Dodge Charger Daytona Survivor Reunited With Its NASCAR Driver! (Dave Marcis' Winged Warrior)

Oh, you want to try and start it? Yeah, right now. Number 30 is Dave Marcus of Warsaw, Wisconsin. A lot of things went on in those days that the people don't know about. A lot of good history. That's why I can't understand why they wouldn't want this museum here. I mean, goodness gracious. It's hard to believe. Hard to believe. When you said Benny Parsons walked up to this car and he's like, "That's an old Dave Marcus car." How did he know that it was? He walked up. He walked up. We were at Miami and we had it down there in the garage and it was between the two garage sections or whatever. I had it sitting there. Benny walks up. Would there be and he stand there, you know, he's taller than he kind of does this. He looks down. He goes by like that. He looks back at whoever he was talking to said that's old Dave Marcus car just that fast. That's And so he knew he knew. Well, I I don't know the tape on the steering wheel, but but um you see this box right here. We used to be able to adjust the torsion bar on the left side of the car from inside the car. M. And then of course eventually NASCAR made us rivet them down so we couldn't they would when we go through inspection they check to make sure that those were riveted down so we couldn't adjust the torsion bars on the earlier Chrysler products all had that interesting. Any of the cars at Petty Enterprises as far as I can ever remember didn't have that adjustment. That was I think a Nicholls engineering thing. The guys could hand you me a ratchet and I could adjust the wedge in the car by raising or lowering this side of the car. What else in here would have made it obvious that it was a Dave Marcus car, not somebody else's Nicholls car? Well, I know the spacers under the rear springs. Todd looked there should be one in spacers above the spring shackles on the back. And that was to put more rake in the car, more body rake. Yeah. See, there's a spacer up here that's painted black now, but that's one inch thick. That raised the body of the car and put more rake in it. H. And see the the the springs in Chrysler. We we had like there would there were the springs were numbered in sets of three and the rate was the same on them, but the arch in the spring was different. Hm. Like a a a 44 spring if we had one would have been a 1 in rake and a 45 2 in of rake and a 46 would have been 3 in of arch in the spring. So I could raise the back of this body. I had to change the springs. We didn't have no screw jacks. Huh. Which springs are on here right now? Can you see the number on them? Huh? Which springs are on the car right now? Yeah. I'm not sure. Uh I cannot read the number. No. But that's how we put more rake in the in the body. Yeah. It's a good floor to roll around on. Nice and clean. Easy to slide. So, a lot of them wouldn't had that one in spacer in there. Right. What I'm trying to figure out is what happened to this car for the 30 years between Dave driving it or I guess it was like 10 or 15 between Dave driving it and you getting it to make it into a goodie show car. What was it doing? See, I sold this car to a guy in Milwaukee by the name of Donnie Danielitz. And I can't remember what year that was because it was in my shop. I kept it and and I needed the money. And uh he called me after he had it for about five or 6 years. I I think he lived with his mother. They were moving or something. So he wasn't going to have a garage to put it in. And he uh called me and said, "Do you want the Wayne car back?" He said, "I'll give it to you." And I said, "Donnie, I don't have no room for it, no place to store it." And uh I said, "Do you want to maybe put it in a museum?" And he said, "Yeah, I'd love to." So I called Don Neon and asked if they'd want to put the car in the museum at Talidatum and Don said absolutely. So I uh I called uh Donnie Daniels back and I said Donnie uh they'd love to have the car in the museum. I said I'll tell you what. I said we're running the Atlanta race this weekend. I'll call down there and I I can get you some passes for the race to come in the garage and stuff. why don't you come to the Atlanta race and then Monday go take the car to Tallaladega. So he said, "Well, that would be nice. I'd love to do that." So he did that. Well, that weekend when the car was sitting on the trailer in the infield at Atlanta, Little Bud Moore seen the car and ended up talking to Donnie Daniels and buying the car. Then I guess he brought it home and he's the one that sold it to Goodies Headache Powders. It was a combination. I know. And then Goodies Headache Parters used it in Yeah. My aunt in all the pre-race promotions with a 43 on it and they drove it around. That was That's when we redid it. Yeah. So my aunt and Loella and Spencer owners and we got it. If I remember right, we went it I remember seeing it on the trailer. It had a for sale sign. It had $2,500. They told me they wanted to buy it to use it for the show car. They were actually using a an older 40s style car for a show car for goodies and that's that's where it started. So yeah, see they always helped Richard and so so they had it painted up with with his headache powders on it and 43 on the door, right? So Richard didn't have a Dodge. Richard ran Plymouth, right? And then you know I always I wasn't really sure if it was a you know a Dodge by Petty or or or what. And then as you know time went along and Tim Walker had told me that you know Ray Ray Nichols and then he I saw the story kind of put it together. So it it was it was a goodie show car for a decade. It was in the warehouse about 8 years and then I took it and and figured out I said this is what I'm going to do with it. I'm going to create and use it for the Victor Lab deal. So we we did that and then it's been in the museum since 2005. Yeah. So yeah it but I remember the open trailer with the for sale sign and it had $2,500 on it. I've got pictures. What a deal. I've got pictures of it that I found yesterday for you that you can see how it looked before and after. But they had it was painted 43 on the door when we got it. It had 43 on the door. Yeah. Cuz you can see the old the It was your color was it was a little darker than than your p I' called powder blue. It was a little bit darker. My my blue was a little bit darker than Richard's. See how I become running blue race cars when I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin and the only thing I knew about racing I would read in Hot Rod magazine, right? and Richard Petty. I always like blue and Richard's cars were blue and I was always a big fan of Richard Petty's and I mean we ain't that far apart in age but you got to remember I'm a thousand miles up the road and and and the only thing I could find out about any race and my dad had a garage in a wrecking yard but was in Hot Rod magazine I could buy that in a news stand. So I'd read in there about NASCAR racing and especially at Easter time at Hickory. I remember in those days they raced and in Wisconsin we were shoveling snow yet and and I ran short tracks up there and I wanted to get involved in racing. I would always try and read in stock racing magazine or I mean hot rod magazine how fast they were going on what size racetracks to see if I thought that maybe if I went down there if I could do that you know well that's how everybody follow that's how everybody follows their dream you know yeah I mean it's yeah I didn't have the money to come down here racing when I went to Daytona the first time I didn't have a hundred day dollars in my pocket You remember Ed had made a cover for it. That's the way the batteries Yeah. I think that got put in there probably when they started using that at Goody City College or something maybe. No, when I got it that was the way it was. Oh, it was it was I mean I mean it came from Atlanta to 876 North Liberty Street. Half a block down. Straight down. See in those days you know all the body parts in these cars were stock. I mean like wheel wells and everything or all stock wheel wells over the wheels and stuff. Did you get this car? Was it a body and white when you did you build it new as a No. Well, no. It was built at Nicholls Engineering and and but it wasn't a Daytona. It was just a No, it wasn't a Daytona. But it was originally built at Nicholls and then it went back to Nicholls to be converted. Yes. It's a Nicholls Engineering car. And when Mil Lunda uh bought the AJ King Enterprises team out of Severville, Tennessee, this was one of the cars. cuz I was never really sure. I I saw the video and I was trying to understand it was it built as a Daytona originally and then when you said you went took it to Nicholls it was originally built by Nichols and converted by Nichols which is Yeah. Ronnie Householder from Chester Corporation had me take the car up to Nicholls Engineering in Highland Indiana before that first Kaledga race and they made it into a wing a Dodge wing car at Nicholls Engineering. So, what what got changed at Nicholls to make it a Dodge? The deck lid. Deck lid. The back glass. Back. So, did they was it changed through here on the Yeah, they made they had they had a pieces that that insert. See, and before it was a regular 69 Dodge Charger, right? So, this this whole big piece here was an insert that went in. See, the deck lids before were way up here. Okay. So, these had this real short deck lids. M. So y'all had to put the insert in and then do the package panel. Yeah. I had a new back glass and this piece in the deck the ring on the back and the inner package panel to match up to the bottom of the windshield. Yeah. We had to do some work on that. Yeah. Is that where the old window bed was? Kind of where that piece ends. And then of course the stuff on the front. So these were chrome and I recchromeed them. I took I took them down to Pont Airlines down at Smith Reynolds Airport. They had a chroing machine and had them recchrome them for me. The chrome would chip. Were they originally chrome when you got it? I'm not sure. I always wondered that. I didn't I didn't know. But they had a chrome shop that they either that or Yeah. Yeah. They probably whatever Chrysler probably had them that with the kit, you know. Okay. Kit that explains that then. And then I noticed in the trunk we had it open there's the the cables. Yeah, I see the little cable corner coming. That was to keep these wings in case of an accident from flying up in the green. So, I put new bolt. They go across and through the whole way. Right. So, we had it off and I put it back together. I put new bolts on it. That was Yes, sir. with the Yeah, that double washer it. That was in case of an accident. This stuff didn't go flying around. So, that was pre that was pre- tethers. Yeah. The early tether original. So, I still don't know what Benny Parsons looked at in here and knew that it seat. Is it the seat? He looked at the seat. Is that your seat? Yeah. Yeah. He looked at the seat. I mean, that's exactly what he said. He looked in there and said, "Little day." And he he was looking at the seat. He didn't even look at the dash or anything. He just looked at the seat. Yeah. When we took it over to England and put some rubber there on the bottom of the floors and see it had a black ignition box before. This This is one of the only Chrysler cars that had a GM distributor in it. An ignition electronic ignition. So, question about your foot block there. The carpeted block. This one. Yeah, that that is so we could adjust the torsion bar. Okay. Which NASCAR used to make us rivet them down so we couldn't be adjusting it during the race. I thought it was I thought it was when you were out for a Sunday drive and you were just putting your foot up and resting it. No, I really I wasn't I wasn't sure. Yeah. Why? But it had carpet on it, so I put carpet back on it. Yeah. What's under it? It's a torsion bar adjuster. Is it like When NASCAR made us rivet them down to keep us from being able to adjust that torsion bar during the race? So, second question, did it always have an ignition switch? Cuz when I got it had an ignition switch, you know, I can't I don't know about that. I don't think so. I think we just had a toggle switch. Yeah, we we it before we took it to Yeah, we didn't have no key. Well, that's just funny. First race car I'd ever seen with a key. Maybe they Iron cars had a key in the I know about NASCAR. I know about Nas. They might have put that in there, you know, when they was using it. Uh when I got it, they had a key and somebody couldn't hop in it. And then there was another the other hole right there. I can't remember what was Well, it was possibly four that was in the dash. So, what to the right of the ignition switch. Be careful. Probably was a starter button there and then and the one was a key on and off. Well, climb in there. Climb in there and don't hit that switch yet cuz it's in gear. Let's get you in there. Next headline. Dave Marcus drives through museum wall. Listen, got to go slow so you can get you on film. News at 11. All right. Yeah, you got in gear. I think Ed, right? Make sure it's a new. Uhhuh. He knows. Oh, I know. I was just say I didn't know if it was or wasn't. Yeah. How's it feel? Feels pretty good. figured on Main Street. Knock her. Knock her in and neutral. Make sure you're good and neutral. And I, you know, it's an honor to have you start this car. Let's just hit that. Oh, you want to try and start it? Yeah, right now. Put the clutch in and see if it'll go. You might have to turn that switch on. Oh, it's got Yeah, we have a safety switch on it. Heat up Heat. We're ready to go. Let's go. Let's go. What does it feel like after about being in it? And I'll tell you something else. Before this car was a wing car. Well, no, it was a wing car to anybody. I'm the only guy that ever ran a wing car at Martinsville. You remember that? I do. I've read that. I have read that. I think there's a picture of it. Yeah, there's a picture of the wing car at Martinsville. And I think it's they wrote a story saying it was only rep. We went there and qualified and uh but you were already my short track car had gotten wrecked or something so this was all I had to take there and so I took this wing car there and then the race originally got rained out and I'm like good I'll be able to get my short track car done you know go back next weekend and Bill Gazway said you can't do that you have to run the car you qualified so I race the car Martinsville that's cool that So it it wasn't only a super speedway car. It was Yeah, I think it's the only wing car that I'm aware of that ran in a NASCAR race on a short track. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. So, did I do a good job 20 20 years ago rewrapping that steering wheel? Yeah, feels good. I made it put a little pad and a nose pad in there. I thought I might need it in Goodwood. I have But what did it have in the center? Cuz all it has is the What? What? What? Yeah, that's all we had was a pad like that. Okay. So, snap on it like that. Yeah. What do you feel like you want to go drive 200 miles an hour? We'll get the highway patrol and clear the interstate 40. There you go. And you can drive her home. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. Made my day. So, so what's going to happen to the car? I mean, what? So, you have to send the king and the queen with the palms to fight the war. For me, the the love of the the car, but the driver makes the car. Yeah. Car is just a machine, right? So, yeah, it's it's that piece with Yeah. It's that piece with all the cars. Yeah. It's the physical representation of someone's story. Yeah. I mean, it's just like, you know, Dale's car. I've got one here. Got one in the shop at Wel, but whatever. You remember just like you remember who helped you get or gave you the dreams and you remember who got you there. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's a shame. You hear a little more about that. Still feels real good in out of it with no problem. Yeah. Actually, I'm pretty positive this this was the car that Pete Hamilton drove and and in the Daytona 500. I don't remember what position he was running in. He got in there was a wreck and I he wasn't in the I don't think the initial wreck but he to avoid it he had to spin out or something and went down the apron is on Pete Hamilton. Car number one you can't see the car there. There it is. Car number one is out of there. And when the nose of the car hit the the offset of the apron and the racetrack it knocked this wheel up in the wheel well and this starter solenoid right here. It came up and hit that and it knocked this hot wire here up against this brace on the firewall, shorted it out, and Pete couldn't get the car started. Well, he didn't really know what was wrong with it. So, they hooked the recorder to it and pulled it over and put it against the big sandbank in turn two at Daytona and left it sit there the rest of the race. And after the race was over, because this was Milt London's car at the time, because he made a deal with AJ King, you know, before the race, I went over there and opened up the hood and was looking around and hit the starter button and it wouldn't work. And I looked over here and seen that up against the the brace that shortened up. And I bent it back down, got in the car, and started it up and drove it back to the pits in the garage area. Wow. That's Wow. In fact, when I first started driving for Harry Hyde and in 75, we were at Rockingham and AJ Foy was there running. I can't remember whose car he was in that day. I lapped the field in 100 laps at Rockingham. And when I came off the racetrack on the pit road with the K&K insurance Dodge, I was going too fast, I guess, and that tire came up and hit starter solenoid on that KN&K insurance car. And I stopped in the pit and we couldn't get that car started back up. We didn't know what was wrong with it. Was that solenoid bent up against it? Same thing. Yeah. It still has them aluminum blocks in the rear springs, huh? The rear them springs. Yeah, they're in there. The only thing I ever changed was put four shocks, fresh gas, and two new batteries in 30ome years. Thank you for coming. Yes, sir. He just started talking stuff. I'm like, I'm just going to turn the camera on cuz he's just going to go. See, these are the original light shocks, but then, you know, Chrysler had Monroe make some special shocks for the wing cars, but not right away. It was later. When I went and got those, this was like 1980. These have been on there since ' 86, right? And I remember going to Twin City Motor Company down the street here to the guy and said, "Hey, I need I need eight shocks." He said, "Huh?" I said, "I need eight shocks that are the same as these." And he found them. The shocks on the back are longer lengths, right? So So these are what There was a series. Yeah. The long Yeah. We had a 76, a 77, and a 78. And the you know the the 78 was the toughest shot, right? And the short shocks went on the front and then the back. And then there was like a 86 87 and 88 and they're longer the shock bodies. Yeah. You can tell just looking at but the shocks that they made later to run on some of the Chrysler products are they're different shock. Uh it's one shock yet but it's it looks a little bit different, right? But these were the original shocks. That was really That was really it. I've got the I took this car to Goodwood this year and I had to put in dated seat belts. So I got the original seat belts that were in it. Oh, okay. To put back in it. So I've got those other than the paint and eight people to put them take the motor out and put the motor back in to paint it. Yeah. I mean that and I think we ended up just going I'm pretty sure this is the engine that July good uh built. Uh, so the steel wheels, they're they're original to the car when I got the car. Yeah. Well, they're not the wheel that we had then. Well, that's what I was going to ask. But they were the ones on that I…