Jeff Stephenson said his `phantom' 1973 Dodge Charger Daytona is a real head-turner that turned out much better than he expected it would. He figures he'll drive the car and show it for a couple of years and then sell it so he can start on another Dodge project.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The long, shark-like nose, combined with the huge rear wing made the Dodge Daytonas and their sister cars, the Plymouth Super Birds, the ones to beat on NASCAR tracks -- until NASCAR outlawed such features shortly after they appeared.
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Chrysler police-issue wheels and button hubcaps are used at all four corners, mounting BF Goodrich 245x60x14 radial TA's.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Another small touch used to boost the car's Daytona image is the non-functional pop-open gas cap attached to the left rear fender, where a pit crew member would have inserted a fuel can during racing action.
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Rear brake vents came from a 1969 Dodge Super Bee, which was the car Stephenson was looking for when he found his '73 Charger and began the complete makeover.
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Stephenson's Dodge began its life as a plain-vanilla Charger, so he had to create the correct door scallops from scratch, cutting and shaping metal by hand to acheive the Daytona effect.
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The dashboard remains fairly stock, with the addition of a tachometer and an unusual pistol-grip column shift knob.
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Even the rear seats in Stephenson's Dodge were sourced from a Cadillac Northstar, underscoring the point that if you build a car that never really existed, you can pick and choose parts that suit your fancy.
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Not exactly what you would expect in the interior of a NASCAR-styled car, the seats are plush leather Cadillac Northstar units, complete with electric controls.
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The recessed hood scallops show the lengths to which the builder went to replicate the Daytona's styling. He had to cut the hood and weld in metal panels to create the right look.
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The Dodge Daytonas used an extended nose piece to improve the car's high speed aerodynamics. Stephenson fashioned his own, starting with a cardboard template and then shaping sheet metal to fit; the retractable headlights are actually Pontiac TransAm units.
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Stephenson rebuilt a 440 cubic inch Dodge V-8 for his NASCAR-styled machine, using a twin snorkel air cleaner outfitted with metal ducts that draw fresh air in from the front of the car's long nose. He figures the engine puts out roughly 400 horsepower.
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The imposing wing towers over the decklid of the Dodge. Stephenson had already installed the smaller rear spoiler, but everyone told him if he was going to have a Daytona, it had to have the big wing, so he built this removable all-metal unit by hand.
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A diehard Dodge fan, Jeff Stephenson always wanted one of the rare winged 1969 Charger Daytonas, but knew he could never afford one. But that didn't stop him from building his own version of the NASCAR warrior, this one-of-a-kind 1973 Charger in `Vitamin C Orange.'
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
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