unsold wing cars

[Charger1970]

I have always heard stories of Superbirds and Daytonas sitting in the showroom for a while before selling.

It seems as times goes on the story gets bigger. I remember reading years ago how some cars would sit for a year before selling. These days the story seems to be growing into 'sitting for 3 years' before selling.

Has anyone ever verifyed these stories? I am doubting there were THAT many unsold wing cars sitting for so long. Maybe a few.

[terrible one]

I've heard this as well, as well as rumors about having to convert Superbirds back to Roadrunners to get them to sell. Is there any truth to any of this at all?

[nh_mopar_fan]

I definitely remember reading a story in a Mopar mag about a wing car that wasn't selling so it became a regional rep car. It then changed hands between a couple dealers before it was finally sold a couple years later.

The rep got into an accident with the car on rt89 in VT and the recent pics of the car still showed some of the signs of that. If I recall correctly, the car has never been titled.

[Beep Beep Dave]

Its really not that big of a deal. There are new cars sitting some dealers lots today that have been sale for over a year!
Don't forget they built alot of Superbirds, back in the day some dealerships were very small and they got stuck with one, they probably didn't want in the first place and had a tough time selling. I have heard different stories but I would bet there were a few sitting for 3 plus years!

Dave 

[Troy]

Yes, they were tough to get rid of. I personally know of one Daytona that sat for well over a year - so long, in fact, that the dealership had to purchase the car from Dodge themselves. It eventually sold and years later they bought it back. That's the only one I can verify but I'm sure there were others.

Troy

[tan top]

there was a feature in one of the mopar magazines a wile ago ,about a red 440 DAYTONA  the dealer could not sell it ,so they kept it in the show room  un till 2004 ( something like that) if i remember correctly it had never been registered .  i think they might still have it today , unless they  sold it ( i think they put it on ebay  for  big big dollars $$ last year)

[mustanghater]

http://carsinbarns.com/Superbirds%20&%20Daytonas/pg24.html

[69_500]

There was one that still hadn't sold until about a year ago.

I have heard many stories of Superbirds being converted back into Road Runners to be sold. I also know that there was a Daytona sitting on the lot in Greenfield Indiana for well over a year. I believe that GENO's Daytona sat on the lot a long time too, it was either his or Jims which was from the same dealership.

[hemigeno]

I have heard many stories of Superbirds being converted back into Road Runners to be sold. I also know that there was a Daytona sitting on the lot in Greenfield Indiana for well over a year. I believe that GENO's Daytona sat on the lot a long time too, it was either his or Jims which was from the same dealership.

Personally, I think the stories about Superbirds being converted back into 'Runners are often recycled.  Not to say that it never ever happened, but I hear about that phenomenon often just like Danny said - but no one seems to have concrete examples.  I wonder if that falls into the category of Urban (or Aero) Myth?

My Daytona was delivered to St. Joseph Dodge in late August '69, and sold on March 5, 1970.  3--Daytona's F5 green car sold almost exactly a month before mine from the same dealership.  It's interesting to note that a green automatic car sold before a high-impact 4-speed car...   

[mustanghater]

Did anyone even look at that link!

[Jon Smith]

I saw some old pics once of a superbird in a scandinavian country that looked like a stock 70 roadrunner but i dont know if the owner had removed the nose and wing himself or if it originally sold like that
theres a real daytona that still runs on the drag strip here in the UK that had a stock 70 nose until a few years back, again I dont  know if this was down to a dealer or if it was done later, has a nose cone on it now

[hemigeno]

Did anyone even look at that link!

Yes, but where does it say that it sold new from the dealership that way?  I've never said that it didn't happen, but I don't think its as common as what a person might believe if all they did was listen to the rumors about that phenomenon.

I have a picture of a HemiDaytona that had its nose damaged, so the car had a 1970 front bumper/grille installed.  That doesn't at all mean that it sat on the lot for so long that it was converted to something other than a Daytona in order to sell.  There's no guarantees that damage (and/or theft) didn't occur to the Superbird in that link, and that it was just repaired without the Superbird parts.

[Beep Beep Dave]

I saw some old pics once of a superbird in a scandinavian country that looked like a stock 70 roadrunner but i dont know if the owner had removed the nose and wing himself or if it originally sold like that
theres a real daytona that still runs on the drag strip here in the UK that had a stock 70 nose until a few years back, again I dont  know if this was down to a dealer or if it was done later, has a nose cone on it now

I have a story about that very car on my website!!!
http://www.mapleleafmopars.homestead.com/carsinbarns95.html



Dave

[69_500]

I'll see what I can come up with, but I do have some more photo's of Superbirds that are wearing RR front ends and such. I think I have photo's of a Tor Red one, like that, and another color, it might be the same White one.

[Bluestar]

I've seen the car at Brockton Dodge in Massachusetts many years ago.  It was a badly restored 1969 Daytona (Non-Correct) Blue Metallic with White Stripe.  The story the dealer told me is that it was never sold.  It sat on the lot for quite some time until there was an accident on the road out in front where one of the vehicles hit the Daytona hard.  They put it in the back of one of their shops for may years until about the late 80's if I remember right.  They then did a poor restoration on the car and put it in the showroom which is where I saw it.  I have heard that the car is now in the New England Auto Museum somewhere in the area.

I witnessed the car, but the story is as told by a dealership person.

[nascarxx29]

I recall it was something like the newport museum in RI

[RAWPWR]

The stories I've been told was dealers would remove the nose cones and leave the wings. I've seen these type of "roadrunners" back in the day. Must remember these car were to long to fit in most garages. My 68 just fits in my garage. They had to sell what 500 units to make it a legal NASCAR and the dealers more than likely did what they could to sell them.stories

[69_500]

Well for the 69 cars they had to sell 500 street units, for the superbird however the rules had changed to 1 for every 2 dealerships. Which was about 2,000 units.

[nascarxx29]

I did hear of the Mass daytona before in the old daytona with vinyl top post on the bottom of this page where I found my content of info .But I didnt know it was once wrecked as bluestar described .I  thought it was a well preserved survivor  According to old newsletter archivesthe Newport Auto Museum In RI. has or had a a daytona in there hands XX29L9B390009. That sold brand new in Providence RI. .That sold and was traded to another dealer that doesnt match the daytona shipment info

Posts: 124






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Quote from: chargervert on January 06, 2006, 12:03:36 AM
The B5 blue car from Mass,had a vynal top on it.The car had 4000 original miles on it,but was repainted,and I beleve that the top was dealer installed.



  Hey Vert! .........The "Mass wingcar" family owned never titled, never registered, in storage all it life!"dealer demo"  actual milage 11,000 vinyal top installed by upholstery shop,local........repainted B5/ stripe painted on( original finish was tired from years of being fondled by wingars in the showroom where it sat much of its life, repainted, put in storage), wire wheels, original magnum rims in trunk(4), jacks were gone?,........no rust, no body/paint damage, interior exc. cond........car is pretty much original excluding paint, rims, "dealer vinyal".....studied this car for quite a few years as it sat in storage! ( and no, I won't release/print the cars #, vin, location, you wingars out there think that #''s list is accurate? unless you've seen the cars, know their history, see the real paperwork!, the WWarriors "list" is "general" to say the least?)........the car in question had some unique "features" in its construction from creative Ind.......spoke with the owners, and the former service manager detailing the cars history,...............unfortunitly, due to family matters, the car was sold.........waiting to see when this one becomes public again, and what BS stories might be told!

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,7868.0.html 

[BigBlackDodge]

The stories I've been told was dealers would remove the nose cones and leave the wings. I've seen these type of "roadrunners" back in the day. Must remember these car were to long to fit in most garages. My 68 just fits in my garage. They had to sell what 500 units to make it a legal NASCAR and the dealers more than likely did what they could to sell them.stories

Not only that, but wouldn't have to swap the fenders and hoods also because they were Coronet pieces?

BBD

[69_500]

So has anyone seen of the B5 car since then? I remember Pete talking about that car when I was at Carlisle last year.