1969 Dodge Charger Daytona NASCAR To Star At Mecum Central Florida Collector Car Auction

Mecum’s star lot is the original 1969 No.42 Dodge Charger Daytona driven by country music star Marty Robbins at the National 500 in Charlotte in 1970. Robbins was better known for hits like El Paso and Big Iron was a regular NASCAR race starter between 1966 and 1982.

The car didn’t originally start out life as a Daytona, being raced in 1967 in a Charger skin up to 1970. James Hylton built and campaigned the car until he switched to Ford for the 1970- Riverside race.

Robbins purchased the car from Hylton and handed it to Bobby and Eddie Allison to convert it from a Charger 500 to a Daytona for the Charlotte event where it was its only outing as a Daytona. This was the first race that Robbins could participate in after returned from a two year break.

After the Charlotte race the Allisons changed the car to a ’68 Charger body to avoid the incoming aero rules for 1971. The car was then sold to new owner Butch Nelson who allowed Neil Bonnet to drive it. It changed to a 1974 Charger when Bonnet crashed it and in late 1973 is suffered a fire which saw the car disappear for many years.

The Charger was discovered back in 2005, the Nichels chassis with GM based front suspension and Hylton’s unique cage structure were key in helping to identify the car.
It was then restored by Ray Evernham’s Big iron Garage in Mooresville, North Carolina, where it was rebuilt to the aero spec as driven by Robbins. the car was then validated by Doug Dempsey, Doug Schellinger, Ronny Robbins, Bobby Allison, James Hylton and Greg Kwiatkowski. They were able to determine and authenticate the car’s history. This is the first time the car is available since being restored.

The debut came in 2019 at the 50th anniversary of the Daytona’s first race when the car joined Bobby Allison’s No.1 22 car, Richard Petty’s No. 43 Superbird and Bobby Isaac’s No. 71 car for Sunday appearance laps on the Talladega Speedway during the Aero Warriors reunion hosted by Tim Wellborn.
Since then, it has been statically exhibited at the 2019 MCACN show, Ray Evernham’s Americarna show and most recently invited to the Hershey AACA Museum’s recent “Yeah, It’s Got a Hemi!” display earlier this year.

The car’s restoration to its excellent condition began with the iron 246 Hemi V8 built by Ray Barton Racing Engines. Featuring the correct bathtub intake, factory single 4 barrel intake with LeMans float bowls, a he-man brake outfit and circle track crankcase ventilation tubes.

The engine is mated to a correct A833 4 speed Chrysler manual transmission with a reinforced Chrysler 8.75 differential housing. The very rare vintage, and now very difficult to find, Nichels NASCAR wheels, finished in proper yellow come mounted to the car. The fuel cell has been updated to current safety specifications to allow the car to participate in exhibition racing.

The Daytona Charger will be sold in the Robbins No 42 livery and will come with an extensive race history, period photos and magazine articles. Several magazines featured the discovery, restoration and unveiling, Muscle Car Review, Mopar Action, Chrysler power and Hemmings.