Daytona In Australia! - Chryslers on the Murray 2020

[TPR]

Keep us posted about that magazine feature Tim. I'll have to pick up a copy.
TPR

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I like that last shot....leader of the pack! 

[loudmouthaussie]

looking forward to seeing a feature in chrysler action. hopefully a sick 4 door VE sedan full of aftermarket engine crap wont bump it off the cover 

[earnie]

wow she turned out beautiful , good job tim

[wingcarenvy]

It turned out amazing! From wreck to jewel, what a great story! 

[madgus2000]

I remember seeing that car at Carlisle a few years back.  What you did is beyond my imagination,  well done.   Do you have pictures of the fender tag and was there a build sheet.  Just curious.
Kind regards,
Gus.

[Tim L]

I remember seeing that car at Carlisle a few years back.  What you did is beyond my imagination,  well done.   Do you have pictures of the fender tag and was there a build sheet.  Just curious.
Kind regards,
Gus.

Gus,
  thanks for the praise, the body men were the true miracle workers on this one. When we got the Daytona the fender tag was missing. When the Daytona had been sold out of Patiks barn in 1994, Galen Govier had done a report on the car which included a break down of the fender tag. The guy we got the car from had an issue with an old girlfriend and she had taken the fender tag as payback. We had another made once we proved what we had, it is now on the car. There was a build sheet (possibly 2?) in the car, but they belonged to another car and have been since reunited.

Tim

[Tim L]

Since purchasing the Daytona on the 9th of December 2007 I have been searching, trying to find the cars history and owners from the past. I have written literally hundreds of emails, posted on forums all over the internet and called complete strangers in the hope that they may be able to shed some light on this mystery. Nascarxx29 (Dave) and his lady have been beyond amazing, helping me and digging up things through newspapers and genealogy sites I never could have found.

The car is listed on the Daytona shipping list as going to the Hatfield Recon Centre, in Hatfield PA on the 28th August 1969. The recon center is a dealer only auction house which still operates today under Mannheim. We believe we found several advertisements for the Daytona in the Doylestown Intelligencer and I was told the car sat as a wreck down beside a house in the main street of Chalfont PA from approximately 1976 - 1979. With all the info we had collected I decided that Doylestown PA would be a good home base. I wrote an email to the Doylestown Intelligencer newspaper telling them the story of the car and how it eventually found its way down here too Australia in 2008. A lovely lady named Peggy contacted me and they were nice enough to run an article appealing to any locals in the area that may have recalled the car. I received about 13 emails in total from various people in the area who had bits and pieces of information, I was pursuing these when a gentleman contacted me saying he may be able to help asking for the Daytona's VIN. I gave it to him and didn't think a great deal more of it, while in the process of pursuing my own course. I awoke one morning last week to find an email sitting in my inbox, it was a copy of the Daytona's original title which had been retrieved from a microfiche slide. It had a name, Frank C P Graser Jr, an address in Chalfont and the date the car was titled, 12th Novemeber 1969. Looking for Frank I soon found he had sadly passed away at the young age of 55 in 2001. Frank had been a butcher in the area and had owned the car from new until it was wrecked late that Saturday night on the 21st of Feb 1976. The story we had heard all along was that the car was being driven in a rainstorm and had been wrecked ending up on it's roof. Looking at historical weather reports from that Saturday it was wet but it does not appear there were any storms....

While I was looking for the crash article, I stumbled across an April 71 article telling the story of a Frank C P Graser JR from Chalfont, who happened to be the same age. Frank had been working as a service station attendant when a guy had come in wearing a ski mask and sporting a 10" hunting knife demanding cash. Frank was bound and locked in the gas station store room, upon escaping he called the police and also discovered his 69 Dodge (Frank had the car since new) was missing. I think we can safely assume what that 69 Dodge used to get away from the armed robbery was.

I have found Frank's brother and he told me Frank bought the car new at Reedmans Dodge in Langhorne PA. I shared with the brother the story of the car, but unfortunately he does not appear to want to speak anymore after his initial reply, he did confess he often thinks of it. I'll respect his silence.

On the Daytona shipping list there are two other cars listed as gong to Reedmans so this I assume ours was bought at Hatfield and wound up being number 3? Reedman's was a monster auto center, having two test tracks on site and consisting of several makes, not only of Dodge. I am hoping to speak to other family members and see if anyone has any old photographs, but I think for now I'll let it lay for a while.

Tim.

[nascarxx29]

  Awesome

[TPR]

Great detective work there Tim. Keep on going.
I don't have a single lead as to the history of my car prior to landing in Australia. Maybe I should focus on it again.
TPR

[nascarxx29]

Try your story on the boards . As Tim posted his .I always did and still do gather retro car dealer ads.And my girlfriend Ann Colli does family genelogy historys .And helped me finding the car owners or there relative / familys

[madgus2000]

Thanks for the information, what is the build date of the car?     I will remember to take the fender tags of my cars if I ever have a fight with my wife    I have a question, how the heck did they pull out everything so perfect.  I notice a lot of little black dots (heat marks) on the right rear quarter panel, did they weld rods and pull on the panels or did they use heat and pushed with a jack.. I have a fender in rough shape and would like to try and straighten it out, I think it will take me forever.   Regards,
Gus.

[Tim L]

Thanks for the information, what is the build date of the car?     I will remember to take the fender tags of my cars if I ever have a fight with my wife    I have a question, how the heck did they pull out everything so perfect.  I notice a lot of little black dots (heat marks) on the right rear quarter panel, did they weld rods and pull on the panels or did they use heat and pushed with a jack.. I have a fender in rough shape and would like to try and straighten it out, I think it will take me forever.   Regards,
Gus.

Gus
   the small dark coloured dots are shrink marks from heating and then quenching. They used a porta power (jack) to push some parts of the body (especially the roof) back into position. There was one section on the passengers side at the front of the rear quarter where they welded rods and used that method to pull out the dents. That specific area has been previously repaired prior to the car being rolled in 76, it's hidden under the primer in the old wreck photo behind the gas station.

The head guy of the two that repaired this car is a very well known body man from around our area. He has fixed a lot of classic and collectable cars over the years and is renowned for his quality and skill. He used to own a panel shop in his younger days, he's around 70 but still doing amazing work. I remember him saying that this car reminded him of the roll overs he used to fix when he was an apprentice.

Off the top of my head, I think the build date on the tag was 515. That'd be May 15th I'm pretty sure.

Tim

[loudmouthaussie]

I picked up a copy of street machine mag - nice feature!

what a shame they didn't include the 'tona as one side of the free poster!!!

would've looked nice on the garage wall 

[Tim L]

Thanks, lucky you posted on here because I was told the issue would not be out for another 3 weeks and may have even missed it altogether.. The photography looks great and both the guys doing to the article were good guys to deal with. They were limited to 1000 words so the story wasn't told like I feel it should have been. Staring into the sun for 10 minutes while he took the photos on the last page didn't make our ugly mugs look any prettier, good to see the article anyway.

Cheers, Tim.

[TPR]

Just picked up a copy. Very nice spread.
I'm surprised they didn't put you on the cover though.
Well done fellas.
TPR

[loudmouthaussie]

yeah I was thinking cover too. read the article on the nova though and that fits in with the whole modified street machine theme better I guess.

if it doesn't make it onto cover of Chrysler action I feel there will be no reason left to ever buy one again. 

[TPR]

yeah I was thinking cover too. read the article on the nova though and that fits in with the whole modified street machine theme better I guess.

True.
TPR

[tan top]

Since purchasing the Daytona on the 9th of December 2007 I have been searching, trying to find the cars history and owners from the past. I have written literally hundreds of emails, posted on forums all over the internet and called complete strangers in the hope that they may be able to shed some light on this mystery. Nascarxx29 (Dave) and his lady have been beyond amazing, helping me and digging up things through newspapers and genealogy sites I never could have found.

The car is listed on the Daytona shipping list as going to the Hatfield Recon Centre, in Hatfield PA on the 28th August 1969. The recon center is a dealer only auction house which still operates today under Mannheim. We believe we found several advertisements for the Daytona in the Doylestown Intelligencer and I was told the car sat as a wreck down beside a house in the main street of Chalfont PA from approximately 1976 - 1979. With all the info we had collected I decided that Doylestown PA would be a good home base. I wrote an email to the Doylestown Intelligencer newspaper telling them the story of the car and how it eventually found its way down here too Australia in 2008. A lovely lady named Peggy contacted me and they were nice enough to run an article appealing to any locals in the area that may have recalled the car. I received about 13 emails in total from various people in the area who had bits and pieces of information, I was pursuing these when a gentleman contacted me saying he may be able to help asking for the Daytona's VIN. I gave it to him and didn't think a great deal more of it, while in the process of pursuing my own course. I awoke one morning last week to find an email sitting in my inbox, it was a copy of the Daytona's original title which had been retrieved from a microfiche slide. It had a name, Frank C P Graser Jr, an address in Chalfont and the date the car was titled, 12th Novemeber 1969. Looking for Frank I soon found he had sadly passed away at the young age of 55 in 2001. Frank had been a butcher in the area and had owned the car from new until it was wrecked late that Saturday night on the 21st of Feb 1976. The story we had heard all along was that the car was being driven in a rainstorm and had been wrecked ending up on it's roof. Looking at historical weather reports from that Saturday it was wet but it does not appear there were any storms....

While I was looking for the crash article, I stumbled across an April 71 article telling the story of a Frank C P Graser JR from Chalfont, who happened to be the same age. Frank had been working as a service station attendant when a guy had come in wearing a ski mask and sporting a 10" hunting knife demanding cash. Frank was bound and locked in the gas station store room, upon escaping he called the police and also discovered his 69 Dodge (Frank had the car since new) was missing. I think we can safely assume what that 69 Dodge used to get away from the armed robbery was.

I have found Frank's brother and he told me Frank bought the car new at Reedmans Dodge in Langhorne PA. I shared with the brother the story of the car, but unfortunately he does not appear to want to speak anymore after his initial reply, he did confess he often thinks of it. I'll respect his silence.

On the Daytona shipping list there are two other cars listed as gong to Reedmans so this I assume ours was bought at Hatfield and wound up being number 3? Reedman's was a monster auto center, having two test tracks on site and consisting of several makes, not only of Dodge. I am hoping to speak to other family members and see if anyone has any old photographs, but I think for now I'll let it lay for a while.

Tim.

awesome stuff 

[nascarxx29]

Awesome restoration and the cars back story of its history in Pennsylvania.Doesnt get much better Congrats Tim Great car and great story case solved

[Tim L]

Thanks fellas appreciate the praise, it has been well worth the effort 

[Aussiemadonmopars]

Just found a copy of SMM. Awesome job Tim.  I would love to see it this year at the COTM, hopefully going across the Nullarbor this year for it.

[Tim L]

Just found a copy of SMM. Awesome job Tim.  I would love to see it this year at the COTM, hopefully going across the Nullarbor this year for it.

Make that trip across the Nullarbor and we might just see you there !

[held1823]

stole this from a facebook friend.

[wingcarenvy]

Thats a great picture!