ya see the car, I'll point out some of the other more subtle mods.  Here's one that was required per Australian law.  Front turn signal/parking lights had to be so many inches apart which required relocating the lights to a more Superbird-style location.  The craftsmanship on this modification is indicative of a high-end street rod builder.  Very nicely done.  I did get the original in-the-grille lights in a box of goodies that came with the car.

[Charger_Fan]

I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing stories about that car. Thanks for popping in!

[Nacho-RT74]

Damn good history!!!!, and nice you keep it on that way. Beside that I like more the actually color combo,than the original.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

Thats some cool History ,if i get that 68 im gonna build it how the aussie tona' used 2 be back in the 70's

[hotrod98]

I had never noticed the altered turn signals. They look pretty good that way.

[Ghoste]

Say John, is that Dart Girl?

[69_500]

You know John, the only thing I haven't figured out as far as your Daytona goes, is that they did all the fabrication work on the inside of the car making it right side drive and all. But somewhere along the lines you would have thought that someone would have made the windshield wipers right hand drive compatible as well. Having grown up in Thailand, and seeing many converted right hand drive cars, their wipers go the other way as well to make a clear sight line for the driver.

[OneBadSuperbird]

Say John, is that Dart Girl?

None other! 

Thanks for the kind words y'all.  If that car could talk, I'm sure it could tell some incredible stories of it's early days in OzLand.  Since I bought the car from the bloke's son, I never got a chance to hear any of the stories from the first few years of the car's life down under.  One of these days, I'm going to have to get a hold of his dad and see what all I can learn about all that.

Something else that is most likely lost forever is the car's first four years here in the States.  Oddlly enough, we stayed at a Motel 6 in Independence, Missouri on the road trip from L.A. to Detroit.  We cruised the Daytona around the streets of Independence in the hopes that some old timer would remember it but but it looks so different now (other than the nose and the wing!) that the car hardly got a second look from any of the locals.  We did stop at a couple auto parts stores which emptied out to check the car out but most all of the employees there weren't even born yet in 1969!

Here's a rather interesting pic from right after we unloaded the car from the container in Compton, California (yes, THAT Compton!).  The wing was taken off the car to make room for the other three vehicles that were crammed into the container.  The Daytona was on the makeshift second level sitting on planks!  It was a real nail-biter unloading the car that even required the use of a forklift.  We drove the car across L.A. at rush hour on a Friday afternoon to get the car to my buddy who handled the shipping's house in Garden Grove, California.  It's funny the odd looks a wingless right hand drive Daytona got on the L.A. freeways from some people while others were completely oblivious to it.  If you look closely at this pic, you will see another one of the Daytona's modifications to bring the car up to Australia's laws.  This pic was snapped as the left turn signal was blinking.  Australian law requires that all cars have amber rear turn signals so the center section of the Daytona's taillight was cut out and a amber lens sectioned in.  It looks very different at night seeing an olfd Charger with amber rear turn signals. 

[OneBadSuperbird]

You know John, the only thing I haven't figured out as far as your Daytona goes, is that they did all the fabrication work on the inside of the car making it right side drive and all. But somewhere along the lines you would have thought that someone would have made the windshield wipers right hand drive compatible as well. Having grown up in Thailand, and seeing many converted right hand drive cars, their wipers go the other way as well to make a clear sight line for the driver.

Danny, that is a very, very good question.  I just called my buddy Jeff in Garden Grove who handled the U.S. end of importing the Daytona and it just sio happens that his mate and business partner Peter is here in the States right now buying up cars and parts to ship over to OzLand and he answered the phoen at Jeff's.  Peter was the bloke who handled all the shipping on the Daytona when the previous owner drove it the 800 miles to where Peter is located.  Peter gave us the first reprt on the car's condition when it arrived and verified that it was in far better condition than we were anticipating.  Before loading it into the container, Peter took the car to a local cruise night where there was a swarm around the car the entire evening. 

Anyways, I figured who better to ask about the wipers than Peter seeing as how Jeff and Peter export a huge number of U.S. vehicles to OzLand.  Peter knew the answer right off the bat and explained it to me.  Back in the day when the Daytona was exported to OzLand, Australian law required a 78% sweep of the driver's viewing range by the wipers.  Apparently, the way it is met that 78% criteria.  Today, that number has been bumped to 88% and would have required changing the wipers around.  Exporting a vehicle 25 years or older to OzLand makes it exempt from requiring ANY types of modificatioons but all of the newer vehicles that are exported need to also have their wipers converted over.Pretty interesting stuff huh?

[dads_69]

I've read the notes from everyone here a few times about the car. I'm still in awe. That car is a trip. Its a piece of history for sure. I have a magazine somewhere around here also about it from not long ago. Wow comes to mind first, then, am I seeing things correctly, ha-ha. Awesome car.
Mark

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

Another car(70 challenger) from Running on empty, I wonder what happend to this one?

[OneBadSuperbird]

Another car(70 challenger) from Running on empty, I wonder what happend to this one?

Awwwwwwwww man, why did ya have to do that?  Seeing the pic of that car is like a kick to the gut.  The same folks who had the Daytona were very good mates with the bloke who owned that car.  As of the time I bought the Daytona, that Challenger was in the exact same configuration as in the picture you posted but had had some mechanical upgrades over the years.  It too had a mirror image RHD conversion.  It is also an original 440 Six Pack automatic car with it's numbers matching 440 Six Pack drivetrain still intact.  I could have bought that car as well for another $30K.  I broke the bank as it was to buy the Daytona and there was just no way I could get them both.  It would have been really nice to have the pair of cars from the movie and today, I wish I had found a way to swing it.  I'll always regret that one...

[charger Downunder]

Re wipers,changing the wipers around(opposite sweep) always makes your car prone to rust in the front cowl panel what use to be done sometimes was just move the right hand wiper across slightly to sweep nearer to the edge of the glass or better still dont move the wipers at all just put on a longer wiper arm and have it over sweep the glass,you can always change it back after its approved by the way who drives around  looking  at possums in trees.

[Charger_Fan]

by the way who drives around  looking  at possums in trees.

Probably Old Moparz.

[Ghoste]

Hehe, that was still one of the funniest things I have read on here (I'm easily amused I guess).

[Aussiemadonmopars]

 
Saw the Fox 1 Chally at a car show here in Perth yesterday, still looks awesome.

[OneBadSuperbird]

 
Saw the Fox 1 Chally at a car show here in Perth yesterday, still looks awesome.

Wow, cool deal.  Who owns it now?

[Old Moparz]

by the way who drives around  looking  at possums in trees.

Probably Old Moparz.

  Opossum.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

I like it

[WingCharger]

I read about the Daytona in a magazine, and have been looking for pictures of it orange for a month or two. Thanks! 

It is awesome in both versions.

[aussiemuscle]

If you watch the movie carefully, they actually switch the challenger to a 'stand-in' for the explosion (it's a 70's Valiant  ). this 'switch' also was done for the main guy's Falcon and the yellow monaro that crashes at the start. (the burnt falcon is a 69 falcon instead of 71)