While anthropology teachers have a habit of killing your Indiana Jones fantasies, and telling you there’s no more treasure to be found, no cursed burial grounds that haven’t been excavated, a man in Alabama has proved them all wrong by finding this miraculous 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona.
This glorious piece of machinery is 1 of only 503 Charger Daytona’s built in 1969 to meet NASCAR homologation regulations. According to the NY Daily News, the Charger Daytona supposedly sat in the barn, collecting all manner of rust, dust, and what appears to be quite a bit of chicken excrement over the years until it was uncovered. The state of the Charger Daytona however, doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Due to its iconic and now extremely rare nature, the car, as it sits rust and all, is worth somewhere in the range of $150,000-$180,000. However, once restored, it could fetch a price tag upwards of $260,000. Nevertheless, that is still years of restoration work away.
While this specific Charger Daytona doesn’t have the more sought after 426 Hemi, the 440 Magnum V8 engine under the hood still has plenty of horsepower on tap to roast the tires and perform your best Dukes of Hazard impersonations. Additionally, this Charger Daytona was found with only 20,553 miles on the odometer, this all but ensures that it could be one of the lowest mileage cars that survived, making it even more valuable.
One of the most interesting parts of this car is the tale of its first owner. According to Mecum, the Charger Daytona was originally bought by a judge, who then gave the car to his wife. We don’t know much more than that about the couple, but based on their automobile choices, they sound like our kind of people. After that, the car was sold in 1974 where it stayed locked up away in the barn until recently.
After the car was rediscovered, it was sold it to a restoration specialist who now has the car consigned to be auctioned off next month. Mecum Auctions will drop the hammer on the Charger Daytona during their Kissimmee auction that goes from Jan. 15-24.
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