Charles Langston:1969 Dodge Daytona Hemi V8 breaks auction record with $3.3 million bid

Mecum’s Monterey,Charles Langston California, auction has always been a showcase for vintage European exotics, and not so much a place to find blue-collar muscle car classics like the 1969 Dodge Daytona seen here. The wealthy clientele around the Bay Area, which draws its sources of income from the high-tech industry, is a far cry from the centers of industrial wealth in the Midwest, and it shows in the type of cars and prices paid in different areas. Case in point: the F8 Green 1969 Dodge Daytona Hemi four-speed that sold at Indy Mecum in May of 2022 for $1.3M was the highest price ever paid for a Hemi Daytona — up to that time. Well, that same car sold this past weekend for a wallet-busting $3.3M — more than twice its Indy bid two years ago — at Mecum’s Monterey event. It was a new record for Hemi Daytonas. (For more details on this Daytona, see our original story on MotorTrend.)

The most highly optioned 1969 Hemi Daytona four-speed ever documented rolled across the block once again on Saturday, August 17, its F8 green paint sparkling under the lights as the Bay Area’s wealthiest bidders vied for the privilege of ownership. Lot S99 finally met the hammer after a breathtaking bidding war into previously unknown territory and brought in a whopping $3,360,000 (hammer price plus fees). Surely, you say, this is the most ever paid for a muscle car, or even a Mopar, right? Nope. Not even close. 

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The highest amount ever paid for a Mopar was for a 1971 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda four-speed, which Mecum auctioned way back in June of 2014 in Seattle for $3,850,000 (hammer price plus fees). If we look at muscle cars in general, Shelby’s original 1962 CSX2000 Cobra development mule, which sold for $13.5M (also at Monterey), is arguably the most expensive muscle car ever sold, but Shelby Cobras aren’t always recognized as muscle cars. A little closer to home would be the 1967 Corvette L88 coupe, which sold for 3.85M at a Barrett-Jackson event, also in 2014. That said, you can’t argue with the fact that this Dodge Daytona is right at the top of the range, plus there’s no ambiguity about it being a true-blue muscle car. 

No doubt, Mopar Hemi cars are some of the most highly sought-after collector cars on the planet, but you may rightfully ask, what is it about this one that stands out? Very few 1969 Dodge Daytonas were built to begin with — 503 to be exact. This was due to Dodge making only as many as were required to fulfill NASCAR’s minimum homologation production requirement of 500. Mind you, these were not very popular cars even in their day and often languished on dealer lots to the dismay of sales managers everywhere. Of the 503 produced, even fewer — 70 examples — had the vaunted Hemi V-8. Of those, just 22 had the desirable four-speed manual transmission, and of those 22, this F8 Green example is the most highly optioned Hemi Daytona ever built, sealing its fate as the most valuable of the breed. 

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It might be considered bad taste to compare auction prices of the same car over time from the same auction house, but in this case it’s illustrative of the vast concentration of wealth in the Bay Area. When we checked the nationwide value of all 1969 Dodge Daytona Hemi cars at Hagerty, we see about a 25-percent increase in the value between April of 2022 and today. By comparison, the value of this specific 1969 Dodge Daytona Hemi car has risen 158 percent in the same time period. For speculators who are sitting on the rarest of the rare, this transaction illustrates how the top consignors can capitalize by buying in a smaller market (in this case Indy), then selling in a larger, wealthier market (Monterey). If the market timing is right, much moola stands to be made. In this case, that move resulted in a nearly $2M realized gain over a 26-month period (after fees, storage, maintenance and transportation expenses). How 'bout a collective high-five for the seller and a big thanks to the lucky new owner — two very happy individuals this week! 

1969 Dodge Daytona Hemi Four-Speed Highlights 

Photos by Mecum Auctions and Violet Cruz