Text and photos by Victor Van Tress.
So, there I am, one day driving to a friend’s shop in an industrial complex in northwest Los Angeles County, and what do I see? A Dodge Charger Daytona towing a ’67-’69 Barracuda hardtop on a trailer, parked right in the middle of the street.
A Charger Daytona, as a towing vehicle? For real?
Mopar fans need no introduction to the Daytona, as it was Dodge’s notorious high-performance version of the Charger, created with the sole purpose of crushing the opposition in high-profile NASCAR races. Produced in the summer of 1969, the aero-nose creation was a “speedway screamer” that quickly gained fame among the faithful.
In any case, those competition Charger Daytonas are highly coveted now. So, the find in LA couldn’t be a real Daytona I thought, but a tribute by a big NASCAR fan. Still, a fun sight. I took a photo of it and went on my way.
Fast forward a few months, and I see it once more in an entirely different part of the country. This time, it was on Highway 20 around Van Horn in the middle of Texas, going west just as I was going east. It was towing a car on a trailer, again. Time to find out more about it… Except the owner didn’t reply to my call on the CB radio. Oh well.
Fast forward to 2018 or so, and while visiting my brother in Palm Springs, I see the car parked at a shopping mall. No trailer this time, but I decided to hang around and wait for the owner to show up, as I was determined to talk to him this time. Sure enough, I did shortly after. I even got to go up to his house, as he lived outside Palm Springs.
No surprise here, but the guy had been a lifelong fan of the Pentastar’s products and was pretty well known among Mopar diehards. Throughout the years, he owned several Daytonas, real and clone ones, and eventually, got the towing service going as a side gig. Regrettably, I don’t have many photos or written notes from that day to exchange all the information gathered then, but needless to say, my meeting with him and his son was a memorable one. And BTW, you’ll never guess what the son drove…
(If you guessed like father, like son, you’d be right.)
Was it a genuine Daytona? Was it an ex-racecar? (looks like a Neil Castles get-up). Why the large distances between sightings? What engine? What towing mods? Why is it a tow car?
BTW The photo with the truck on the trailer being towed by the Daytona actually happened once for a short distance when the truck broke down while towing the Daytona.
But that one is not even the strangest one.
Citroens tow very well, youd be surprised how well Ive had my Superminx on a trailer behind my one, it barely noticed, a SM ute though thats really cool
The trailer with the SM even has Hydrolastic suspension so it doesn’t even need ramps
How bizarre! Well if you’re gonna play the game, what would be your engine choice if you were to use the Charger as a tow truck/car, 426 or 440?
Caterpillar
My modest contribution here: I saw this Celica pace car (Thunderhill Raceway) on a trailer on Interstate 5 just today but it pales by comparison with a Daytona tow vehicle, let alone an SM towing an SM.
This is -so- interesting .
I’d love to hear more details .
-Nate