Wellborn Hemi Daytona

[daytonalo]

She just has a better surgeon than the rest .

[Aero426]

Photo posted is quite old.    Graded on the curve, I am sure most of us would still hit the current edition. 

[Davtona]

Of the 20 hemi daytonas built how many are still out there ?

OK the number I always heard back in the day was around 70 Hemi Daytonas were built. Of that number only 30 some were ever accounted for. What is known today as to how many were built and how many still exist?

[FJMG]

The number 70 from back in the day i believe was based on an expected percentage of the total to be Hemi powered.
You are correct in that when the shipping list surfaced there were only 36 Hemi VIN's on it and a couple of corrections may bring that number to 38 or so.
Here is where things get interesting, every single Hemi daytona in existence can be accounted for in the 36 VIN's.
So if there were indeed 70 built, it is truly amazing that EVERY single one of those VIN's (except for a couple) that fall outside the 36 on the list have disappeared.

Area 51?

Hmmmmmm.

[charger_fan_4ever]

The number 70 from back in the day i believe was based on an expected percentage of the total to be Hemi powered.
You are correct in that when the shipping list surfaced there were only 36 Hemi VIN's on it and a couple of corrections may bring that number to 38 or so.
Here is where things get interesting, every single Hemi daytona in existence can be accounted for in the 36 VIN's.
So if there were indeed 70 built, it is truly amazing that EVERY single one of those VIN's (except for a couple) that fall outside the 36 on the list have disappeared.

Area 51?

Hmmmmmm.

Cool facts. Are all 36 still alive ?

[FJMG]

No, big willies for instance and of course a couple others that are accounted for but destroyed.
However, most are still around restored or not.
An incredibly high survivor rate actually.

I should be clear in that it is MY opinion that the '70' is an estimate from back in the day as I have not seen any documents to back this number up.

The only documents that indicate engine breakdown is the shipping list and that is what I base my opinion on.

[hemigeno]

I won't swear to the 70 figure listed in Galen's little white books, but in my informal/unofficial spreadsheet there are 37 hemis noted (VIN or Fender Tag information/reference), with 2 more which are likely hemis but unverified beyond anecdotal supporting evidence.

I find it a little hard to believe that absolutely every one of the Shipping List hemi's (plus a couple corrections, as Robert noted) is a known car, but... 

We know they made at least 2 or 3 mistakes in listing the engine on the VIN, and 2 or 3 duplications of VINs on the Shipping List.  Could they have made +/- 30 VIN mistakes ("L" vs. "J")?  Possible, but it is perhaps just as likely that the mysterious document(s) from which Galen pulled his information had errors too.

One of these days (maybe if/when I retire in 20 err, 30 years), I can have the time to parse every entry in both the Shipping and Dealer Invoice lists the way I'd like to do.   

[odcics2]

Back in the late 70s, the article on Wing Cars in Special Interest Autos mentioned the "70" number.

It also mentioned it was made up and based on what were known cars at the time vs the "500 built" number.   

So, no actual science was involved, just guessing!     If one would find that article, we could even see WHO made up that number! 


The COMPLETE Daytona shipping list would be the most accurate list of vins around.   And that has some errors.

[nascarxx29]

In my collection of actual newspaper ads found a handull of hemis .And a lot of 440s

[Davtona]

An incredibly high survivor rate actually.

That's not to hard to believe to me at least. Everybody knew wing cars were special. A normal B Body original Hemi car could be found at a bargain price for the time period sometimes but a wing car usually could not. Everybody knew wing cars were somewhat special and average prices reflected it even back then. Combine the Daytona with the Hemi and it became extra special. I guess in retrospect with the low number known to exist now I feel a little better about never coming across one that could be bought. 

[5hunert]

An incredibly high survivor rate actually.

That's not to hard to believe to me at least. Everybody knew wing cars were special. A normal B Body original Hemi car could be found at a bargain price for the time period sometimes but a wing car usually could not. Everybody knew wing cars were somewhat special and average prices reflected it even back then. Combine the Daytona with the Hemi and it became extra special. I guess in retrospect with the low number known to exist now I feel a little better about never coming across one that could be bought. 

I would agree.  Just look at some of the scraps of Daytonas that were saved from the wrecking yard for decades in the " It used to be a 69 daytona" thread.  A Hemi car without the engine was just an old body with an interesting past that would be scraped no differently than a 383 car.

[wingcarenvy]

Maybe David Spade will bring it to one of the "flings" and i can see it in person.