Quickly name the first three all-time most iconic Charger cars Dodge ever built (no four-doors allowed)! Chances are the answer goes like this: General Lee, the R/T from Bullitt, and the Daytona winged warrior. And the answer would be 33.3% wrong – a disclaimer follows in the next paragraphs – because this forgotten Mopar will testify otherwise.
When Mopar saw that its Charger creations were good, it gave them a place in Piston Heaven.
And then the emissions regulations Satan pricked all joy from V8s with his pointy energy-crunching horns, and all fun went to that dreaded H-word place all gearheads avoid to pronounce: history. After all, if God made man in His own image, why on Earth did the descendants of Adam go down the road of automotive misery after putting tremendous effort into building HEMIs and Magnum Six-Packs and the like, only to send them in front of the Malaise inquisition a few short years thereafter?
Coming to the statement in the first paragraph about the percentage, Dodge built the 1970 Charger and the 1968 R/T. Still, Chrysler did not put together the Winged Warrior. Before you enter the digital lapidation launch codes into your keyboards, remember one little devil-residential detail.
Creative Industries put the nose cone and signature rear spoiler on the Charger 500, thus transforming it into the famous automobile we know. Chrysler did not, in fact, fully assemble the Daytona in 1969 in any of the corporation’s factories. It did, however, get its wrenches together and finally put the bells and whistles on the 1975 model (Insert mind screeching-vinyl sound here): that’s right, there was a Dodge Charger Daytona in 1975.
Or, to be mathematically fair to the original limited-edition NASCAR-homologating production run of 500-and-few original 200-mph-barrier-breaking speed demons:there were 238 Dodge Charger Daytona examples built for the 1975 model year.
This is a bit confusing – mainly because the Daytona of the Malaise Times was not a sub-model but a trim package for the Dodge Charger Special Edition (SE). And this one, in turn, was a badge-engineered Chrysler Cordoba. (Yes, the seventies were fugly years for muscle cars, and Mopar even spat on some of its children’s graves in an attempt to save its hide from bankruptcy).
Let’s recap: in 1975, the Charger was at its fourth generation, and got appointed to a new divisional tier: personal luxury. In the eighth decade of the past century, this catchphrase hid a horrid reality – the tire companies would see their profits diminish because instant burnouts and general rubber-smoking fun became a decadent petrol-lavish thing of the past.
Engines were losing performance faster than a gun-banning Presidential candidate would lose followers, votes, and mind. Car manufacturers either killed performance nameplates – may the Crankshaft Gods have mercy on their HEMI-gods (pun intended) Plymouth ‘Cudas – or played a sleight of hand with the monikers.
The Charger got the ill-fated transmutation: having started life as a full-sized performance car with luxury affectations, the name was sacrificed on the fuel-saving altar and assigned the role of a plush luxobarge. The Charger was not spared the humiliation of being stripped of all its V8 glory only to be sent to the gallows of the oil embargo side effects.
In 1975, Dodge thought it would be a good idea to have a vehicle offer similar to the newly-introduced Chrysler ‘Corinthian Leather’ Cordoba. The division didn’t bother with designing a model of its own. Instead, it slapped some personalized front clip details and rear taillights on the first Spanish-named Chrysler, called it a Charger, and pat itself on the back.
The Dodge Charger came in four trim levels in ’75: the simpleton Charger, the Charger Sport, the Special Edition, and the Daytona. The latter was a high-end package for the SE (it could be ordered only as an add-on to the high-price SE variant).
238 were assembled, and all came in a two-tone color combination (three choices were available: brite clue/silver, silver/silver, and red/maroon). Most of the 1975 Daytonas had the blue-over-silver livery with a blue interior (a theme repeated six years later, on the last Imperial’s Frank Sinatra Signature Edition).
The cars had plenty of standard equipment, like power steering, power front disc brakes, color-keyed 24-ounce shag carpeting, or an electronic digital clock (with analog rolling digits). A heater with a defroster, a keyless door locking system, all-vinyl front bucket seats with center armrest, sound deadening, a high-speed starter, the premium steering wheel, and front/rear sway bars were also on the no-extra-cost equipment list.
The body style was a two-door hardtop, but it was a far cry from the illustrious styling from ‘68-’74, and it had nothing in common with the first-generation fastback. The extended deck, longer hood, opera windows, and eye-glasses-and-mustache style front end had nothing to do with muscle.
Three engines were available: the optional 318-CID (5.2-liter), the standard 360-cube (5.9-liter) with either two- or four-barrel carburation, and the range-topping 400 cubic-inch (6.6 liters again, in 2V or 4V formats). A single three-speed TorqueFlite auto was linked to all engine options, with rear ends varying between the 2.45 economy gearing to the 3.21 high-ratio axle.
As standard, the rear end of a 1975 Charger Daytona would have been the 2.71, with a 2.94 also available. The Sure Grip differential was available only on the 2.71 and 3.21 cars. Don’t let the choices fool anyone – the performance wasn’t even an option, let alone standard. The best an engine would offer was the 190-hp, 290 lb-ft from the 4V 400-CID V8. Not a lot of sportiness, despite the advertising brochures claiming the racy look (see it in the gallery).