One of the great calamities of being a serial car enjoyer is developing a pet-like love for wheeled machinery. Whenever I see a car get sent to an untimely date with the scrapyard, there is a real burst of empathy for the poor thing. The miles it did. The places it went. I’m feeling that for this unbelievably mint 1985 Chrysler Daytona.
Details are scarce on it, but from the photos, it is clear that this was somebody’s pride. That someone placed so much care into a car that is, let’s be real, a pretty depressing Chrysler K-car makes it even more of an object of fascination. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Who owned this? Did they own it from new? Most importantly, how did it end up in the hands of a salvage yard with such terrible grammar?
It’s unclear whether the car was ever actually parted out. The listing reads "She is cleannnnn 1985 Chrysler daytona with a turbski come tear this bad boy before it hits the yadd [sic]" It was listed a little over a week ago with the response being uproar from the Radwood community. Those folks are rabid about anything ‘80s, especially anything ironically cool from the era. Thus, the comments flooded the Facebook post announcing the part out of the car. There, I found more details about the car and a clue to its fate.
The images from the salvage yard listing. U Pull & Pay Pittsburgh
According to the commenters, it was a fixture in the local Pittsburgh car scene. It would allegedly show up fairly regularly at car shows, and folks would marvel at the condition of the thing. Commenters also say that the owner was fairly elderly, which probably means his family sold the car. But the sliver of hope in a sea of sad here is one comment made by the salvage yard in response to an offer to buy the car outright: they listed a price of $7,000 plus tax to take the car whole.
There haven’t been any updates on the car since the listing, whether in the comments or the ever-informative Radwood Facebook group. But someone out there would spend $7,000 on this car, I am sure of it. Hopefully, someone saves this from the jaws of the crusher and keeps a bit of commuter car history on the road.
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