Hidden since 1974, Ronnie Belletieri's 1969 Dodge Daytona is set to undergo a full OE restoration.

The accepted production number for 1969 Dodge Daytonas is 503 domestically, so on a desirability scale, they rank very high. The sole reason for their existence came about as a result of NASCAR's homologation process in 1969. If they wanted to race them, Chrysler had to produce 500 road going examples. In civilian trim, under the hood, there were only two flavors available. The standard engine was the 440 Magnum rated at 375 horses, and the extra-cost 426 Hemi was rated at 425 horses. Either engine could be ordered with a 727 Torqueflite automatic, or an A833 four-speed.

Because these were extremely low-production vehicles with a single purpose, Chrysler contracted Michigan-based Creative Industries to do the final assembly. Brand-new 1969 Dodge Charger R/Ts were loaded up and sent to their facility, and once there, they had the nose, rear wing, and rear window plug installed, and a quick splash of paint was applied to blend it all into the existing color. That's where this Dodge Daytona was born. It was wearing Dark Green Poly paint, had a white bucket seat interior, and a white rear stripe, and that's how it was shipped to its final destination sometime in 1969.

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Its story starts at Creative Industries, but we don't know anything about it from the time it was sold new up until 1974. That span of just over four years is a complete mystery, but the person we believe to be the second owner sat down with us to share his story. He has asked not to be named, so we are going to honor that request and call him Owner Two. His story starts out as one of need—as in, he needed a car as a daily driver. "I found the Daytona in a used car lot in New Jersey," he explains. "I needed a car for work, and it looked different." The interesting shape of the car caught his eye, and that was enough for him to dig into his savings and buy it. At the time, it had just over 37,000 miles on the odometer, and it was green. He really hated that green, so before it ever logged any miles in his hands, it was treated to a quick and dirty respray of metallic blue, which was inspired by a B5 Blue 1970 Dodge Charger that his brother owned. It wasn't until he actually started using the Daytona as daily transportation that the sobering reality of its impractical nature began to set in. He recalls, "The car was very loud, and the engine was very difficult to start. That was a problem because I didn't want to get stuck at work." The loud exhaust was a deal breaker, to the point that he only put a few hundred miles on it for a few months and ended up parking it in the garage and buying another car to replace it. At that point, the garage door was pulled down, and that was it.

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In 2003, Owner Two migrated from New Jersey to a town in central Pennsylvania, and in the process, the car was transported to a newly built storage facility. In a carbon copy of years past, that garage door rolled down, and the car was once again forgotten. It wasn't until 2019 that Owner Two decided it would be prudent to sell it. Google searches for the potential value were eye opening and a real motivator to at least get the car running. His goal was to sell it at auction, so he hired a shop to go through the car.

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It was at that point that Ronnie Belletieri came into the picture. His friend owned the storage facility, and Owner Two happened to be his first customer back in 2003. For many years, Ronnie heard about the mystery car that was tucked away in one of the storage units. He told his buddy that if it was the right car, he would be interested in buying it. At the beginning of 2019 Ronnie learned that it was a Charger Daytona and it was finally being moved out of storage. At that point, he asked his friend to contact Owner Two about buying it. Numbers were tossed around, and they ended up with a dollar amount that satisfied both individuals. For Ronnie, his biggest concern was that the shop that the car had been taken to would do something stupid with it.

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Ronnie recalls, "I told Owner Two that you have to call that guy up, whoever has your car, and you have to tell him he cannot start it up or get it running. If it's all original, I want it as is." While all this was taking place, Ronnie started looking for someone to better inform him on the value of the Daytona and how much it would cost to restore. He was a faithful viewer of Graveyard Carz and often heard Instrument Specialties being mentioned on the show, but it wasn't until he started doing some Google searches that he found Mike Mancini and his other business, American Muscle Car Restorations. The red Daytona restored by his crew was on the cover of the 2018 June issue of HOT ROD. That sealed the deal with Mike to restore the car.

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The fear that the shop would disrupt the originality of the car never took place, and the car was taken back to the storage facility. At that point, Ronnie was already the owner of the Daytona, and he ended up meeting Mike for the first time at the 2019 Chrysler Carlisle Nationals show to discuss the restoration and its transportation back to Rhode Island. After the Daytona was parked at Mike's shop, an assessment was made, and he notes, "It's a legit car. It is amazingly clean. It doesn't seem like there is any rust on it anywhere. We put it on the lift, and it is bone dry. It's as clean as it could be. It's unmolested, except for that dismal repaint."

The first unveiling of the car after decades in storage was at the 2019 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) show in its unrestored state, and we're pretty sure that, based on previous editions of the show, Mike will be unveiling it there once its finished.

See all 36 photos

See all 36 photos