[Guest]

I found mine on Autotrader. I was 17 and wanted one of the sport compacts that are so popular(Civic, Cavalier, etc.), but I was always a Mopar guy at heart. I always thought the Daytona was one of Dodge's best looking cars and came across it on the website. I've had it for over 2 years now and every day I thank god that I don't own a Civic.

 

[Bob ONeill]

Bought mine new in 1985 and have had it ever since. I tried to drive a turbo model and would have loved (20/20 hindsite) ordered the TurboZ with T-tops but over the long haul I guess what I ended up with was for the best. When I tried to test drive the turbo, the dealer would not let me till I agreed to buy. We told him that we could not agree to by till we test drove the car. They didn't budge and we went to another dealer and ordered a non turbo when we found out what the insurance would have been for a 35 year old and the TurboZ

In any case I told the dealer to get me one with....

2.5L (first year offered) non turbo
rear wiper
cassette player
A/C

I didn't care what color it was as long is it wasn't black.

The car came in a few weeks later. It was Ice Blue Metalic and have everything I wanted plus....

rear defroster
pump for lumbar and thigh support adjustments

I don't actually think there were too many more options I could have gotten on that particular model without changing many other things like going with the turbo etc. I mean I don't think I could have ordered leather etc as these were offered on the high end models only and that meant turbo.

 

[hdion7]

Bought mine from a maintenance mechanic at my shop.He had back surgery and was having trouble getting in and out of it.Gave him 600.00$ for it and have had it for four years now,and it still runs great.Everything is all original and motor and tranny have yet to be rebuilt.It now has 169,000 miles on it.

 

[resurrected 88 'tona]

Well, I got my daytona by sheer luck...
Summer 2001, a friend of mine had the car parked at the end of his driveway, where it had been for about 2 years...he parked it after he blew the head and turbo (for the second time). He fixed it once and then the following year he blew the head and turbo again, at this point he gave up on fixing it. He had sold a Shadow he owned to some guy and told the guy that he would throw in the Daytona for free. The guy took a few parts off of it (Battery, Radio, Speakers, etc.) and never came back for the car.
That's where I came in...A year or so had passed by and still the guy never picked it up. I asked my friend what he was going to do with the car, to which he said, "If you can pick it up, you can have it". (he never transferred the title to the other guy). So, I called a friend of mine that owns a tow truck and said bring the hook...Towed the car home, made repair arrangements with the local Dodge God, towed it to him and for $750 (U.S.), it was RESURRECTED...(the father of the guy I got the car from even went with me to transfer it into my name, and he paid for the transfer, which was about 30 bucks.)
I have had to make some minor repairs (maintenance, normal wear & tear for a car with over 200k miles on it), and one major repair to it since then, when a tractor-trailer dropped part of the slide rack from under his trailer in front of me at 35 mph, the k-frame, Rack & Pinion, and the bell housing split into pieces. The local Dodge God said he would try to fix it. He did, and on the work order under symptoms of needed repairs, he wrote "Resurrect"...........

 

[shoop2it]

Oh god, I've had a bunch of em

First one was actually a 1984 Chrysler Laser XT (Pimp Gold) with digital dash and power everything. Got it from a old man down the road from me for $700. Had it for over a year til the tranny blew out (along with the electronics). Bought in 91

Second was a brand new 93 base model. Went to the dealer and did like Bob did. Told em I wanted a V-6, 5 spd, with A/C, CD player and a sunroof. Color wasnt an issue, as long as it wasnt white. After a day of searching, they found one at a dealer in VA beach and sent a flatbed down to get it and brought it back up to me. Never even test drove it, just walked in, looked at it, and told them to unload it and give me the keys . Had it for years til the motor started to give out (Ran it hard like a typical teenager).

Third was a white 90 ES model I found at a local dealer. Had a blown head gasket, but other than that it was sound. Had the 2.5 with 3 spd auto tranny. Had to go with auto cause of my arm.

After a year, I traded it for a Blue 90 ES this guy in Shawsville had cause it was a 5 spd Arm was healed by then, and I missed my 5 spd. Plus it had a sunroof

Fifth one was my 90 that I have now. Its my baby. The blue one was having body issues (found out the unibody was bent and no one round here would straiten it back out). It wasnt that bad, but was causing tire wear since they couldnt get it fully aligned, plus the motor was getting old (had over 200000 mi on it without a rebuild). Guy at a lil dealer shop at the end of my road had been bugging me for my car cause he wanted it for his grand daughter. She wanted an ES model, and he had the 90 Base model of hers sitting there. So we traded. Think she got screwed in the end, but she was happy, and so was I. Still see her driving it around town, and she beeps at me when we pass.

Six and newest one is the 91 C/S I got in WVA from the boneyard. Got him for $500 and drove it home. Eventhough he has cost alot of $$$$$ to get runnin right and still have body work to do to fix the rust, it will be worth it. Always wanted to restore one, but wanted one that would be worth it in the long run.

 

[speedyink]

well it was last december, and my dad was helping me look for cars(I was 16, getting my liscense, and wanted a car). What I wanted was a smallish sporty car that was decent on gas, and a 5 speed. First I looked at an 83 VW Scirocco. I liked it, but before I could buy it someone else bought it. Next I looked at a 90 Cavilier. It was an auto so I didn't want it. I looked at another Scirocco, but it was beat up, so I didn't want it. The next car on the list was a 86 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z 5 spd with a sunroof and leather interior, as the ad in the paper put it as. I didn't even know what a Dodge Daytona was, but The sunroof, turbo, and leather interior got me excited. We got there, and I immediatly fell in love with the looks of the car. It also had Power windows, it was black, and it started up very quickly and ran great. The only bad thing was the paint was peeling off, but I didn't really care after I took it for a test drive. The guy was asking $1600 CDN, I offered him $1200, and picked it up later that day. I dont know how, but I seem to get happier with my decision every day. My friend bought a 89 Acura Integra, for $2500, and has been throwing money at it to keep it going ever since. Mine I haven't taken to the mechanic to get fixed once. All I did was replace some of the little electrical things (Distributor cap and rotor etc.) and a CV joint. Now i'm hooked on Daytona's, and I'm eyeing a newer T2 model that I've seen driving around here

 

[KMPX2]

Well as I most of you know I work at the plant that made the 92/93's. I was looking for a new racecar project & pick the Daytona. Got it on Ebay.

 

[NEON R/T]

My first & only Daytona to date was an 89 2.5 N/A base model. It was red w/ aluminum wheels, sunroof (aftermarket), and rear window louvers. I bought it off of my family's dealership for $1,200.00. It was a really good looking car & ran good for not being a turbo. I drove it for about 3 years until it started having some problems which at the time I could not afford to fix (first year of college). I sold it to my friend who fixed what was wrong with it & then drove it into the ground. I have always wanted an other daytona so on saturday I am going to look at an 88 shelby z.

 

[iangoround]

I found mine in an ad on turbododge.com. The previous owner had posted a description and some pictures that made the car look really, really bad. He said the transmission was on the way out and the motor needed a rebuild because it was really weak, the interior was all dirty and the drivers seat was torn, but it had new tires and a fresh paint job. He wanted $200 for it. A week went by and no one had taken it, so he dropped his price to $100. All the while I was trying to convince my parents to help me scrounge up the money for this (i was going to use it as a parts car at the time for my red 89 ES). A week after that, he posted saying that the car was now free and he just wanted it out of his driveway in 7 days. I jumped right on that and told him I would be down there with a tow dolly on Sunday to pick it up.

Sunday came and my Dad and I drove the 5 hours from Syracuse to Saugerties to get the car and it looked beautiful. The pictures really didn't do it any justice. It had a fresh paint job on it, T Tops, the leather interior was dirty, but very cleanable. It didn't have the original rims on it, but I didn't mind. When we started it up, I noticed that it ran like crap. I wasn't worried at the time, because it atleast ran so we could get it on the tow dolly.

Got the title from him as well as a garage full of old TD parts, chatted for a little bit, loaded up the car and took it home. Next day I found out that the engine was running crappy because he had the cam-crank timing way off, ignition timing all the way advanced, and the plug wires hooked up way wrong. The tranny was fine, it needed anew clutch but that was about it.

Drove it all summer long with no major problems except bad bearings in the alternator which i replaced with the one from my 89 es which had become the parts car, and a missing clip on the shifter cable that caused it to pop off more than once while I was at work delivering pizzas. Scrounged one of those off the 89 as well.

 

[maschmit]

Dear Moderator,

This question has been asked some many times I think it appropriate to move all the responses into the FAQ section as I get tired of typing my story in.

 

[resurrected 88 'tona]

cut and paste

hehehehehe

^_^

 

[Guest]

My first one was a 1984 turbo Z black Burgandy and silver with Black leather interior I traded it for my 1980 camaro Berlinetta straight across.

My second one is the one i have now 1989 Turbo Shelby Automatic. A friend of mine had the car for a few years. I said if you ever want to get rid of it let me know. Well a year passed after that and he blew the head. I didnt hear anything from him about the car for another 3 years and all of a sudden its mine. The car is still in need of a motor though.

 

[METALHEAD]

I will give the short and sweet of mine, had an 85 shelby charger, got i trunning hten the lower timing belt pulley got screwed up from the previous owner trying to get the pulley off, well, it came off, while I was driving hehe. I had to get rid of it due to having acqired an 86 laserxt turbo xt, fully loaded with everything. had to leave it at a buddies till I got out of college so I could fix it. Well off and on for the next two years I worked on it threw parts at it to finally find out the previous owner put in the wrong distributor, got it running and it has broke down a few times on me so far, this weekend I am going to fix the leaking thermoustat and transmission... then maybe I can drive it more than I have worked onit.. still nowhere near being tired of it

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Bought my 85 and my current 92 new, off the lot, but got the dealer to grab one from another dealer that had the options I wanted, both times.

First time, I was 24 and knew nothing about negotiation. So I paid sticker and they told me I had less than 1/8 tank of gas and had better get some as soon as I hit the pavement. Thanks for nothing!

Second time, I talked them down $800 off the $12,900 sticker price and got a $10 voucher for gas next door, which got me up to 3/4 tank. Idiots still wouldn't fill it for me, for a new purchase.

Neither dealer would loan or even rent me a car while under warranty repair. How times have changed!

 

[Bobs88ShelbyZ]

Traded a 1987 Dodge Ramcharger for it. Had too many trucks and I wanted something with better gas mileage. Truck ran rough but so did the Daytona.

Bob in Vegas

 

[stevenl20]

I found my Lazer at a used car lot here in Southern Oregon for $1,300 with 80k miles on it. Aside from a Chevy Camaro I have yet to find a car that grabs me the way my Lazer does. I used to be a "Chevy only" kinda guy,but now I take my Chevy with plenty of Mopar on the side.

 

[Christopher]

Got my first Daytona, the '93, in 1999 after I wrecked my Acclaim. I was looking for a car and my girlfriend at the time suggested I get a Daytona. We looked for 2 weeks but everything I looked at was junk. I had decided to get an Intrepid and was going to sign the papers after work when she sent me an email with a link. A dealership about 50 miles away had 2 Daytonas for sale. We drove up there, test drove both, and I got the one I have. I was immediately hooked.

My second one I found on autoenthusiast.com. (Man, I miss that site) Found a beautiful Shelby in the fall of 1999 that was owned by a guy who did auto detailing and kept the car in a heated garage. I drove it through the winter and stored the ES. It needed a lot of work and I ended up selling it the following spring for a bit more than I paid for it to a mechanic at the dealership I was taking my ES to. He ended up totalling it a few months after taking delivery.

In the fall of 2000 I found my Turbo Z on autotrader.com. I'd wanted a Turbo Z since high school and this one said it had a 3yr/75K warranty. That intrigued me. Who was going to warranty a 14 year old car. I called the guy and talked to him. His wife had bought it new and finally wanted a new car. They had had a new Jasper engine with that warranty installed that spring. They'd also had new brakes, trans, turbo and paint on whole car. They were pretty firm on the price and said they wanted $4K for it. I thought that was a bit much, but decided to go take a look at it. The car was in Baltimore, I was in Ann Arbor. I asked if anyone wanted to make a weekend run to Baltimore, and a friend said he hadn't done anything crazy in awhile so we took off Friday afternoon. When we pulled up, I knew that unless the thing ran like crap I was getting it. Test drove it, had it inspected, and drove home Saturday night.

I can't believe I've had that car for 4 years. I've put maybe 20 thousand mile on it...I honestly don't remember what the mileage is on it. Sadly, in the last year it's only been driven a hundred miles or so. I was seriously considering selling it earlier this year. I got it out and before I'd gone 100 yards down the road I remembered why I got it in the first place and those thoughts were gone. I got it for cruising on summer evenings and someday I'll get back to doing that.

 

[daytonawim]

I found my Daytona on the internet while looking for an car for a working partner from me.

It was standing at an second hand car sale's shop on an old industrial area, i went out to check the car out and it lookd nice.
Then the internet search began, i got the idee that it was an special car in europe
so i bought the car.
There are not more then 2 or 3 of this type in europe

So still happy and working on the car, with a lot of help from you guy's, thanks for that.

 

[jds6900]

I bought my black 85 Turbo Z back in September from a co-worker's roommate, whose father (ironically) used to run a salvage yard that my dad and I had frequented to get parts for other older vehicles. I had always wanted a Daytona, and this was my first good oppertunity.
The previous owner had blown 2 turbos in a row, then rigged the car to run with no turbo,so that he could drive it until he either sold or junked it. The car needed tons of mechanical work, but surprisingly enough
all the electronic doodads worked, it had new tranny, and the hatch shocks and hood shocks were good.