Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 2006 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T
The Dodge Charger story has been through quite a few fascinating plot twists since the first 1966 models appeared in showrooms to lead the "Dodge Rebellion" against the similar-looking Rambler Marlins that had beaten the Coronet-based fastback Mopars to the marketplace by a year. You had the B-Body Chargers through 1978, which resembled first their Plymouth Satellite and then Chrysler Cordoba siblings, then a few years off before the introduction of a Simca-derived front-wheel-drive Charger for 1982 through 1987. All those Chargers had two doors apiece, but DaimlerChrysler's Charger revival for the 2006 model year featured four doors … and more available horsepower than any production Charger ever seen before*. Here's one of those '06 Chargers, Hemi and all, found in a Denver-area self-service car graveyard a few months back.
The VIN says this car is a genuine R/T; the 2006 Daytona was just an appearance package that included a big decklid spoiler and flashy graphics in addition to all the other R/T goodies, so I can't be certain that this car started life as a genuine Daytona or not. It appears that the graphics were masked off and then retouched when the thick coat of rattlecan flat-black got applied to this car, but they could have been applied over the third backyard paint job.
A spoiler once lived here, but it appears to have been installed after the black paint job.
According to the build tag, the original paint color on this car was GoManGo!, with exclamation point. Later on, the spelling for this color's name changed to two words and no punctuation.
The original Chrysler Hemi engine evolved out of a World War II experimental aircraft engine design, first appearing in Chrysler models for the 1951 model year. By the late 1960s, the Hemi was making absurd power on the race track and dangerous power (considering the scary brakes and suspensions of the era) on the street.
