Categories: Cars

Junkyard Find: 1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z

Lee Iacocca’s K-Cars were instant sales hits when they first hit streets in 1981, so it was inevitable that a sports car would be based on the versatile platform. That car ended up being the Dodge Daytona and its Chrysler-badged twin ( the Laser), and it debuted as a 1984 model. Here’s one of those first-year G-Cars, found in a Northern California yard.

The 1984 Daytona wasn’t the first sporty front-wheel-drive hatchback offered to American car shoppers by Chrysler; the Omnirizon-derived Dodge Omni 024/ Plymouth Horizon TC3 first hit showrooms as 1979 models. Those cars had French ancestry via Chrysler Europe, however, while the Daytona was pure Michigan.

I turned 18 in 1984 and managed to take a test-drive in a new Daytona Turbo Z that year. I recall it seeming pretty quick, but nowhere near as fast off the line as the incredibly dangerous hopped-up 1958 Beetle I owned at the time.

The Turbo Z was sold for the 1984 through 1986 model years, after which it became the Shelby Z and then the Shelby Daytona.

Daytona production continued all the way through 1993, with the final factory-hot-rod version called the Daytona IROC. Yes, there were non-Camaro IROCs!

All 1984-1989 Daytonas were powered by the Chrysler 2.2/2.5-liter SOHC straight-four engine. The Mitsubishi 6G72 V6 became available for 1990 through 1993.

This is the Turbo I engine, rated at a respectable-for-the-time 142 horsepower.

The MSRP for the 1984 Daytona with Turbo Z package was $11,494, which is about $35,606 in 2024 dollars. That got you a Daytona Turbo with a bunch of luxury interior goodies that I couldn’t photograph because some nimrod of a junkyard customer locked all the doors and I didn’t feel like jimmying a lock or breaking a window.

The list price for a 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 and its 190hp V8 was $10,608 ($32,861 after inflation), but it was no trick to option-up a ‘maro to well beyond Daytona Turbo Z prices. Meanwhile, a new Ford Mustang GT Turbo started at just $9,958 ($30,848 in today’s money) and it had three more blow-dried horses than the Turbo Z.

I used to find quite a few Daytonas during my junkyard travels, but now I may run across just one every couple of years.

The fantastically balanced, performance-bred Dodge Daytona Turbo Z. It’s an American Revolution (though, in hindsight, its minivan cousins proved to be much more influential).

1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z in California wrecking yard.

[Images: The Author]

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Source: The Truth About Cars

WBN