# 1988 Daytona



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Hey all!

While it's not a real muscle car or anything, I thought people might get a kick out of the *1988 Daytona* I just posted on The Sprue Lagoon.

It's actually a nice kit, although I'm not sure what the real cars were like to drive. Anyone ever have one?

Let me know what you think!


----------



## dge467 (Jul 6, 2012)

It looks great! I always liked the looks of them. My father had one and he liked it a lot. It wasn't a turbo one, but it drove nice. Someone pulled out of a side street without looking and totaled it. Dad was fine.


----------



## QuicksilverDC (Jan 11, 2009)

Faust said:


> Hey all!
> 
> While it's not a real muscle car or anything, I thought people might get a kick out of the *1988 Daytona* I just posted on The Sprue Lagoon.
> 
> ...


Great Build looks really good, I had quite a few of the Shelbys and Non turbos, had an 87 T Top Turbo Z that was Blue with Blue Leather very similar to your build. However my favorite one was this 89 TII 5 speed I had it for 15 years and sold it last fall, Great cars and very fun, on the freeways they are very deceiving and ride quiet and smooth and when you look down at the speedo your doing 75-80


----------



## Superbird (Apr 12, 2002)

I had a non turbo 1986 version. Used to drive it on long trips, comfortabe ride. Folding down the back seats gave you lots of room to carry tools. Head gasket liked to blow around 120,000 miles.


----------



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

I've heard a lot of people say they liked their Daytonas. 

The head gasket thing doesn't surprise me. That's pure Chrysler all the way... :freak:


----------



## Mr Morton (Feb 10, 2013)

I sold a few of those back in the day, also took a lot of customers on demo drives. Step on the gas hard and have a little patience while the turbo spooled up and they would go well enough. They handled noticeably better than the 5.0 Mustangs and IROC Camaros, IMHO. As far as straight line acceleration went, they didn't quite keep up. They had a weight advantage but a horspower and weight transfer disadvantage. Nice comfortable car to drive long distances.


----------



## Hey Mr DJ (Mar 1, 2013)

*Great Job*

Very Nice - Love the Cell Phone....


----------



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

I know... coolest model car accessory EVER. 

It really is like having your old wall-mounted kitchen phone in your armrest. I'm amazed it wasn't a dial one!


----------



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Just out of curiosity for the people who remember these from back in the day:

Was there a big difference in the performance and general public reception between these Daytonas and the Chargers and Shelby Chargers that directly preceded them? I have one of the Shelby Charger kits, too. Looking at the kit, there's a lot of differences.

Does that mean this style (1988-type) was a total redesign, or just more warmed over than previous versions?


----------



## Rondo (Jul 23, 2010)

Nice build! You don't see a lot of cars from this era. 

My older brother had a series of such mini sports cars including an Omni GLH and then a Shelby Charger (turbo). Both were autocrossed quite a bit and he drove them hard on the road. Mostly long FAST interstate trips. Credit radar detectors and sharp eyes for the fact that he is still able to drive. I don't believe he ever had any major trouble beyond typical electrical failures.

Both were peppy if not brutally powerful but the shifters were not great and the turbo wasn't well suited to tight autocrosses. The GLH 2.2 had a great burble as 4 bangers go. Torque steer was a big feature of both cars although IIRC Chrysler had worked on the problem for the turbo cars.

I believe his next car was a Beretta GTZ, another overachieving 4 cylinder. That car was very stable and quiet up to 125 but the cylinder head did not survive a steady diet of such driving.

I still have an old Shelby Charger model that he or our younger brother built. I should give that a good going over.


----------



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Was there ever a GTZ Beretta kit? I have a GTU (AMT, but originally MPC, I think) which can be built as a GT as well, but I don't have a GTZ. Wasn't there a Z26 kit as well?

Man, gotta start collecting more stuff for an "overachieving 4 Cylinder" collection. I love that statement; what a great way to put it.

I wonder, would the SVO count in there? I'm not sure how over achieving it was...


----------

