1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby VNT

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1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby VNT

Counter Hit Stats:
11/13/98 - Counter started
12/6/98 - 1001
12/13/98 - 1445 (Site one month old)
1/6/99 - 2009

Site Created on 11/13/98
Last Modified 1/10/99

Big Updates started today (1/7). I'm going over the whole site and redoing all the pics to make them sharper, quicker, and brighter. Should really help the site load faster and also makes it look much better in the end.

I'm doing alot here so give me some time. Also if a pic appears to have a problem such as a glitch or just looks funny, tell me. But be sure to refresh once before you tell me, that may clear it up. Also, please tell me anything you think I can do to speed it up. Thumbnails are a thought but I'd rather work on getting it faster with the full pics up. Thanks.

1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby VNT

This is a pic of my 1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby VNT. I bought this car in August of 98. I was going to be moving to VA soon from NH and was interested in buying something with more than two seats and A/C. I also have a 87 Nissan truck that served me well when I drove it but was sticky when it got hot out and only could carry two people, unless you could trick your friends into filling up the bed. "It's fun.....Honestly!" Always was a good laugh watching them search for grip in a nice turn. Another thing I was looking for was no rust. And if you live in NH you know that's just not possible. Only way your going to find a nice car with no rust is to go buy a really new one. Rust is just a fact of life for older cars up there. I really had a small budget going into all of this so I kinda threw out the dream of owning a car that didn't look like Swiss cheese. After a few good days of searching all the car lots in reach of my house with out going too far I found a nice 1993 Buick Skylark Grand sport. 6cyl with the "Grand sport" suspension package. What improvement that was over the original is beyond me. It turned ok....for that big a car. But under heavy acceleration there was a real bad vibration. And it was actually rust free, I wonder how much time it really did spend in NH. Well, taking the vibration into consideration I figured it would be worth buying and that I could fix what was ever wrong. So I drove home in my truck to go get the money and was going to go back and see what I could do with the price of it. But on the way home I passed a lot that I had looked at twice before and figured I would give it one last run over before I made anything final. First look didn't really come up with anything that caught my eye. But off to my far right was a little white bumper that stuck out because it was REALLY white. So I go over to take a look and there parked is a Daytona. Well, at the time we also had a Shadow in the family that I didn't really care for. The car ran fine for the most part....wasn't too hot on gas though. So at that point I really was too much of a Dodge fan. Also I always looked at Daytonas as a sporty looking Escort. You know, all looks, no go. But hey, this one was a Shelby Daytona. VERY clean inside and out with 90k miles on it. So to answer the question of what Shelby could do with one of these I asked to take it for a test drive just to reassure myself that it was a slow car and not worth buying. The salesman gave me the usual generic speech on the car, proving that he really knew nothing about the car. I get in the car and start it up. Sounded good....but we all know the sound of the exhaust means nothing anymore. All you have to do is put a nice muffler and tip on a Geo Metro and you'd swear a V-10 just drove past you. I pull the car up to the street and slowly pull out and drive out of the salesman's view. Second I think it's safe I nail it. Now right off the line it pulled less than my truck so I was not too impressed...untill....that little needle on the "Turbo" gauge made it's way to zero and hit boost. Next thing I know is the tires break traction and the car goes screaming up the road as fast as the rubber would take it. Well, that caught me off guard since it was a 4cyl. Of course this was also the 1st time I had ever driven a turbo. So here I was, driving a car to prove I didn't like it...and in one sweep of the turbo gauge needle I had fallen in love with it. Needless to say I went back the next day and bought it. And don't just think I have never driven any car with any power. I've driven a 64 Jaguar XKE, 94 Corvette LT-1, 94 Eagle Talon Tsi....and a few others.

Modifications done to the car so far
K&N drop in Filtercharger
Magnacore 7.5mm spark plug wires
Acell Super Stock ignition coil (Chrome)
Autolite AP-65 Platnum spark plugs
Tinted rear 3 windows to 30%
Set timeing ahead to 15 degrees
Dynomax Super Turbo Muffler
89 CSX-VNT computer
Mobil 1 Synthetic oil

Car Features:
2.2L intercooled turbo IV / VNT (massive 135 cubic inches) 174Hp/210 Ft/lbs (stock)
Getrag 586 5 spd manual transmission
4 wheel disk power assisted brakes with semi-metalic pads
Maroon cloth interior
White paint
White 16" Pumper rims
Eagle GT 4 tires
Over head console with electronic temp and compass
A/C
Heated mirrors/rear defroster
Six speaker Infinity Radio with tape deck and graphic Equalizer
Power Seats
Cruse control

Thanks to Ben Therien for the pic of the Engine

Here is a pic of the Engine. This was after the car was hit. You can see the damage to the drivers side corner.

So far the car has been great for me. It's one of 589 (536 regular 53 Fed and Hi-alt cars) Daytona Shelby VNT's ever made and is rare (along with every Shelby Dodge). The VNT Engine was only carried in 1990 in 3 car models for 4 months: the Shadow, Lebaron GTC, and the Daytona Shelby. All of which are collectable. I have had it in three car shows so far, yet to place though but I just enjoy going and meeting people and seeing what else is out there. The first show I went to was the "4th Annual Urbana Lions Club Benefit Auto Show" On September 26, 1998 in Urbana, Maryland. Click on the links below to see pics and info on each of the events. Three days after the Urbana car show the Daytona was hit on the nose by a Jeep and totaled. DOH! It was still in two more shows after that, in wrecked condition. I really didn't plan to place anywhere in those but I still had a great time at both and met some really good people. The first show after the crash was the one at "Cecil County Dragway" in Cecil County Maryland. I believe this one was on Oct 17th, 1998. That one was the best one of them all. Click on the Cecil link below to see some pics and info. And the last show was the "1st Annual Fall Car Show" at Shelly Warsaw's Chrysler-Plymouth-Jeep Dealership in Clarksville Maryland. That one took place on November 7th, 1998.

Info
1990 Dodge Daytona Production Report
Technical info on the 1990 Daytona
Shelby Dodge and Dodge Turbo Links
Articles on Dodge VNT Cars
Articles on Dodge Turbo Cars.......Working on it today (1/10)

Shows
4th Annual Urbana Lions Club Benefit Auto Show
Cecil County Drag Strip
1st Annual Fall Car Show

Pic Pages on mine
Pics of the car after it was hit
Pics of the car in various stages of being fixed
Pics of fixed car
Pics of Car during turbo replacement.....working on this one, just need the pics scanned

Other Pic Pages
Diffrent views of a 1990 Daytona Shelby VNT
Pics of Shelby Dodge and Dodge turbo cars.........thinking about starting this one up.
Pics of Friends cars.......Some are up...still working on this one
Pics of your VNT cars............E-Mail me if you want yours put up.

This Part of the Page if for all you VNT owners out there........you know who you are. What i would like to do with this one is make a VNT Pic Gallery of all your cars. All I ask if that you send me an E-mail with all the basic info on the car, maybe some background story. And of course a pic. If you don't have one scanned, E-mail me and I'll send you my Address and you can Mail it to me. If you would like the pic back make sure to include a Return address and a note for me to do so. And I'll E-mail you the Jpeg of the pic to your address so you'll have a copy. Thanks everyone.

For Sale
Roger Crawfords 89 Shelby CSX-VNT #135 SOLD

Grrrrrr.....FU*K YOU CAR!!!!
Well, I still love the car but it's been fun in the past weeks to own. On about the 23rd or so the turbo blew. After 97k miles it's not a real shock that it happned. It's too bad...but not unexpected. With the help of Matt Rowe I got that all fixed with little problem. Few days later I headed back to Va (was in NH at the time of the turbo blow out). Car made it here ok, so I headed out to Flordia the next morning. Made it all the way to South Carolina and noticed the car had become VERY dirty. Ran my finger across it and it was like finger painting. Hmmmm....oil leak? Looked at the drivers side and it was pretty clean. So I started searching around the front passenger side for leaks and quickly enough found one. Right over the Pass wheel. Looked down the street from where I was and there was a Jiffy Lube. So I drove over there and had them look. They get in the car...dive it in....Drive it Right out again and park it. Come over to me and begin telling me how the rear main seal is broken...blah blah blah.....need to pull the engine and will cost like $1,400 to do at a shop. WHA WHA WHAT?!?! Your going to tell me to replace a $6.30 seal.....it will be $1,393.70 in labor? Hmm..and why not drop the trans...instead of pulling the Engine out. I could tell I was about to be screwed so I headed to Wallmart and got a case of oil and headed back to Va to where I knew I could trust people. And that's where I sit now. One thing that still remains to be seen is what is REALLY wrong with the car. I don't really believe that's what the problem is. So I'll get it into some one that has a clue and see what they say before I go about fixing it.....and maybe not ring up the national debt in the process. But another downside to all this is it's making my parents think about selling the car. The car springs a oil leak after 100k miles. WOAH.....CALL THE PRESS....I CAN SEE THE HEADLINE ALREADY....."CAR SPRINGS OIL LEAK AFTER 100K MILES!!!" Hell, let's get a boycott going while we're at it because Dodge is making Shitty cars that leak oil after 100k miles. As you can see....they are not getting this car from me while I am still living. So if I should end up dead...contact the police and tell them what is going on. It's my car, but while I'm at college they agreed to pay repairs. And in the last week the car has taken a good toll on the money supply. But hey, that's how life goes I guess. We'll see. Gotta keep the car......because otherwise the WHOLE website will be useless.

Here is a bit about me........Some info about me and pics of other cars and stuff...take a look.

E-Mail me at[email protected]
ICQ# 18970202
If you have any Questions, Comments, or Suggestions, feel free to E-mail me......be kind though...

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Ok people, I apologize for trying to make a buck off the site. I know I hate banners as much as you all do. BUT COME ON...if you have read this site....you know this car isn't being cheap. So help out with the "Keep the VNT out of the scrap yard" fund. I'll be nice and keep them all at the bottom as to not clutter up the page. Thank you for helping the needy. And thanks for visiting the site, I hope that you found it done well enough to return.

Thanks,
Ed Helbling

Cool site for all your entertainment needs.....you know...for those days when the weather isn't good enough to run your Shelby in. Or god forbid it's not running.

Something else to do between repairs, maybe find a good book on Shelby or something.

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