"Waltermelon" charger

[Beep Beep Dave]

Easy fellas...I just seen the wing and mentioned the paint, you could see it was white at one time too. I thought it was strange that it looked to have FJ5 as the base a the F6 on top of that. Obviously I was thinking of the Watermelon car.

I don't think we are going to solve all the mysteries overnight...stay tuned I will get some more info. It just may not be tonight or tomorrow.

Fire up the popcorn machine and have a beer

I just thought you guys would want to see it and get your input.

As mentioned my friend got the wing out of Michigan, he traded a repop wing and cash for it. Wing is going on his real Daytona...

Dave   

[Ghoste]

Always open to more clues or information though.

[WINGIN IT]

Easy fellas...I just seen the wing and mentioned the paint, you could see it was white at one time too. I thought it was strange that it looked to have FJ5 as the base a the F6 on top of that. Obviously I was thinking of the Watermelon car.

I don't think we are going to solve all the mysteries overnight...stay tuned I will get some more info. It just may not be tonight or tomorrow.

Fire up the popcorn machine and have a beer

I just thought you guys would want to see it and get your input.

As mentioned my friend got the wing out of Michigan, he traded a repop wing and cash for it. Wing is going on his real Daytona...

Dave   

Understood Dave, just saying it's worth investigating.
Let us know if you find out anything.

[Beep Beep Dave]

I just thought I would try and see what everyone thought on here as well.

For instance I was wondering what sense did it make with the wing painted FJ5 first, I could see the car painted over with the F6 but the wing would have been added after the fact.

If I find anything out I will post it up here. It would be awesome if the car was still around in some form. It really is a great looking machine.

Dave

[odcics2]

What's the color of the over spray on the inside?  Looks a little red...     

I hope folks don't get too excited. I remember back in the mid to late 70s, wings would come off a car in the junk yard.
I bought a few back then for $75 -100. each, off cars that were rusted out and the fronts banged up beyond repair.   
Being the nose on the 'watermelon car was leaded to the fenders, the rest may have all gone to the crusher without pulling the nose. 

[DAY CLONA]

I just thought I would try and see what everyone thought on here as well.

For instance I was wondering what sense did it make with the wing painted FJ5 first, I could see the car painted over with the F6 but the wing would have been added after the fact.

If I find anything out I will post it up here. It would be awesome if the car was still around in some form. It really is a great looking machine.

Dave

Dave, I don't know if you saw my earlier post regarding your pics?....I'll reiterate, I believe the car started off originally as a 70 Charger RT in FJ5 (Sublime) I'd like to believe that the base color was kept, the wing and nose added, and painted in FJ5, the F6 was then sprayed over the FJ5, either this was intentional?, an after thought? or to customize the car for the short tour of duty it did on the ISCA tour? who knows?....trust me, it's much easier to tape off the FJ5, and spray F6 over it,...I was almost tempted to go this route when I painted the Watermellon clone, as tapeing off the stripes and all the F6 exposed areas was twice the amount of work,....seeing how most cars were painted "back in the day", I was really tempted to paint/jamb the whole car in FJ5 (sublime), then tape off just the stripes, then paint the F6 like a "repaint" would have been done back in the day", but trying to explain an F6 car with Sublime/FJ5 painted engine compartment, trunk, and door jambs would have been daunting to all but the most intune to what it represented, besides the fact the car was already a rolling piece of fruit


Mike

[Beep Beep Dave]

Thanks Mike, you would probably be the best person to ask as you must have done the research added to all your car building experience.

As I find any new info I will post it up on here.

Dave

[mauve66]

popcorn and beer???

[Beep Beep Dave]

Ok we talked to the owner of the car today...he still has it. We are going to have him send us the VIN. The fender tag is missing. He said the car has had a few owners, here's the kicker...it appears to have been originally FJ5 but its also a sunroof car He didn't think it was an R/T but a 500.

So it has some signs pointing towards the Watermelon car but others not so much. He thought it was a black interior car. The 1970 Charger has a similiar tail light panel as a 1969 car not like the pictured Watermelon car...anyway as I find out more I will post it up.

I was using these pics as a guide:

http://1970chargerregistry.com/pictures/Watermelon.html

Dave
 

[DAY CLONA]

Ok we talked to the owner of the car today...he still has it. We are going to have him send us the VIN. The fender tag is missing. He said the car has had a few owners, here's the kicker...it appears to have been originally FJ5 but its also a sunroof car He didn't think it was an R/T but a 500.

So it has some signs pointing towards the Watermelon car but others not so much. He thought it was a black interior car. The 1970 Charger has a similiar tail light panel as a 1969 car not like the pictured Watermelon car...anyway as I find out more I will post it up.

I was using these pics as a guide:

http://1970chargerregistry.com/pictures/Watermelon.html

Dave
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Thanks for the response Dave,....while we know the Purple 70 Daytona was a sunroof car, the "Watermellon" 70 Daytona was not, unless someone added the sunroof after the fact?, you never know what has happened in the last 40+ years
 

[Beep Beep Dave]

I meant to say it has a black interior in it now...he didn't think it was white?
Well thats it for now.

Dave

[Beep Beep Dave]

The VIN came back as a 440 R/T Charger 1970.
Dave

[Beep Beep Dave]

Are we sure the original Watermelon car didn't have a sunroof?

Dave

[C5X DAYTONA]

Ok we talked to the owner of the car today...he still has it. We are going to have him send us the VIN. The fender tag is missing. He said the car has had a few owners, here's the kicker...it appears to have been originally FJ5 but its also a sunroof car He didn't think it was an R/T but a 500.

So it has some signs pointing towards the Watermelon car but others not so much. He thought it was a black interior car. The 1970 Charger has a similiar tail light panel as a 1969 car not like the pictured Watermelon car...anyway as I find out more I will post it up.

I was using these pics as a guide:

http://1970chargerregistry.com/pictures/Watermelon.html

Dave
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------













Thanks for the response Dave,....while we know the Purple 70 Daytona was a sunroof car, the "Watermellon" 70 Daytona was not, unless someone added the sunroof after the fact?, you never know what has happened in the last 40+ years
 

The purple Daytona was not a factory sunroof car to my knowledge.  The window label Jerry had on display in the car in the mid 70s says so right on it.   Add Daytona conversion package and add sunroof.   I have a picture of it around here of it somewhere.  

[DAY CLONA]

Are we sure the original Watermelon car didn't have a sunroof?

Dave

Most positive Dave, I took all available photos of the car, color, black and white, about 7 individual shots IIRC, blew each one up, and enhanced each one looking for any trace of a roof panel (I also sent photos out to a few guys that had the hardware/knowledge to "wash" distortion/shadows out of pics and re pix for definition), generally on the 69/70 B body sunroof panel the "fuzzy" 1/4" panel windlace would be black, which becomes pretty prominent on a white roof, I even assumed had it been omitted/removed making a panel harder to view, but any digital enhancements showed no trace of a factory type panel,....believe me, I've been studying those photos years before I built the car, I've studied every detail, reflection in the panels, ground, surrounding area, you name it.....sadly, i wish the car had, had a sunroof, I would have had no issue installing one!

mike



Sunroof lines are usually very prominent .....

[DAY CLONA]

Ok we talked to the owner of the car today...he still has it. We are going to have him send us the VIN. The fender tag is missing. He said the car has had a few owners, here's the kicker...it appears to have been originally FJ5 but its also a sunroof car He didn't think it was an R/T but a 500.

So it has some signs pointing towards the Watermelon car but others not so much. He thought it was a black interior car. The 1970 Charger has a similiar tail light panel as a 1969 car not like the pictured Watermelon car...anyway as I find out more I will post it up.

I was using these pics as a guide:

http://1970chargerregistry.com/pictures/Watermelon.html

Dave
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------













Thanks for the response Dave,....while we know the Purple 70 Daytona was a sunroof car, the "Watermellon" 70 Daytona was not, unless someone added the sunroof after the fact?, you never know what has happened in the last 40+ years
 

The purple Daytona was not a factory sunroof car to my knowledge.  The window label Jerry had on display in the car in the mid 70s says so right on it.   Add Daytona conversion package and add sunroof.   I have a picture of it around here of it somewhere.  

Sean, agreed....the "docs" Jerry had indeed said add sunroof and Daytona package to the purple 70 R/T, IIRC he also had a dealer invoice stating.... "remove, clean spray glue from front seats"....from after the sunroof was installed


Mike

[C5X DAYTONA]

    "remove, clean spray glue from front seats"....     That's awesome.       

[Redbird]

One of the few really interesting, with something to be learned by those of us who don't know all the history, threads in years.

[DAY CLONA]

   "remove, clean spray glue from front seats"....     That's awesome.       

It's the Parsons Dodge dealer Invoice dated  3/3/70 for repairs, car showed 4000 miles at the time, and mentions the glue removal from the seats , most likely from the sunroof/vinyl roof install....along with the Daytona "package" added, this was after Jackson took the car to Speedweek at Daytona according to my notes, IIRC the initial repair was for carb tuning?

Mike

[nascarxx29]

http://wwnboa.org/70csed.htm
http://www.bangshift.com/forum/showthread.php/8414-1970-Charger-RT-SE-Daytona-6-pak-on-ebay-bids-at-215-000?s=a56dd4c948ffdd967843c84c54bf2121

[odcics2]

Are we sure the original Watermelon car didn't have a sunroof?

Dave

Most positive Dave, I took all available photos of the car, color, black and white, about 7 individual shots IIRC, blew each one up, and enhanced each one looking for any trace of a roof panel (I also sent photos out to a few guys that had the hardware/knowledge to "wash" distortion/shadows out of pics and re pix for definition), generally on the 69/70 B body sunroof panel the "fuzzy" 1/4" panel windlace would be black, which becomes pretty prominent on a white roof, I even assumed had it been omitted/removed making a panel harder to view, but any digital enhancements showed no trace of a factory type panel,....believe me, I've been studying those photos years before I built the car, I've studied every detail, reflection in the panels, ground, surrounding area, you name it.....sadly, i wish the car had, had a sunroof, I would have had no issue installing one!

mike



Sunroof lines are usually very prominent .....

I looked over the original photos and concur - no sunroof. 

[WINGIN IT]

The question is Dave, is the sunroof on the car in question a factory sunroof, or an aftermarket installation?

[DAY CLONA]

The question is Dave, is the sunroof on the car in question a factory sunroof, or an aftermarket installation?

Joe all the "factory" sunroofs are "aftermarket", all were performed by ASC off line, a car could be also be retro fitted as a dealer done item later, plus ASC had authorized installation shops around the country, one could just drive to, and have an installation done, that would appear "factory"....but I know you may also mean an actual aftermarket unit that is not "factory" appearing,...I've gone to look at cars that people claim are "factory sunroof" cars, only to find an aftermarker pop up style glass panel


Mike


I just hope Dave sees it before the Black Suburbans get there!

[69_500]

If it is a real 500 I would be interested in seeing it.

[Beep Beep Dave]

Thanks for all the help Mike. It seems like the car is worth a roadtrip anyway. There is no fender tag as mentioned. The car decodes as a 70 Charger R/T - U code so a 440 4bbl car.

I will keep you guys in the loop!

Dave