Australian men seek history on their rare Doylestown Daytona

If you recall seeing a rare 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona in Bucks County in the 1970s, the Lynches, of Melbourne, Australia, would like to hear from you.

There were only 503 of this limited edition racing vehicle made, Tim Lynch says. He and his father, John, bought one that once motored through the Doylestown area, its rear connected “wings” sticking up like a rooster’s tail.

Tim Lynch recently emailed The Intelligencer asking for help in finding the original or early owners of their bright green machine.

“We imported our car to Australia in 2008, and I have been researching the car’s history since, which has led me to Doylestown, where it was advertised for sale in your newspaper in Sept./Oct. 1971. The car spent its life around the Doylestown area in the 1970s before being wrecked and then sold in 1979 as a wreck to its new owner, who stored it in a barn for the next 20 years,” Tim Lynch wrote.

The Lynches purchased the vehicle on eBay in late 2008 and came to Long Island, New York, to see it around New Year’s Day. The pair from Down Under, where winters are balmy, remember how “freezing cold” it was in New York.

“We shipped the car as a wreck from the docks in New Jersey and it took six weeks to get to Australia and then six years to rebuild the car,” they said by email.

The Lynches completed the restoration of their vehicle in March.

And, they said, the car is the only one of its kind in Australia.

Since it’s more than 28 years old, the vehicle can be driven there even though its steering wheel is on the left and Australians drive cars with steering wheels on the right.

“We drive on the opposite side of the road to you guys in the USA, the same as England and Japan,” they noted. “It is a little odd initially sitting on the wrong side of the car here but you soon get used to it.”

The car has a 440 cubic inch Magnum V-8 engine, an automatic transmission, a “spring green” exterior and black interior. It has 47,000 miles on the engine, most of them driven in Bucks County. That figure does not include the approximately 10,000 nautical miles the car traveled on the high seas to its new home.

According to Edmunds.com, a 1969 Daytona was the first racing car to top 200 miles per hour at the NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in March 1970. It was featured in the movie “Fast and Furious 6.” But the auto site states that the ’69 Daytonas, which now sell for more than six figures, were too rare and expensive to be used in other racing films.

“These cars are always remembered for their enormous high wings on the back and pointy nose cones on the front, which gave them the aerodynamic advantage they needed to win on NASCAR super speedways,” the Lynches explained.

Since the Lynches completed their restoration, the former Doylestown Daytona “has been featured in several magazines as well as being the main attraction at several major car shows,” Tim wrote.

A blog he has authored about the car has received more than 60,000 views.

Anyone with information on the car’s history while it was owned locally can email Tim Lynch at tjlynch1983@gmail.com.

Peg Quann: 215-345-3179;

email: pquann@calkins.com;

Twitter: @pegquann