ABANDONED '69 DODGE DAYTONA CLONE DRIVES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES! 

"Rust you can depend on." I think you found the new slogan for the shop, Mike.

"The car still sucks but it runs now" and "we just need to fix some of the things wrong with the car so that we're not going to die" basically sum up my entire life wrenching on cars.

Tech tip: early Mopar hoods have to be drilled with a 357 Magnum. The steel was thicker back then.

It's fun watching someone who truly enjoys what they're doing, especially when they have low expectations...

It was awesome seeing yall at roadkill yesterday. Thank you for signing my wife's and son's shirt. That burnout in the dumpster fire Daytona was actually pretty epic. I have video of you doing it Yall rock and keep up the amazing content

Mike Finnegan, is the equivalent of Adam Savage to the automotive community. One of the coolest shops, the best toys, fantastic tools ( including some strange and quirky), and is at the point of their career, where they are chasing accuracy and give a hoot. Fantastic work Mike. Never change mate 👌🏼

Was on the fence last night at roadkill nights when you did burnout, crazy to see and feel it roll by in person. Job well done

This is the content I love to see where you take the clapped out vehicles and just make them into fun machines keep up the good work Fin.

I know it's just a rusty clone, but there's something I really like about the dumpster fire Daytona. I'm glad you got it running and it made it to Roadkill Nights and we got to see it for a brief couple of minutes on the live feed, but I understand that you didn't want it to fold in half (I was hoping to go, but health issues at the last minute prevented that). I realize you have no intentions of actually restoring it, but I hope you eventually have the time or interest in at least fixing it enough to keep it on par with the work you've put into Death Metal. I also know everything takes money, and you have things that priority over this project too. Maybe Birdsong would be interested in donating some time and/or parts at in the future to keep it at least more functional and less likely to crumple into a Mopar ball of decaying tin foil. In either event, I'm glad you kept it from not being used and languishing more, and we get to see it. Hopefully it sticks around in the collection.

I just had an idea... When you're done with ROADKILL NIGHTS in Michigan.. ship the car to Dulcich in Cali and let him make an episode where he repairs the torsion bar holders and the floor pans. Because you need this thing being better, and we need more of the big man.

If this car isn't named 'Dumpster Fire Daytona' then we absolutely need to fix that too.

You need to raise the front of the hood hinge to lower the back of the hood. Sounds strange but that's how it works.

“Numbers matching rust” 😂 love it! Great co-host with these too

I Love the fact your making it run and drive! According to Richard Petty these cars were that good with the nose cone and wing it was dam near impossible to spin one of these out!!! It might not be a bad idea to have Chris Birdsong put a new tail light panel in the car and mabe fix the rust like he did General Mayhem, he could probably fix the quarters too and weld it bracing that a real Daytona would have to support the down force from the wing!!! Love this car man it will sick seeing you race and drive it!!!! Roadkill for life!!!! Best show ever other than Finnegans Garage!!!

Just a thought to seal around your new sheet metal flooring, to keep the exhaust fumes out. Get some putty tape from a R.V. Store and seal up the gaps with it, and you can remove it if you need to and reapply.

“Not going to die while driving it.” Always good advice!! 😂

Finnegan explaining how to get good marks form a fine tip sharpie on steel. Meanwhile there is a bottle of Dykem Blue sitting RIGHT THERE staring at him.

When it comes to sheet metal fabrication, there is none better then Fitzee's Fabrication on Y.T.!!!

In a lot of the old pics of Daytonas and the ones I've seen in person, they have a baby chin spoiler to direct air into the radiator. Also have seen them with the opening of the nose enlarged like a Superbird.(it extended under the nose) Almost all of those had a 18x24" opening with a sceen held by an aluminum frame with a bar in the center. It makes a huge difference

I had a 68 charger back in the day. M/T N50-15s tucked under and in perfectly without any modifications. Don't remember what the offset of rim was. But it fit between rails and quarter. Satin Centerlines with 50's tucked, looked so badass from behind. Especially with the 68 taillights. 1968 was my favorite yr of the charger, because of the rear panel and taillights.

Good to see my ol' friend Joe! Looks like you're having fun doing what you love to do!

I have been binge watching your stuff on RU-vid and had to come back to this video and tell you that the metal you used for the seat holes with the burn spot was made from when Freiburger was cutting the supports off the rearend that is under the Daytona.

Everytime i watch Finnigan working in his shop i get super jelly of all his tools and setup... haha

Enjoying the "Dayclona" content. Getting there!

Vega hatchback for back metal and rear window is what they use on clones.......Guy with NASCAR Daytona in Colorado can steer you in right direction

Hey bud. Just a tip, when I'm tapping threads in places I can't use the handle in. The right size 12 point socket will hold the square end of taps and extractors.

I love the fact that you're concerned about the hood gaps!😂 Oh, what a pile!! Have a good one, Fin! Thanks for the episode, dude; I'm looking forward to the Roadkill episode! ✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦

Love the vid. I adore sheet metal and bodywork. My Dad ( pre sharpies ) used an old small screwdriver. Ground to a point and that scores a lovely fine line in the metal.

Rule of thumb with thin or small sheet metal measure precise but leave the line when u cut the bend will return metal to precise zero

"Oh...It's never going to line-up right. I just don't want it to fall off." - Mike Finnegan

50:22, You know you would do it again, in a heartbeat!

You need an "Astro Pneumatic Tool ADN14 Rivet Nut Drill Adapter Kit." Attaches to your impact driver and uses battery power instead of your hand power. makes installing riv-nuts simple and easy.

Cousin Eddie poster....."Merry Christmas...Shi**er was full"....😂

24:56 super easy method: sight the line between the two as close as possible. Draw a dot in the middle (hump, in this case). Sight the line between the two halves, draw a dot in those centers, rinse and repeat until you have a decent middle line. Close one eye or use a mirror to sight down the line. Both will work just as well.

The "Daytona" looks so sick with the Pro convos in it.

@FINNEGAN : You should contact QA1 for a front suspension. I am sure they would love to have it shown to all of your and Roadkill's watchers!! That will get rid of the crossmember issues and torsion bars taking up real-estate.. Also, looks like the hood is coming down on the air cleaner..

You'll need a big flat, slightly angled forward, scoop attached to the core support to get big air up into the radiator.

I was excited about the Dayclona when you bought it. Glad to see it run.

We run a shop that specializes in floor pans and sheet metal for classic cars if you need help with that we can also salvage that quarter panel that’s barely hanging on.

"Numbers matching rust!" 😂😂😂

Those inserts/blind nuts are great until they slip and spin, usually in the worst location to try and drill or cut out. The smaller mandrels are easy to break too 🤦🏽‍♂️

Glad to see you guys have kept comradery through these times. Enjoy "All!"

Bend up a couple of scoops to funnel air from under the nose up into the radiator. Just a suggestion. Maybe some sound mat on the floor for the trip so you're not deaf when you get to RoadKill Nights 😂

@ 21:44 ---> you could hammer a relief into the top-side for clearance... Sandbag and a ballpeen hammer.

so you guys forgot about cup holder when you were building that trans tunnel! They would definitely come in handy on the road trip! Nice work and I can see that charger on a shirt now with writing over it saying " Rust you can depend on!"

Eternabond RV roof seal tape, good sticky stuff, “fix” them floors up!

Consider farming it out to a trade school like Lincoln tech or Wyoming Institute or even a local trade school. Stacy David did it

Great vid! Nice to be able to watch the thought process that goes into the fabrication process! 😎👍🏻

I was having some problems with the threadserts spinning in the hole so I started putting tack welds on the inserts to hold them in the hole

when l was a kid my uncle worked for Steakley Bro.s Chevy in TX. My cousin could drive any car on the used car lot except the corvettes. We always wanted to drive the mopars but they rarely took them in on trade. l remember my uncle saying they dont take dodge/chrysler/plymouths because they were prone to rust like no other cars when just a few years old. This was the 70s so they had a reputation then when these cars were newish.

Denatured alcohol is also good cleaning metal, although it doesn't give you the good "waw-waws" like the acetone in confined spaces!

Clone or not, that thing is still badass! The floors were rusty, but not as rusty as I thought they were going to be. Good episode!

Rooftop Donkey is the Benjamin Button of Burros.

1969 Dodge Dayclona awesome build!

Now I want to get my pro street Monte SS that's been going moss since 1998 going. Even if it's not the jewel she used to be in the 90s.

"the mufflers don't actually muffle!" 😂😂

Please get some Allen's sockets. Watching your boy use an old school Allen wrench when you have snap on tool boxes is killing me.. you can also pick those up at home depot. Otherwise much love and respect.

Hey Mike. A better template for making the tunnel would be the crossmember piece of tunnel you cut out. And you can work on the bench with it

Finn, in case you didn't see my reply to my own comment (and since you were asking if anyone knew anything more)...looks like this was up for sale around October 2020 on Copart. It was down in Orlando, Florida, which would explain the swampiness. Found a link to a Barn Finds discussion board where they were talking about it, but the actual listing has disappeared into the ether (they had several photos of it, but they appear to be about the same condition as you got it up here). Sounds like he wanted big money at that time too for what it is and may have been representing it as real, based k the amount he turned down for it. I saved the 5 pics (you should be able to find it if you do a Google search), but if you want them just to document it, let me know and I'd be happy to email them to you. -Jeff

@8:00 danger close to paint ,gave me anxiety lol

Love your Big Lebowski reference! 👍

All the old Charger needs is a pump sprayer filled with rust converter to hose it down inside and out so it might still be there the next time you want to road trip.

You did an awesome job on that charger and also on the caddy beautiful 🤩. I could imagine how the 63 Vett is going to look 👀 hurry up. Awesome show and keep up the great work 👍👍👍🍺🤩🍺

I wonder how many sheetmetal guys off'd themselves while watching this video, the pain was only increased by seeing the quality of tools Mike has.

Awesome work there the dash come out real nice in my opinion was good to see it in person for the first time last weekend

Really miss Cotton and Newburn being around. Someone needs to pay them guys enough to relocate and get the band back together 😅 This car looks like the one North of the Vermont Quebec border. Last I heard the owner of that one has some medical problems and doesn't want to get rid of it. Still in solid shape the last i saw it.

Open up that lower grille opening by cutting the lower part and putting a hinge on it. It will get you more directed cooling when you need it.

Great job guys thank y’all for the awesome content

Try a set of Porter mufflers, quiet when cruising and louder when you step on it

It's near mint! All it needs to cross the line is the Vega hatch mod for the rear window, maybe some working lights... and that's it.

Most of us aspire to make something at least Racecar good. Alas, we often fall short and only achieve ROADKILL good. Always keep your expectations low and you will never be disappointed.

No scale for the amount of fun i had watching this! HAHAHA Buddies doing some shenanigans with an old rust bucket, add beers... No man could ever be sad, that's anti-depression material right there!

Would be cool if you and Chris Birdsong could get together to fix the floors and boxes. No big rebuild like General Mayhem but enough to make it safe and fun.

Should try the 'Industrial' line of sharpies. They mark much better on dirty metal.

Lol on the hood hinges... down on these don't mean down when adjusting. You actually have to lift the front to bring the back down.

Shouldve started with the big one cut box, made two right off get go, and trimmed out the angle cut box larger to fit, because symetry? I just started welding and doing rust repair on some toys. And man, im really upset with myself i didnt start 15yrs ago. Its so godang fun and rewarding cutting rust out and making new fender parts and rear quarter type stuff and just making stuff for everything and tools for this or that.

The burn out at roadkill nights was classic .

Sucks that Motortrend cut the live feed at the finals on the channel I pay for and cut it on RU-vid. But I did get to see you do a awesome burnout.

We went to roadkill nights and saw ya after the show. I gotta go next yr to get you to sign my motortrend book! I got dave, cotton, lucky, and steve. Just need you and Freiburger

That starter sounds extremely angry and pissed off. I foresee a starter change in the future.

Thanks! After watching this I’m pushing my a body’s aside to build my 69 charger I been hoarding parts for it for years :)

hey Mike. a tip for you. Next time you need to mark a stud or a hole. Or anything, just wipe a dirty finger over the paper.Perfect lines every time. Then you don`t need to work with a hammer that don`t hit the spot :)

I remember finding nutserts. Was dealing with my ramcharger and it ticked me off cause the factory trhead clips snapped from rust and that was a project just getting the bolts off to pull my fender. So went looking for something better and found them.

50:20 one winter in NJ with the salt they put on the roads when it’s raining and 40 degrees will rust stainless

You guys remember the Moped burnout guy from the Draguar NHRA roadkill episode?😂😂😂😂

"Numbers matching rust" 😂

The rust hole in the floor you should solve with flex tape. That would be so Roadkill!. Then put the floor matts on top of that. *insert Freiburger "Mint" meme

OK I figure you might have thought of doing this already but maybe check with the Salvage yards to see if they mighjt have the T-Bar parts you would need so you could get it done and be safe!

Ordered a nut sert kit for my shop from Amazon a couple weeks ago that has a range from 8/32 to 1/2". It's a tool I know I won't use that much but the times I've needed it and didn't have it were frustrating. Great tool to have.

The donkey is probably the best roadkill prop you could own

love the magnets to hold paper !!🤔

That Lebowski reference at 1:00:28 was great. I didn't think that Mike was old enough to know that film. Also, why does the car at idle sound like a D5 Caterpillar ?

Brake out the aluminum sheets and make an Air duct going from the nose to the Rad and make some headlight mounts and send it! LOL

He has to have one heck of a breaker box to run all that high amp draw equipment.

Nice Lebowski reference👌👌👌

You could find a small brake press with different dies to form different shapes other than straight bends. And can get ride of your box brake

You can sharpen your sharpie when they get blunt with a razor blade. Pull the tip out a tiny bit with some pliers and you can re sharpen your sharpie

I don’t know much about sheet metal. Just happens to have mug & tig welders, an industrial finger brake, band saw, shear, all bigger then our garage itself

Thanks for The Big Lebowski reference

Thanks for the great content! That was awesome.