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NASCAR banned the Dodge Charger Daytona’s nose cone and rear wing because the aero package worked too well on the superspeedways of 1969 and 1970. Fifty years later, a wind tunnel finally put a stock Charger, an authentic Daytona, and a modern Hellcat through the same test to see if the numbers back up the legend. The results settle an argument Mopar fans have been having for decades.
A team of Canadian enthusiasts put a stock 1969 Dodge Charger Hemi, an authentic aero-warrior Charger Daytona, and a modern 2015 Charger Hellcat through the same wind tunnel to find out whether the Daytona’s towering wing and elongated nose cone actually worked. The results cut through fifty years of NASCAR marketing and muscle car folklore with real drag coefficient data. Watch to see how much the vintage aero package really earned its reputation.
Only 63 Dodge Chargers left the factory with a 426 Hemi under the hood in 1971 — the engine’s final year in the model — out of more than 50,000 Chargers sold that year. This particular car isn’t just one of those 63; it’s the very first one built, a pilot car that wasn’t even supposed to reach the public.
The 1968 Dodge Charger is one of the most recognizable shapes ever built, but this one hides a secret beneath its Coke-bottle body: a factory 426 Hemi, a four-speed, and a color-plus-option combination believed to make it a genuine one-of-one. Real Hemi cars already stand apart; an unrepeatable one enters a different league entirely. Take a spin in a Charger that may have no twin anywhere. See what makes it so special.