The 405 Aired Feb 9th, 2026
I wanna again welcome you out of The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, it's a new week. February is here. That means spring's right around the corner. Get your cup of coffee, glass iced tea, a bottle of water, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, Orange Crush, whatever you want. Let's see what's happening.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat $5.78 a bushel. 550lb Steer Calf $4.05 on the 405. No. $5.05! What about that then? Yes. Butcher hog in Iowa 63¢ a pound and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings $2.44 a pound. But, guys, there's more. Much more.
OK Solberg:It's Jay and Joe's Motor Monday. The time we look at horsepower one Monday at a time. Today, we flash back to the year 1969. You have to know that 1969 was a rather iconic year. Well, we had the moon landing, Neil Armstrong.
OK Solberg:We had Woodstock. We had the song Sugar Sugar by the Archies, the number one hit of the year. In 1969, we had the debut of both The Brady Bunch and The Sesame Street. It was the year Jennifer Aniston was born along with Matthew Perry, and also born that year was Jennifer Lopez. Oh, yeah.
OK Solberg:1969 was a busy Newsy year. The New York Jets won their only Super Bowl ever in 1969, and it was Super Bowl number 3 with Broadway Joe Namath as the Jets quarterback. And it was in 1969 that the Saturday evening post ended forever after exactly 100 years of publication. But in the automotive business, there was a rather big item as well.
OK Solberg:We'll look at that right after our Bible verse for today. Listen now. What has been is what will be and what has been done is what will be done and there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9
OK Solberg:Oh, yeah. As the general saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun yet way back in 1969, there was something new in the automotive field.
OK Solberg:Gather around kitties and I'll tell you that story. First off, understand this, NASCAR had regulations, believe it or not. You know that. They did not want any company or any any individual producing a one time only car made for speed and racing just to enter into the competition.
OK Solberg:Therefore, NASCAR rules stated that any car model competing in the Grand National Series must be in production, and they must have produced at least 500 examples and available to the public to prevent one off special racers. So guys, what does the Chrysler Corporation do? No kidding. True. Look it up. They produce 503.
OK Solberg:See, they exceeded the minimum. So in 1969, they produced 503 Dodge Charger Daytonas. The Charger Daytona was developed solely to be competitive in NASCAR. Now the Dodge Chrysler engineers wanted a car that could go faster on the super speedways like Talladega and Daytona where earlier Chargers struggled due to aerodynamic lift and drag. The Daytona's radical design included an 18 inch pointed nose cone to reduce front drag, pull up a picture.
OK Solberg:There's still some out there. They had a 23 inch tall rear wing tuned to generate downforce and high speed stability and they had a flush rear window and other body modifications to improve airflow. These changes were born from wind tunnel testing, a rare thing at that time in history. A significant departure from prior muscle car design. So coupled with those aerodynamic designs, Chrysler put in a powerhouse of an engine, 440 Magnum V8 and they were put into 433 of those Dodge Charger Daytonas.
OK Solberg:And 70 of those cars were fitted with a 426 Hemi V8 cranking out 425 horsepower. The Daytona was immediately successful on the track. In its first outing, it won races including the inaugural Talladega 500. and in March 1970, driver Buddy Baker became the first NASCAR driver to exceed 200 miles an hour in a Daytona at Talladega. And by the way, Buddy had the 426 Hemi in his car.
OK Solberg:The Daytona and its Aerocar successors like the 1970 Plymouth Superbird were so fast and aerodynamic that NASCAR altered its rules. Made them illegal. In other words, for the 1971 season, NASCAR limited cars with the aerodynamic nose and wing. They limited it to have no larger engine than a 305 cubic inch. And that's when all the fun ended.
OK Solberg:But brother, do we remember 1969 was a monumental year in more than a few ways. It's fun to have fun and high horsepower and fast cars are always fun, especially to talk about. Now guys, I found a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona online forsale today.
OK Solberg:Its price is $1,950,000, a steal in anybody's book. You know, guys, don't say this too loud, but I'd like to see Joe Peigneux in a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona with a 426 Hemi. My money's on you, Joe Joe. And, of course, Jay, you'll be the pitman.
OK Solberg:So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.