The Plymouth Superbird and Dodge Charger Daytona
Chrysler started experimenting with aerodynamics in the 1920s, but not until 1969 did they release the most aerodynamic car of its time - one whose drag coefficient was not matched for many years, yet was built on an existing model with relatively few changes. This was the Dodge Charger Daytona, to be joined in 1970 by the Plymouth Superbird.
The 1969 Dodge Daytona had a drag coefficient (cd) of just 0.28, better than most cars made in the 1990s. It would have produced even less drag, if it weren't for the tall spoiler (added to keep the rear wheels on the ground at high speeds), but still achieved 200 mph (set by Buddy Baker on March 24, 1970, at 200.447 mph around Talladega). The price of the retail cars, fitted with either a 440 or Hemi engine, was around $4,000, and the top speed was practically unbeatable in a production car (contemporary estimates ranged around 180 mph).
The first-generation Viper, with its aerodynamic shape, had a cd of over .5; the 1994 Plymouth Duster had a cd of .42. ; the mid-1990s Eagle Talon had a cd of .36. Even the sleek Eagle Vision had a drag of .31, considerably higher than the 0.28 of the 1969 Charger Daytona. That car set a speed record that held for 13 years, to be broken by about 1 mph in 1983.
The Daytona's rear wheels tended to lose their traction, until that massive spoiler was put on, because it carried a standard 440 cubic inch, 375-hp engine, and air would flow under the car and lift it. The optional powerplant was the fabled 426 Hemi, a 425-hp (plus) monster designed for racing.
Aerodynamic development leading to the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird
Bob Stuemke wrote,
Even Virgil Exner understood aerodynamic principles, though production cars did not show many of the existing knowledge. Still, some used the information that was out there. Thomas Osiecki noted that Bob Osiecki's Chrysler-powered "Mad Dog IV" set a world speed record of 181.561 MPH at Daytona International Speedway in 1961, largely through aerodynamic improvements.
Russ Shreve wrote:
Even before the Daytona, the Charger had been tuned for aerodynamics with the special Charger 500 model. As Burton Bouwkamp wrote,
Burton continued, in his history of the Dodge Charger:
Not all testing took place in wind tunnels. Greg Kwiatkowski wrote, "My car, DC-93, (also known as #88 later in life), was used at the Huntsville Airport for coast down studies on the new 'wing.' They'd run one way, turn around and run back, averaging the numbers out to get rid of any spurious input [e.g. wind.]" In essence, if you take it up to speed, then put it in neutral, and measure the time it takes to slow down - or the speed after a certain distance - you can get a rough measure of drag under real life conditions, including the road going by underneath.
Mr. Kwiatkowski added, "The front of the #88 cone/lower valance is sealed all the way back to the engine cross member; what I have seen of the #43, #71, #7 and 'show car' #6, that is not always the case. Larry Rathgeb told me that was very important to the aero of the wing car design for the race track. Engineering told the teams the chassis setup, gearing, and other 'tricks,' but you can't make them all implement the suggestions. ...
"The '69 race Daytona package got the front lift of a standard Charger to zero, from 1,200 pounds at race speeds. A bigger front spoiler, further forward, would make some downforce - relative to a no lift condition. The rear wing would be used for down force and to balance the car, aero wise. To get the same effect with a rear spoiler would cause a lot of drag! The spoiler would have had to be well beyond the NASCAR limitations of 3 inches. Overall, the car would have lost top velocity in the straights. So, it would have entered the corner at a slower speed. A lose-lose situation. This is why the still-born King Cobra could not be driven fast. It was loose in the corners with the maximum allowed spoiler of that time period. Now, that car had front downforce and rear lift!"
Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird car construction
The Daytona was built as though it was an option package, thanks to a low budget and last-minute modifications to win races. Take a Dodge Charger (440 or Hemi), stick a wedge over its nose and a three foot metal spoiler on the rear, and, as Petty Enterprises' Kurt Romberg pointed out to me, add an under-nose spoiler, vertical stabilizers, and a backlight modification.
The Daytona wouldn't have been complete without at least one quirk, and it picked a good one. Driven too slowly, it could overheat. Increasing speed (or switching to the next-year's Superbird) took care of the problem.
The Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird were considered ugly at the time, but 20 years later, they seem graceful, and maybe even commonplace (except for that spoiler - and their 18 foot length).
NASCAR wing car development (by Curtis Redgap)
Excerpted from Curtis' article on Chrysler's NASCAR efforts
The answer to more speed cutting the aerodynamic drag. The answer to that was already sketched out by two different designers independently of one another. Their respective designs had the nose of the proposed car nearly the same. The rear wing on one design was a two stage affair, while the other resembled the final result of the proposed Dodge Charger Daytona. ...
Plymouth made their commitment to build a winged car, based on Richard Petty's commitment to return to Plymouth. Someone thought that doing the Plymouth version would be easy. Just send a Belvedere two door over to Creative Industries, where the Dodge Daytona for the commercial street market had been built. Having to build 2,000 cars for commercial sale prior to January 1, 1970 didn't leave Plymouth much time.
The aerodynamic engineers warned Plymouth that it wasn't going to be anywhere near as easy to get a winged car with the Plymouth. Plymouth went ahead and had Creative Industries hang a nose on the front and put a wing on the rear of a stock Belvedere. It was awful!
When they saw what Creative Industries had done, the styling department they threw a fit. Faced with having to build 2,000 cars since NASCAR had upped the ante to get in, commercial acceptance was vital. Something had to be done and done quickly.
A proposal to hang a Charger front clip on the Belvedere was quickly rejected. The two body styles were vastly different. Trying to tinker with the current Belvedere fenders just didn't work out. Wind tunnel testing showed that by doing that, it actually increased drag!
The rear window on the Belvedere was also causing a large drag on the car. They had some money for development, but to cure the rear window drag would have meant changing the entire rear quarter panels, the rear deck lid, the roof sail panels where it sweep into the truck, and leading edge of the rear window where it went into the roof, the rear window itself, and the back valance where the trunk lid locked down. Instead, they concentrated on the rear wing.
In the end, the side stabilizer part of the wing was 40% larger than the Daytona. The wing was swept back further, and the stabilizers titled in towards the trunk more. The front "beak" of the Plymouth cut into the air at a slightly higher angle than the Daytona. The air inlet was redesigned. In the end, what had been achieved without redesigning the entire car was a 99.5% stability rate with a small increase in drag. It was not quite as clean as the Daytona. The numbers looked excellent.
Front fenders and a hood from the Coronet were grafted on the Belvedere body (the Dodge was more aerodynamic). After that decision, it took only a week to clay in the entire car and get a model into the wind tunnel. Two weeks later, a fully operational car was off and running at the Chrysler Proving Grounds at Chelsea. Then, just after the model was changed from Belvedere to Road Runner Superbird, the prints and materials were sent over to Creative Industries where the street commercial Plymouths were built.
Development of the Dodge Charger Daytona, its 200 mph speed record, and its racing history
Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird car stories
CBody67 wrote:
Two stories explain the rear spoiler. Some wrote that it's three feet tall so the trunk can open. An interview with the engineers at Chrysler, long ago, included a comment to the effect that as the numbers kept getting better as they raised the spoiler, until it was three feet off the car, that's where they left it. Either or both could be true.
An anonymous reader wrote:
Chrysler started experimenting with aerodynamics in the 1920s, but not until 1969 did they release the most aerodynamic car of its time - one whose drag coefficient was not matched for many years, yet was built on an existing model with relatively few changes. This was the Dodge Charger Daytona, to be joined in 1970 by the Plymouth Superbird.
The 1969 Dodge Daytona had a drag coefficient (cd) of just 0.28, better than most cars made in the 1990s. It would have produced even less drag, if it weren't for the tall spoiler (added to keep the rear wheels on the ground at high speeds), but still achieved 200 mph (set by Buddy Baker on March 24, 1970, at 200.447 mph around Talladega). The price of the retail cars, fitted with either a 440 or Hemi engine, was around $4,000, and the top speed was practically unbeatable in a production car (contemporary estimates ranged around 180 mph).
The first-generation Viper, with its aerodynamic shape, had a cd of over .5; the 1994 Plymouth Duster had a cd of .42. ; the mid-1990s Eagle Talon had a cd of .36. Even the sleek Eagle Vision had a drag of .31, considerably higher than the 0.28 of the 1969 Charger Daytona. That car set a speed record that held for 13 years, to be broken by about 1 mph in 1983.
The Daytona's rear wheels tended to lose their traction, until that massive spoiler was put on, because it carried a standard 440 cubic inch, 375-hp engine, and air would flow under the car and lift it. The optional powerplant was the fabled 426 Hemi, a 425-hp (plus) monster designed for racing.
Aerodynamic development leading to the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird
Bob Stuemke wrote,
Even Virgil Exner understood aerodynamic principles, though production cars did not show many of the existing knowledge. Still, some used the information that was out there. Thomas Osiecki noted that Bob Osiecki's Chrysler-powered "Mad Dog IV" set a world speed record of 181.561 MPH at Daytona International Speedway in 1961, largely through aerodynamic improvements.
Russ Shreve wrote:
Even before the Daytona, the Charger had been tuned for aerodynamics with the special Charger 500 model. As Burton Bouwkamp wrote,
Burton continued, in his history of the Dodge Charger:
Mr. Kwiatkowski added, "The front of the #88 cone/lower valance is sealed all the way back to the engine cross member; what I have seen of the #43, #71, #7 and 'show car' #6, that is not always the case. Larry Rathgeb told me that was very important to the aero of the wing car design for the race track. Engineering told the teams the chassis setup, gearing, and other 'tricks,' but you can't make them all implement the suggestions. ...
"The '69 race Daytona package got the front lift of a standard Charger to zero, from 1,200 pounds at race speeds. A bigger front spoiler, further forward, would make some downforce - relative to a no lift condition. The rear wing would be used for down force and to balance the car, aero wise. To get the same effect with a rear spoiler would cause a lot of drag! The spoiler would have had to be well beyond the NASCAR limitations of 3 inches. Overall, the car would have lost top velocity in the straights. So, it would have entered the corner at a slower speed. A lose-lose situation. This is why the still-born King Cobra could not be driven fast. It was loose in the corners with the maximum allowed spoiler of that time period. Now, that car had front downforce and rear lift!"
Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird car construction
The Daytona was built as though it was an option package, thanks to a low budget and last-minute modifications to win races. Take a Dodge Charger (440 or Hemi), stick a wedge over its nose and a three foot metal spoiler on the rear, and, as Petty Enterprises' Kurt Romberg pointed out to me, add an under-nose spoiler, vertical stabilizers, and a backlight modification.
The Daytona wouldn't have been complete without at least one quirk, and it picked a good one. Driven too slowly, it could overheat. Increasing speed (or switching to the next-year's Superbird) took care of the problem.
The Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird were considered ugly at the time, but 20 years later, they seem graceful, and maybe even commonplace (except for that spoiler - and their 18 foot length).
NASCAR wing car development (by Curtis Redgap)
Excerpted from Curtis' article on Chrysler's NASCAR efforts
The answer to more speed cutting the aerodynamic drag. The answer to that was already sketched out by two different designers independently of one another. Their respective designs had the nose of the proposed car nearly the same. The rear wing on one design was a two stage affair, while the other resembled the final result of the proposed Dodge Charger Daytona. ...
Plymouth made their commitment to build a winged car, based on Richard Petty's commitment to return to Plymouth. Someone thought that doing the Plymouth version would be easy. Just send a Belvedere two door over to Creative Industries, where the Dodge Daytona for the commercial street market had been built. Having to build 2,000 cars for commercial sale prior to January 1, 1970 didn't leave Plymouth much time.
The aerodynamic engineers warned Plymouth that it wasn't going to be anywhere near as easy to get a winged car with the Plymouth. Plymouth went ahead and had Creative Industries hang a nose on the front and put a wing on the rear of a stock Belvedere. It was awful!
When they saw what Creative Industries had done, the styling department they threw a fit. Faced with having to build 2,000 cars since NASCAR had upped the ante to get in, commercial acceptance was vital. Something had to be done and done quickly.
A proposal to hang a Charger front clip on the Belvedere was quickly rejected. The two body styles were vastly different. Trying to tinker with the current Belvedere fenders just didn't work out. Wind tunnel testing showed that by doing that, it actually increased drag!
The rear window on the Belvedere was also causing a large drag on the car. They had some money for development, but to cure the rear window drag would have meant changing the entire rear quarter panels, the rear deck lid, the roof sail panels where it sweep into the truck, and leading edge of the rear window where it went into the roof, the rear window itself, and the back valance where the trunk lid locked down. Instead, they concentrated on the rear wing.
In the end, the side stabilizer part of the wing was 40% larger than the Daytona. The wing was swept back further, and the stabilizers titled in towards the trunk more. The front "beak" of the Plymouth cut into the air at a slightly higher angle than the Daytona. The air inlet was redesigned. In the end, what had been achieved without redesigning the entire car was a 99.5% stability rate with a small increase in drag. It was not quite as clean as the Daytona. The numbers looked excellent.
Front fenders and a hood from the Coronet were grafted on the Belvedere body (the Dodge was more aerodynamic). After that decision, it took only a week to clay in the entire car and get a model into the wind tunnel. Two weeks later, a fully operational car was off and running at the Chrysler Proving Grounds at Chelsea. Then, just after the model was changed from Belvedere to Road Runner Superbird, the prints and materials were sent over to Creative Industries where the street commercial Plymouths were built.
Development of the Dodge Charger Daytona, its 200 mph speed record, and its racing history
Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird car stories
CBody67 wrote:
Tom Murden wrote:
Two stories explain the rear spoiler. Some wrote that it's three feet tall so the trunk can open. An interview with the engineers at Chrysler, long ago, included a comment to the effect that as the numbers kept getting better as they raised the spoiler, until it was three feet off the car, that's where they left it. Either or both could be true.
An anonymous reader wrote:
See:
- Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird NASCAR racing cars
- Instrumenting the 200 mph Charger Daytona • Restoring the #88 record-setting car
- Creating the 200 mph Dodge Charger Daytona
- Car of the Month, May 2009: Ralph Barbagallo's 1970 Plymouth Superbird
- Review of Plymouth Superbird models
- Winged Warriors page
- Supercars : The Story of the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird by Frank Moriarty and Buddy Baker
Track | 59.7 f / 59.2 r | Rear suspension | leaf springs | |
Max Width | 76.6 | Steering | recirculating ball |