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Clone Or Custom

Started by Arigmaster, May 25, 2006, 07:52:00 AM

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Arigmaster

I have a question to all the Wing car owners....

Some of you have built clones and some have true Daytonas and Superbirds. I on the other hand have chosen to just do a partial custom using only the elements that appealed most to me. Wing & fender scoops only.

I put the fender scoops on but did not make them functional. (I couldn't bring myself to cutting a big hole in the tops of mint fenders) I like the look of the Daytona wing and scoops but prefer the '68 grill over the nose cone. (wouldn't fit in my garage with the nose cone) I also kept the stock '68 tail lights too. I also like the sail panels with the original back window over the Aero plug...

I installed a six-pack hood scoop on the original hood as well and I am still only thinking about adding the door scoops from the '70 Charger to it. (haven't decided yet) When I put this car together, I wasn't going for a R/T or Daytona clone...  Just wanted something unique or different but wanted to keep it all MOPAR.

Anyway, there are the avid car buffs out there who might be opposed because the car isn't stock  or may have opinions just because I didn't want to make a clone. (finish the job)

Whats your thoughts on customs like this???

hemigeno

It depends on what its intended use is as to how it would be received.  A car like that obviously isn't eligible for the OE Gold class at the Nats, but that's not your intent anyway.  A whole lot of people (read: Chevy/Ford guys) at your average cruise-in might not know what the differences are between your car and an original anyway.  Those that do question what you did will either ask you what your reasons were, or they would likely want to pick your car apart anyway no matter how faithful you were to the original design.  If you're trying to make everyone happy, you'll end up making no one happy - including yourself.

To me, build it the way you want to.  Those that have a problem should build their own car to suit them, or buck up and buy your car for some exhorbatant amount so they can have a right to fix it the way they want.  The only exception I can think of is if some future owner (didn't figure you'd fall into this category) was silly enough to try and pass it off as a weird, one-off factory car.  THEN some legitimate criticism is warranted.

While I own an original Daytona (or at least the pieces of one :P ), I am not "offended" in the least by clones, recreations, or tribute cars - whatever the euphamism du jour might be.  I'm glad to see such an interest in them, and that interest has spurred some quality aftermarket/reproduction parts that might never have been produced without the interest in clones.  I might disagree with some of these supplier's Customer Service techniques (let's not go down that road any farther than that statement), but it is a tremendous asset to the Wing Car hobby as a whole to have good parts, and for there to be competition in general.

Arigmaster, I think you're planning something that a lot of guys would like to see built.  You're not the only one to like certain features of one year, and other features from another year.  I think you will get a lot of questions and quizzical looks when people start to look the car over, but I think it will definitely be an eye-catcher.  And BTW, don't worry about cutting holes in the fenders beneath the scoops.  The Superbirds didn't have the holes cut beneath their fender scoops, and with the holes you have the constant problem of road debris/mud/dirt being chucked up on top of your nicely-painted and clean fender.  Since your intent isn't factory-correct, you are probably going the more user-friendly route by NOT cutting the holes.

Keep us posted on what you decide, and the Picture Hounds (myself included) won't be happy without lots of progress pics too.

:cheers:

hotrod98

It's your car. Do it your way. I think most people, myself included, agree that the stock back glass is much nicer looking than the hatchback look. While my final decision is to go ahead and do the back glass transformation, I'll admit that I wish the original daytona back glasses had been left stock. Would have made the job easier as well. Since we're going the whole route, nose, wing scoops, etc, we felt like leaving that glass and trunk lid stock made little sense. But since you're not trying to copy a daytona, do what you think looks good. I think the fender scoops and the hood scoop will balance out the wing just fine.
Don't plan on using the trunk too much though.  ;D


Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.
Charles Addams

Howie

I saw a 66 charger up at St.Louis a few years ago that had a wing and fender scoops on it. It looked unique. I also saw a 69 charger with a bird wing and daytona scoops! 
It`s your car so enjoy it. It sure will look a whole lot better than one of these rice burners with a triple wing element and a quart can for exhaust.

Lowprofile

See, your not the only guy who wants to do that!   :icon_smile_big:

Its you car bro, build what makes you happy.  :2thumbs:
"Its better to live one day as a Lion than a Lifetime as a Lamb".

      "The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on."

Proud Owner of:
1970 Dodge Charger R/T
1993 Dodge Ram Charger
1998 Freightliner Classic XL

Old Moparz

I almost put just the wing on my '69 Charger 25 years ago, but never managed to have enough cash to actually do it. I wouldn't do it to my own car now, but I also wouldn't condemn someone who did. (except helpgagme maybe) I like the nose cone a lot & have one, so that's my goal. I'm probably not going to do the rear window plug since it's a lot of work for something I was never crazy about to begin with.

Have fun with it first, that's the most important thing.
               Bob                



              I Gotta Stop Taking The Bus

nitrometal

I think it sounds pretty cool looking.  You should do it.  I think the only problem would be if you changed something so much it would be very difficult to return it to stock condition.  That may tick a lot of people off.
I love the smell of nitro in the morning.

http://pettysuperbird.com

hotrod98

Quote from: Howie on May 25, 2006, 02:10:26 PM
I saw a 66 charger up at St.Louis a few years ago that had a wing and fender scoops on it. It looked unique. I also saw a 69 charger with a bird wing and daytona scoops!
It`s your car so enjoy it. It sure will look a whole lot better than one of these rice burners with a triple wing element and a quart can for exhaust.

Looked nice to me.


Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.
Charles Addams

myrt70

That red 70 R/T looks hot with the wing. There was a thread that had a red 500 with a wing too. The 66 with the wing,is neat too. The 66-67 cars could have really used the wing on the track too,as they were prone to the back end lifting at speed. They were the first car in Grand National racing allowed to use a spoiler. Dodge offered the small three peice spoiler,as a dealer installed option,so they could use it on the track.
70 Charger R/T

tan top

its up to you dude ,   you will always get someone criticize your ride no matter what you do to it , stock, modified ,tubbed etc,,, one off custom, it is your ride do what ever makes you happy.
  :yesnod: good idea not to make the fender scoops none functional , because if you change you mind some time in the future you have only got small holes to weld up.
Feel free to post any relevant picture you think we all might like to see in the threads below!

Charger Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86777.0.html
Chargers in the background where you least expect them 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,97261.0.html
C500 & Daytonas & Superbirds
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,95432.0.html
Interesting pictures & Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,109484.925.html
Old Dodge dealer photos wanted
 http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,120850.0.html

hotrod98

Looking at that pic of the first gen charger that I posted, reminds me of a pet peeve that I have. I think that all car shows should designate a certain time of the day when all hoods and deck lids should be closed for the sake of taking good pics. I attended a car show a few years back where they designated a couple of hours in the middle of the day for just that reason. At the larger shows, the owner's are never around to close the hood for a photo shoot. If people ask me, I'll close mine so that they can get good pics. At the Branson show, I alternated just about every hour and people were telling me at the motel that night that they had gotten some great pics of my two cudas together. I was talking to one of the magazine guys at the nats a few years ago and he said that you wouldn't believe how many idiots submit car show pics of their cars with the hoods open thinking that they will be placed in the magazine.
I say we start a petition to get all car shows to designate a photo period of at least one hour.  ;D

Oh and I agree, don't cut the fenders. That way you only have to weld up eight holes to get the fenders back to stock.


Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.
Charles Addams

Ghoste

It's getting so that I'm kind of glad to see someone make the car into the car THEY want instead of a concours correct, date coded everything, get me to the Barrett-Jackson tent on time "investment".

That isn't a slam on the numbers matching crowd btw, cuz I like those too and understand fully that there is an imortant need for those cars.  I'm just tired of seeing so many people trying to "max out" their "investment" rather than just driving the wheels off and enjoying the stupid car for it's intended purpose.  Just an opinion though.

hotrod98

I meet people all of the time stressing out over a date coded fan belt. Geez...get a life. No matter how hard you try, you can't make them all original. You're still just trying to create an illusion. The original fan belt is the only fan belt that's original. Techinically that car is a clone of the original car when you get right down to it unless it has 100% of the original parts that it was born with. I've had people turn their noses up at one of my clones when they don't even realize that their own car is technically a clone. I drive my clones probably 100 times more often than my so called original cars.  If my fan belt breaks, I go down to the parts store and buy a gates hose for 6 bucks and I'm back out tearing up the streets.
Clones are cool


Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.
Charles Addams

Brock Samson

 Personally to Go your own way, would be my advice,..  :icon_smile_wink:
I can't wait to see Kabs' '678970...  ;D

                                                           :yesnod:

Lowprofile

Wow!  That 66' Looks great that color and with the Wing!   :yesnod: :icon_smile_big:
"Its better to live one day as a Lion than a Lifetime as a Lamb".

      "The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on."

Proud Owner of:
1970 Dodge Charger R/T
1993 Dodge Ram Charger
1998 Freightliner Classic XL

69_500

Do your car however you want to. Its your car. Its not anyone else's, so do to it what you want. If your going to build up a car do what you want, and what you like and don't worry about what others think of it.

Now in my opinion. I prefer cars to be stock, in the majority of cases. I personally don't care much for the cloned wing cars and such. While they are unique in their own ways, I just love the origionals so much I don't like seeing them copied. Now however on the other hand, I've thought of cloning a Daytona myself, due to the high prices of a real one. So its a toss up.

nakita7

Well, you asked for our thoughts.

Hate to go against the flow here, but I would say, don't do it. I myself am wanting to build a wing car clone, but mine will be 100% correct when done. What you are wanting to do is take the best of each year of Charger, and kinda melt it all together. In all honesty, if I saw that driving down the street, I would laugh (very hard). Of course, you can build and drive whatever you want. Fly at 'er. But, you asked for my thoughts....

I personally, am not a big fan of 68 tailights, and I think it would look weird with a wing, but you would have that rare, 1of 1, car that everyone is after! The red 70 with the wing looks (kinda) cool, but the 67 looks retarded, IMHO. What it boils down to, is that every time I see a Mopar with the wrong year of tailights, or grille, or seats, or exhaust tips, or whatever, it just simply bugs me. I am not into Mickey Mouse cars at all. Period.

I can see some of you already!!!! Well then, why would I build a clone??? It's not correct/stock blah, blah, blah....

I can buy a real one. The reason I would build a clone is because I am building it as a daily driver, and I choose not to drive a real one because of theft, vandalism, accident and constant stress of all of the above. But I digress...

If you really want to build your car that way, go for it. Please post pictures of it, I'm sure you'll do a good job. 2 cents were asked for...2 cents were given.

P.S. What colour would you paint it?


dodgeboy67

build it the way you want , i personally have a 67 and i am going to do some things to it that some here might not approve of.

the bottom line here is its your car , if you like way something looks, then do it..you are the one who wil be driving it.

i think the what you are doing will look just fine, in fact it will be just a little  bit different than the norm.

imo......... thats a good thing.......gives us something to talk about at car shows.

btw..... i always thought that nose cone looked dorky anyway(but then  it wasnt for looks)i just think the car will look tough with no nose

keep us posted


Ghoste

So how many folks would consider the actual winged race cars to be original?  How many would consider them to be clones?

hemigeno

Quote from: Ghoste on May 27, 2006, 08:24:31 AM
So how many folks would consider the actual winged race cars to be original?  How many would consider them to be clones?

Well, since the street cars were purpose-built to allow the oval track cars to run, maybe the better question is whether or not the STREET cars are clones?

IMHO, they are both original.  Both were sanctioned specifically by Chrysler, and with parts supplied brand-new by MaMopar.

:Twocents:

tan top

Quote from: Ghoste on May 27, 2006, 08:24:31 AM
So how many folks would consider the actual winged race cars to be original?  How many would consider them to be clones?
                   i would say the  original race aero cars are the originals and the street  :scratchchin:  XX29's
( C500's & Daytonas are the clones ).because the race C5OO & DAYTONA had all ready been built and track tested and the 68/69 basic charger  bodies ( in white) received the aero parts first , and then chrysler had to build street legal copy's to be allowed to race , if that makes sense :confused: but the XX29  chargers are the original  ones also because they was sold as aero cars from the dealer .
Feel free to post any relevant picture you think we all might like to see in the threads below!

Charger Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86777.0.html
Chargers in the background where you least expect them 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,97261.0.html
C500 & Daytonas & Superbirds
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,95432.0.html
Interesting pictures & Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,109484.925.html
Old Dodge dealer photos wanted
 http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,120850.0.html

Ghoste

I think they are both original to two different categories.  To me, it was a bit of a trick question and I never really considered Geno's point about the street cars being clones.
I only asked the question because Danny mentioned liking the originals so much, he hated seeing them cloned.  I understood exactly what he meant but it did occur to me that all of the race cars were most likely 68 models with updated sheet metal.

nakita7

If a Daytona falls in the forest.... ::)

Arigmaster

Thanks for your input so far guys,

I am actually at the point with the car where I have everything on it and I am very unhappy with the Showcars.whatever parts. They look like crap even after all the hours I spent re-working them. I will have to live with it for awhile untill I can afford something different.

The car is just for the street and I dont plan to put it in shows or anything. Just wanted something different for a weekend toy. The main color of the car is black. On the hood, rear, and wing, I used Radar Blue and seperated the two colors with Hemi Orange stripes.
I know it's hard to picture and I am sure it doesn't sound appealing but I'll post pics as soon as I get my camera back from my sister.

The picture below is from 4 weeks ago...

AL

Arigmaster

Whooolly Crap! How do you re-size these?

tan top

Quote from: nakita7 on May 27, 2006, 12:56:23 PM
If a Daytona falls in the forest.... ::)
 
              good question :scratchchin:  i will give that some thought tonight  :smilielol:
Feel free to post any relevant picture you think we all might like to see in the threads below!

Charger Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86777.0.html
Chargers in the background where you least expect them 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,97261.0.html
C500 & Daytonas & Superbirds
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,95432.0.html
Interesting pictures & Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,109484.925.html
Old Dodge dealer photos wanted
 http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,120850.0.html

hemigeno

I had already seen that picture of your car in General Discussion a few weeks back, and saved it in a smaller size.  Here ya go:


tan top

Quote from: Arigmaster on May 27, 2006, 04:08:51 PM
Thanks for your input so far guys,

I am actually at the point with the car where I have everything on it and I am very unhappy with the Showcars.whatever parts. They look like crap even after all the hours I spent re-working them. I will have to live with it for awhile untill I can afford something different.

The car is just for the street and I dont plan to put it in shows or anything. Just wanted something different for a weekend toy. The main color of the car is black. On the hood, rear, and wing, I used Radar Blue and seperated the two colors with Hemi Orange stripes.
I know it's hard to picture and I am sure it doesn't sound appealing but I'll post pics as soon as I get my camera back from my sister.

The picture below is from 4 weeks ago...

AL

            sounds a intresting , black and HEMI orange stripes have all ways been a awesome color combination in my opinion. :iagree: really need to see the pictures to appreciate it.is it dark blue on the hood and wing? 
Feel free to post any relevant picture you think we all might like to see in the threads below!

Charger Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86777.0.html
Chargers in the background where you least expect them 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,97261.0.html
C500 & Daytonas & Superbirds
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,95432.0.html
Interesting pictures & Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,109484.925.html
Old Dodge dealer photos wanted
 http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,120850.0.html

Chargen69

A couple of years ago there was a yellow '69 with the fender scoops and the wing, it looked cool even without the nose (the nose would be better, but still almost bought it)

Arigmaster

I'll try to get some better pics later but these should give you an idea where I'm going with the car... Sorry about the quality but had to reduce the file size. Now if I could only make the pics smaller...

tan top

looks good ,  :thumbs:  this might be of intrest to you  ( Arigmaster) on one of the aero websites there is old film footage in the 70's of a street driven 68 charger with a daytona wing  running a solo lap of a  race track .
Feel free to post any relevant picture you think we all might like to see in the threads below!

Charger Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86777.0.html
Chargers in the background where you least expect them 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,97261.0.html
C500 & Daytonas & Superbirds
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,95432.0.html
Interesting pictures & Stuff 
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,109484.925.html
Old Dodge dealer photos wanted
 http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,120850.0.html