Frankenstein Dodge Charger Is the Salvage Yard Hero We Deserve
‘Scraptona’ is a beastly duster with NASCAR power under a heavily-modified 1969 Dodge Charger body.
You may recognize the TredWear Scraptona, as what appears to be a crudely-modified 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona is popular on social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Some Mopar lovers see pictures of this car and are quick to voice their rage that someone has mistreated a legendary wing car, but those critics need to rethink that hatred for this car. Fortunately, Hot Rod did a piece detailing the key details and this is a car that Mopar lovers should embrace.
The Scraptona is not an original Dodge Charger Daytona in terrible shape; it is a dirt track race car with a few key body panels from an original 1969 Charger (not Daytona), fenders from a 1970 Coronet, some aftermarket replacement parts for a 1970 Plymouth Superbird and a NASCAR engine. The car is owned by Michael Hunt and Lee Clayton, the owners of TredWear. TredWear sells the bright lettering on the tires of the Scraptona, but in addition to selling tire decals, Hunt and Clayton like unique vehicular projects. Scraptona is their most unique and the coolest thus far.
Donor Car
The basis for the Scraptona is a 1969 Dodge Charger that had spent decades serving as a parts car. By the time Hunt and Clayton got to it, it was just a hacked-apart shell. All they really got was the roof, the cowl area and the front suspension assembly, but everything else was gone, including the floor.
The original plan was to take this 1969 Charger and build it onto a Rocket dirt racing chassis, but after John Alexander of Ozan Chassis Shop looked at what they had on hand and what they wanted to end up with, he changed the plan. Rather than adding the skin of the Charger over the Rocket chassis, he decided to use all of the key hardware from the dirt track chassis to build a custom tube chassis around what was left of the Mopar muscle car.
Building a Wing Charger
Once the team had decided to build a wing car, they acquired an aftermarket rear spoiler and nose, opting for Superbird parts rather than Charger Daytona parts. Using the Superbird nose meant that they had to use 1970 Coronet fenders, but they didn’t just hang new sheet metal and call it a day.
Since the dirt track wheels and tires are huge, they wouldn’t fit comfortably under the narrow body of the Charger, so after buying quarter panels and fenders, they crafted a widebody design that maintains the natural lines of the 1969 Dodge. This means that the doors are indented a bit, but that doesn’t diminish the coolness of this custom-built wing car. Also, the wider fenders meant that the standard wing car fender scoops wouldn’t fit, so the team cut apart two gas tanks from a Kawasaki KZ650.
Like many dirt track cars, the entire rear end is open, as the 1969 Charger donor car didn’t have a tail light panel, but the team has crudely tacked-up a set of taillights to the bar that protects the fuel cell.
Finally, the Scraptona has the Wilwood brakes and the race-ready suspension of the dirt track car.
NASCAR Power
When Hunt and Clayton wanted the Scraptona to have big power, but they didn’t want to go the HellCrate route that many other current Mopar projects have gone. Instead, they found an R5-P7 engine for sale online. That is a 2001 NASCAR engine, measuring 358-cubic inches and delivering 740 horsepower and a delightful 8,300 RPM. Imagine how this car must sound at wide-open-throttle; it has to be glorious.
Sending that power to the rear wheels of this unique classic Dodge is a Tremec TKO 600 5-speed manual transmission and a Winters quick-change rear differential with 3.55 gears.
In the end, this is not a Daytona that needs to be loved. This is a 1969 Charger that was on death’s doorstep, brought back to life with parts from a dirt track car, a NASCAR stock car, a Kawasaki motorcycle, a Plymouth Superbird and an endless number of custom parts.
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